My Favourite Reads of 2020

Here are my favourite reads of 2020 – a literary police procedural, a piece of bittersweet brilliance, a dynamic psychological debut, a German bestseller and two thrillers, published in previous years, that blew my socks off.

A Famished Heart by Nicola White

This is a classy police procedural set in Dublin in the early 1980s. It is also an absorbing slow-burn literary story with a modern feel. Detective Inspector Vincent Swan and Detective Constable Gina Considine make perfect series characters. I look forward to their return. Review here.

Can You See Her? by S.E. Lynes

A main character who speaks for invisible, middle-aged women everywhere. The devil is in the detail, and every tiny detail and observation hit the mark. For a dark thriller, it ain’t half funny. But the laughs are bittersweet and eventually fall away to reveal raw emotion and tears. Review here.

The Memory Wood by Sam Lloyd

Unnerving, claustrophobic, gruesome and brilliant. A battle of wills between the two protagonists leads to a series of heart-pounding revelations. An accomplished captivity story by a debut author. Review here.

Liebes Kind by Romy Hausmann

This German sensation is published in English as Dear Child. A mother and child flee a windowless shack in the woods, and are reunited with family members who never gave up hope. But the nightmare for all of them is only just beginning. An original take on a difficult theme. Review here.

The Tall Man by Phoebe Locke

Phoebe Locke is expert at handling a complex plot and keeping up the tension. The writing manages to be spikily unsettling and, at the same time, smoothly readable. An author who knows her craft. This thriller was published in 2018, but I finally caught up with it in February. Review here.

Good Me Bad Me by Ali Land

It took me three years to catch up with this page-turner. A psychological thriller well worthy of the name. The novel delves deep into the mind of the main character, lingering in a sad and dangerous place. Review here.

Honourable Mentions

Here are two more favourite reads of 2020, with links to my reviews on BookBub.

The Butchers’ Blessing by Ruth Gilligan – BookBub

Black River by Joss Stirling – BookBub

So those are my favourite reads of 2020. Please follow me on BookBub to see the other good books I’ve reviewed and to read my reviews for 2021 as I post them.