One month in and already I’m falling behind on the year’s new releases. My plan is to jump in front of a bus and spend a month reading through my recovery. Here’re the first five I plan on tackling.
Agent 6 by Tom Rob Smith. The skinny: Leo Demidov rivals Bernie Gunther in the heft of his karmic tab, and the former Moscow policeman will have it settled unfortunately. What the rush is: I just caught up to Child 44 last year, and found it to be something like the missing link between Martin Cruz Smith’s Renko books Philip Kerr’s Gunther series. I’m there.
The Best Bad Dream by Robert Ward. The skinny: A sequel to Total Immunity, this one follows Harper and Hidalgo on vacation, which is where they can really find trouble. What the rush is: It’s Robert effing Ward, man. Aside from perhaps James Crumley or Raymond Carver, I believe I’ve heard more anecdotal heritage traced back to ‘this crazy thing that happened to Bob Ward’ than any other writer. And you know when it makes good material for other people, it’s the overflow. Heck, I’d probably buy a book called Robert Ward’s Grocery Lists for the sheer entertainment value.
The Dispatcher by Ryan David Jahn. The Skinny: A phone call from his seven years missing, now teenaged, daughter sends a police dispatcher on a wild, violent chase across the American southwest. What the rush is: Jahn is the dude who wrote that nasty, sweaty, suffocating Good Neighbors. Yeah. And this time, he’s on out on the open road. Can’t wait to see where he goes.
Start Shooting by Charlie Newton. The skinny: An ugly slice of city history is about to be dug up and revised in favor of… well, not the Vargas brothers, Chicago cops twenty-five years past the awful events of speculation. A reckoning is coming. There will be blood. What the rush is: Hardboiled Chicago don’t get less runny.
What It Was by George Pelecanos. The skinny: A brand new Derek Strange book - set in 1972, which would place it, hold on, lemme make sure… chronologically after Hard Revolution, but still well before the action of Right as Rain and the rest of the plus Terry Quinn titles. What the rush is: A brand new Derek Strange book! C’mon, Strange in the ‘70s… Is there another book I’d rather see from Pelecanos? I can’t think of it.
Jedidiah Ayres writes fiction and keeps the blog Hardboiled Wonderland.
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