Best Books I Read in 2018:

This year I read 80 books.  These are what I consider the best of the list (in the order I read the books).

1. Maus I a Survivor's Tale - My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman (1991) Pantheon Books

The Special Pulitzer Prize winning graphic novel about his father and his experiences in World War II going from a successful garment salesman, then evading capture and then into Aushwitz

Maus II a Survivor's Tale - And Here My Troubles Began by Art Spiegelman  (1991) Pantheon Books

A continuation of the earlier work that tells of his father's life in the camps until he is reunited with his wife after the war.

2. Mr. Majestyk by Elmore Leonard (2002) Mariner Books

All he wants to do is get his melon crop harvested and to market.  But he let his temper get away from him when a local hoodlum tries to drive off his workers and replace them with drunks.  He ends up on a bus with a killer whose crew tries to break him out and now he has to deal with that man.

3. The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill (2016) Algonquin

Each year, in the Protectorate, a child must be sacrificed to the Witch.  But one year, the witch, who feeds each child starlight and takes them to a better place and finds good parents, accidentally feeds one child from the moon and keeps her because her magic will be too wild for most people to control.

4. Artemis by Andy Weir (2017) Ballantine Books

Mr. Weir is back, this time using the actual name of a NASA project to establish a colony on the moon.  A girl living on the moon in the Artemis colony, saves her city by breaking all the rules 

5. The Neon Rain by James Lee Burke (1987) Henry Holt & Co.

Dave Robicheaux, a Lieutenant in the New Orleans Police department struggles with the death of a young woman in another Parrish that is written-off as a drowning death.  He is sure it was a murder and checking into the case causes a lot of bad guys to come out of the woodwork - even his partner.  When his brother gets shot, he goes after the mobster who was supposed to be his friend.

6. Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews (2013) Scribner

A ballerina is intentionally injured by a competitor and wreaks her revenge.  Then she is offered a way to keep her mother in their apartment by becoming a spy. She is sent to Sparrow school, where she is trained to seduce foreign diplomats so they can be blackmailed to give up state secrets.

7. Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King (2014) Scribner

Bill Hodges, a retired detective is contacted by the mass murderer about his last case.  Only now, the killer plans on something much more elaborate and deadly.

8. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman (2013) William Morrow

An old man returns to his childhood neighbor's home and remembers that the pond in the back was called the ocean.

Excellent writing from a master storyteller - it includes the mythic triple goddess of the maiden, the mother and the crone.  Gaiman has mixed mythology, fantasy and reflection of the fears of our childhood and the cost of the mistakes in our lives.  It starts with a wonderful epigraph: "I remember my own childhood vividly . . . I knew terrible things.  But I knew I mustn't let adults know I knew.  It would scare them."  -Maurice Sendak

9. The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck (2017) William Morrow

Three very different women live through World War II in a castle in Germany.

10. The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith aka J K Rowling (2013) Mulholland Books

Cormorant Strike, a disabled British veteran MP is now a private detective with a ruined love life, enough bills to sink his business and a new temp receptionist.  He’s also the son of a rock star.  A client wants him to find the murderer of their famous model sister, whom has been ruled a suicide.

The Blue Tower by J.B. Simmons (2018) Three Cord Press 

A boy finds himself in the water near a blue tower and then becomes a student who needs to be scoured of the bad in his former life.

Origin by Dan Brown (2017) Doubleday 

A former student of Professor Langford, a futurist, presents arguments to the world via live streaming over the internet, that he expects will greatly hurt religion.  But before he can present the most damaging evidence, he is killed by a sniper.

The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith aka J K Rowling (2013) Mulholland Books 

Cormorant Strike, a disabled British veteran MP is now a private detective with a ruined love life, enough bills to sink his business and a new temp receptionist.  He’s also the son of a rock star.  A client wants him to find the murderer of their famous model sister, whom has been ruled a suicide.

The First Year by Nora Roberts (2017) St. Martin’s Press 

A virus kills off over 80% of the world's population and magic blooms in some of the survivors to balance the event.  Some of it is light and some is the darkest evil.  A witch bears a child who may become the savior of the world.

