In the second quarter of 2013, I read seven books by authors I had never read before and I was very happy with all of them. This is my list of books by new (to me) authors:
- Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
- The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters
- Chinatown Beat by Henry Chang
- The Dark Winter by David Mark
- Except the Dying by Maureen Jennings
- Silence of the Rain by Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza
- House of Evidence by Viktor Arnar Ingólfsson
The book that most surprised me was Silence of the Rain by Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza. I wanted to read it because it is written by a Brazilian author and set in Brazil. But the book greatly surpassed my expectations. It was not a standard police procedural (if there is such a thing), the cultural differences were interesting, and it had a very unexpected ending. I was also surprised at how much I liked Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch. I had heard lots of praise for the novel, but it was described as Harry Potter for adults with a rookie policeman as the protagonist, and I was not sure about that. But it was a thoroughly enjoyable read, making me wish I had the next book in the series to read right away.
And then there was The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters. Although I don't avoid apocalyptic novels, I would never had read this one had it not been a crime novel also. I enjoyed this depiction of how people would react to an approaching asteroid, and I loved how he doled out pieces of that part of the story gradually throughout the book. Another great read, and I have high expectations for further books in the series.
6 comments:
Tracy, it's usually hard for me to pick any one favourite author from the books I have read, especially since they belong to different genres. Of course, that dilemma may not arise in case of new authors read, like the ones in your global list.
Prashant, it is usually the same for me. Even if the books are in the same genre, they may be humorous or dark, etc. This time I found all of these books to be exceptional.
Happy holiday - for yesterday! A nice list Tracy - I have 2 of these on the TBR mountain, I will try and get to the Brazilian one first as it sounds so intriguing. I also made a note on Chang's book, but I haven't yet got my copy - I'm slacking!
Thanks, Col. I did have a nice quiet 4th of July. Went to a new bookstore and bought a copy of The Rage by Kerrigan to be supportive of the bookstore. I do hope you are not disappointed with the Brazilian book.
Tracy - I'm so glad that you enjoyed your introduction to Inspector Espinosa. I think that's a great series. And one of the things I really like about the books you've read and shared is the variety. Impressive!
Margot, the Garcia-Roza book was one of my finds of the year, and it has been a great year so far for new authors. Very exciting.
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