Point Blank discussion

Hi guys. Thought it would be fun to post our top five books read in 2018.
So to get the ball rolling, here are mine:

1 Roseanna - Maj Sjöwall, Per Wahlöö
2 Queenpin - Megan Abbott
3 The Killer Inside Me - Jim Thompson
4 Righteous - Joe Ide
5 The Talented Mr. Ripley - Patricia Highsmith

I have a 2018 top 5, but it requires some explanation.

I discovered Ross Macdonald's private detective Lew Archer for the first time in July of this year. I instantly fell in love. Since then, I've read 9 Lew Archer books (over 20% of my total books read this year) and am currently reading number 10. I have so enjoyed reading this series that I think I can honestly fill my top 5 list with only Lew Archer books. Instead, I'll put 5 Archer books in my #1 slot and fill in the other slots with the runners up.

1) Lew Archer series by Ross Macdonald (The Moving Target, The Way Some People Die, The Ivory Grin, The Galton Case, Underground Man)
2) Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (raise an eyebrow if you want, but I love this book!)
3) The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk (perfect depiction of President Donald Trump, 65 years before he took office)
4) The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
5) The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene




* BTW, Lew Archer led me to Point Blank.

Geoff wrote: "Hi guys. Thought it would be fun to post our top five books read in 2018.
So to get the ball rolling, here are mine:

1 Roseanna - Maj Sjöwall, Per Wahlöö
2 Queenpin - Megan Abbott
3 The Killer Ins..."

I highly agree with your #3 and #5. I'll add the others to my to-read list. Thanks!

2 of yours are on my list. Here goes:

1 - Black Wings Has My Angel - Eliot Chaze
2 - Kentucky Straight: Stories - Chris Offut
3 - The Talented Mr. Ripley - Patricia Highsmith
4 - The Winter of Frankie Machine - Don Winslow
5- The Killer Inside Me - Jim Thompson

Even though I am still working on The Killer Inside Me, it is a wonderful book. The main character is both chilling and calm in the way he goes about his business.

I loved the Winslow too.

Great idea. I’m going to have to think on mine...it’s not going to include Flash of Green, that’s for sure. :) I love seeing these lists.

The only five-star noirish reads this year were re-reads- four which I will count as two:

1.Comeback, Backflash
(Late Parker is great Parker)

2. 100 Bullets: The Deluxe Edition Book II
100 Bullets: The Deluxe Edition Book III

I have three honorable mentions and three dishonorable mentions:

3. The Tall Dolores
4. Thieves Like Us
5. Ladies of Chance- ye old white slavery in thirties Miami. Not too noir, but pretty hardboiled, as the guy basically drinks and effs his way to the heart of the racket.

These three were terrible:

The Quick Red Fox: A Travis McGee Novel

Green Ice

Murder Was My Alibi

Eurgh - green ice sounds icky!
Plus have never read any Parker - should probably fix that.

Oh gosh, this will be fun. I'll have to think on it...

All right. Here are my top-5 books for 2018. Not all are crime fiction, but all of them are great.

1 In a Lonely Place by Dorothy Hughes
2 Butcher's Crossing by John Williams
3 North and Central by Bob Hartley
4 The Largesse of the Sea Maiden by Denis Johnson
5 Queenpin by Megan Abbott

North and Central was that good!!!??? Wow.
In a Lonely Place - is almost certainly going to be in my best of 2019 - it's sooo good.

I’m still, yes still, thinking about my list. Justin reminded me that we read North and Central this year and I think it’s going to make my list as well. It could be that both Justin and I grew up in the Midwest but it is a solid, solid book.

Yeah, I loved N & C. Kurt might be right that place-emotion and nostalgia played a big role, but damn, the book surprised me in ways only a great book does.

Shit, I also really liked Gun, With Occasional Music by Jonathan Lethem. This is my #6.

I read the free sample of N&C and thought it was okay - but didn't have time to read it - hope to do so in 2019.

1 Pop 1280
2 The Killer Inside Me
3 Out of Sight
4 Double Indemnity
5 Miami Blues

Always thought Pop 1280 was a great title.

Miami Blues was solid. Looking forward to reading more Willeford.

In addition to noir crime-fiction I read a lot of non-fiction in 2018:

1. The Ultimate Sin by Maury Terry; non-fiction; true-crime; Mind blowing account of how the murder of a young woman on Stanford University in '74, the Manson killings, the Son of Sam killings in NYC in '76, and an Air Force base in North Dakota were all connected...

2. Perfidia by James Ellroy, excellent...LA in Dec '41, after Pearl Harbor, is the setting for a murder case...ties together with The LA Quartet (The Black Dahlia, etc.)...

3. She Rides Shotgun by Jordan Harper; down & dirty quick read about a guy released from prison who is instantly on the run...won the Edgar for best 1st book release...

4. The Cleanup by Sean Doolittle; a cop on the bad list gets stuck on mid-night security at an Omaha grocery store, then all hell breaks loose...fun read...

5. The Myth of German Villainy by Benton Bradbury; non-fiction; revisionist history; just watch, this book will get banned too...excellent read...

I have a copy of She Rides Shotgun on my kindle. Eager to get to it.

Definitely will read 'Shotgun' one day too.