Top 3 Reads in 2017

There have been some amazing books out this year, but many of them were added to my toppling TBR pile because I have so many others to try and get to first. So, when considering my Top 3 Reads, I didn't think about what year they were published but as it happens the ones I've chosen are from 2017! It's been a slow reading year for me, and one of my New Year's resolutions is to read more. 

I also asked Elisabeth Carpenter, author of 99 Red Balloons - a stand out novel in 2017 and one which I loved - and Sanjida Kay, author of Bone by Bone and The Stolen Child, plus new novel to come in 2018 My Mother's Secret (which is on my TBR list!) their Top 3 choices too (not necessarily ones that were published in 2017). 

Here's what Elisabeth chose:

The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson

This is such a page-turner! During a chance meeting in an airport lounge, Ted meets a stranger: Lily. He tells her his wife is having an affair. After a few too many drinks, he says he wants to kill her; Lily says, ‘I think you should.’ 

This is such a great book – it kept me gripped. It goes back and forth in time, with narratives from Lily and Ted, and kept me guessing until the end.

Lies by T.M. Logan

This is another book I raced through. I read a lot of psychological thrillers and LIES has a male main character, which I thought was refreshing. It starts with a bang - a situation so intriguing that I couldn't help but read on until it unravelled. 

Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough

This is a beautifully written book that really got into the heads of the characters. It's also really dark - I love it when a character's hiding a dark secret. Great story - I raced through this one.

Other books I enjoyed this year: 
Perfect Remains by Helen Fields 
The Doll House by Phoebe Morgan
Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney 
Good Me Bad Me by Ali Land.

One to look out for in 2018: The Rival by Charlotte Duckworth.

Here are Sanjida's Top 3:

The Dry by Jane Harper 

'Flies swarmed as the blood pooled black over tiles and carpet. A child’s scooter lay abandoned on the stepping stone path. Just one human heart beat within a kilometre radius of the farm.' Policeman Aaron Falk returns to his hometown of Kiewarra for the funeral of his best friend. Luke Hadler is thought to have committed suicide after murdering his wife and six-year-old son. Australia is in the grip of the worst drought for a century and the town is like a powder keg: it hasn’t rained for two years and tensions are running high. Aaron Falk is unwillingly drawn into the investigation, but Falk may not be as innocent as he looks, for he and Luke share a twenty-year old secret. You can feel the crackle of the heat from the pages in this blisteringly well-told tale. 

The Girls by Emma Cline 

'I looked up because of the laughter, and kept looking because of the girls.' It’s 1969, California. Evie Boyd, the daughter of a wealthy woman going through a turgid divorce, is fourteen, sad, lonely and unloved. When Evie sees the girls in the park and, at their centre, Suzanne, black-haired and beautiful, she’s drawn to them, desperate for affection. She follows them back to the decaying ranch and their cult, led by the charismatic and amoral Russell. The consequences will be savage and haunt Evie for the rest of her life. The prose is achingly poetic; The Girls is based on the serial killer, Charles Manson; at its heart it’s about women’s desire for love and acceptance and the casual and cruel abuse men inflict upon them. 

Before the Fall by Noah Hawley

 

'You bring a child into this fractious, chaotic world out of the heat of your womb, and then spend the next ten years walking beside them while they figure out how to be a person.' When a private jet plunges into the sea off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, in the States, the only survivors are artist Scott Burroughs, and the four-year-old child he rescues. The boy is the son of a wealthy TV executive and, at first, Scott is a hero. But quickly, the media turns against him. Why was an impoverished artist flying with some of the richest men in America? This is a gripping thriller about art, motherhood, wealth and the power of the media. The language is sublime. 

Honourable mentions - Behind her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough via Audible - Sarah’s latest thriller has been reviewed elsewhere on this blog, so you’ll already know it’s a fantastically well-written psychological thriller, but the audiobook is an outstanding piece of performance. 

I’m currently reading An Act of Silence by Colette McBeth, which opens with a mother discovering her son has been accused of murder and broadens into a taut political thriller. 

I’ve heard rave reviews about AJ Finn’s The Woman in the Window, a Hitchcockian homage to Rear Window, and have pre-ordered it.

Great picks, Elisabeth and Sanjida! Thank you for sharing them. Behind Her Eyes was also one of my favourite reads this year! 

My Top 3 are:

The Killer on the Wall by Emma Kavanagh

From the opening line: 'It began with the bodies' - I was drawn in and had to keep reading. Having Hadrian's Wall as a backdrop to the murders was a great hook and I loved every bit of this novel. It really gave some fascinating insights into the mind of a psychopath and was a dark, intriguing read.

In a Cottage, In a Wood by Cass Green

Cass Green delivered a clever opening to this novel - one which played on my mind and kept me turning the pages.This was a creepy and atmospheric read and had a complex, believable protagonist. The tension bubbled beneath the surface, which set my nerves on edge as I read!  

The Surrogate by Louise Jensen

An emotive subject matter, a dark undertone running through the narrative and the 'now' and 'then' chapters, all gave this novel the edge! Packed full of twists, it was a real page-turner. Just when you think you've figured it all out...bam! Brilliant.

Other books I enjoyed:

Obsession by Amanda Robson

Sweet Little Lies by Caz Frear

Copycat by Alex Lake
Beneath The Skin by Caroline England

One to look out for in 2018: The Echo Killing by Christi Daugherty

I'm sure there will be many great novels to come in 2018!

Hope you all have a fabulous Christmas, I probably won't be posting again this year so just want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their support, I'm hugely grateful.
Here's hoping 2018 brings good things!