The Hellfire Club by Jake Tapper (2018) Little Brown & Co 

An ex-army professor is appointed to serve-out the term of a murdered congressman.  But he soon finds himself in over his head with a conspiracy that may have started in the time of Ben Franklin.

L'Amerique by Thierry Sagnier (2018) Apprentice House 

A memoir of the author’s life growing up in France, after the war, then in the U.S. where his father was employed, and his mother struggled to adapt.

The Kremlin's Candidate by Jason Matthews (2018) Scribner 

Our heroine, the red sparrow, has become the head of the SVR, the spy ring for Russia and has found herself on the inside of Putin's closest advisers.  But her immediate boss suspects there is a mole at the highest levels.  Meanwhile, he has positioned a Navy Rear Admiral, whom he has used for a decade, to become the head of the CIA.

Uprooted by Naomi Novik (2015) Del Rey 

A young woman, Agneiszka,  is of an age to be among those selected once every ten years by a local wizard.  Everyone expects her best friend, the prettiest girl in the valley to be selected, but instead it is her, the homeliest, most disaster-prone girl in the valley.  When she questions why he selected her, in his tower, he tells her she is a witch.  She turns out not to be any witch, but one with Baba Jaga's capabilities.  And between them they rescue the Queen, who has been a captive of the Wood for the last twenty years and deal with all the disasters that come to Agneiszka so naturally.

The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck (2017) William Morrow 

Three very different women live through World War II in a castle in Germany.

Maximum Bob by Elmore Leonard (1991) Delacorte Press 

Bob is a judge, and not a nice one.  While he hands down maximum sentences for the least perceived slight in the courtroom, he is always trying to bed any woman he comes across, in spite of the fact that he is married.  

Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs (2008) Ace 

A side series to Mercy Thompson featuring Anna, an Omega, and Charles, her mate and the Marrock’s son and enforcer.  The Moor is a  very old werewolf and now he and the pack are threatened by an old enemy.

Dead and Alive by Dean Koontz (2009) Del Rey Books

The third volume in the Frankenstein Epic - our two intrepid New Orleans cops get on the move and find they have to protect their household - Deucalian helps move a child to Tibet through a doorway and the new humans in the dump are changed and no longer feel the need to kill humans - all due to a unique creature who can reach into their minds and change their programming.  The whole point of the novel is to isolate and kill Victor Frankenstein, destroy his work and free the world from the threat of dominance.  But he is always a step ahead.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman (2013) William Morrow 

An old man returns to his childhood neighbor's home and remembers that the pond in the back was called the ocean.

Excellent writing from a master storyteller - it includes the mythic triple goddess of the maiden, the mother and the crone.  Gaiman has mixed mythology, fantasy and reflection of the fears of our childhood and the cost of the mistakes in our lives.  It starts with a wonderful epigraph: "I remember my own childhood vividly . . . I knew terrible things.  But I knew I mustn't let adults know I knew.  It would scare them."  -Maurice Sendak

City of Night by Dean Koontz (2005) Random House 

The second volume in the Frankenstein Epic - our two intrepid New Orleans cops find themselves the target of Victor Helios' clones.

The Golden Elephant by Alex Archer (92008) Gold Eagle 

In which Annja Creed is commissioned to find and extract an ancient artifact - in competition with a tomb robber.

Mistborn: The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson (2008) Tor Books 

In which Vin and her husband, the Emperor Elend, try to save the world from Ruin.

Mistborn: The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson (2007) Tor Books 

In which Vin, who has killed the Lord Ruler God, and her betrothed, Elend find the Well and are deceived into releasing Ruin.

Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson (2006) Tor Books 

\In which a street urchin, Vin, is mistborn and becomes the apprentice of Kelsier, who wants to overthrow the final empire.

Cerulean Sins by Laurell K Hamilton (2003) Berkley 

Our vampire executioner, Anita Blake, now a leopard shapeshifter, finds herself in the midst of a power play by vampires. Her friend, the master vampire of St. Louis is under threat from his oldest ancestor, sending one of her most powerful underlings to take over his territory.