Anyway, it's been a year. I finished Book 8 at the start of summer then was part of the team putting in SAP at work and that, quite literally, sucked up almost every moment of my time. As a top tip, if your work says they're putting the system in, quit and find a job somewhere else. To that end, I haven't done much writing but David & I have been busy plotting and planning Book 9 and hopefully I'm going to be starting that in the early part of 2026. Due to publishing timelines, there was nothing published this year - which is the first time that's happened since 2022 - and it feels a bit odd. Next year, fingers crossed, you'll more than likely see two new psychological thrillers from me.
In the meantime, as ever, I've been reading and that means it's now time to indulge in the annual blog custom and remember the good books of 2025.
Once again, it's been a great reading year (though I managed less books than last year), with a nice mix of brand new novels, a lot of books that have languished on my TBR pile for too long, some good second-hand finds (which jumped straight to the top of the pile) along with some welcome re-reads.
My target for the year was to read at least twelve old school horror paperbacks and I more than achieved that - some of them were good, a couple were dire, but some were absolutely brilliant.
As always, the top 20 places were hard fought and, I think, show a nice variety in genre and tone.
So, without further ado, I present the Seventeenth Annual Westies Award - “My Best Fiction Reads Of The Year” - and the top 20 looks like this:
2: Secrets Of The Italian Guesthouse, by Sue Moorcroft (to critique)
3: The Widening Gyre, by Robert B. Park
4: The A Team (The A-Team 1), by Charles Heath
5: The Dead Side Of The Mike, by Simon Brett
6: Valediction, by Robert B. Parker
8: Only Old Bones, by Richard Farren Barber (to critique)
9: Dupe, by Liza Cody
10: Star Wars, by Alan Dean Foster
11: Return Of The Jedi, by James Kahn
12: The Empire Strikes Back, by Donald F. Glut
13: H Is For Homicide, by Sue Grafton
14: Tig's Crime, by T. R. Burch
15: The Plastic Nightmare, by Richard Neely
16: A Catskill Eagle, by Robert B. Parker
17: The Manitou, by Graham Masterton
18: Welcome To The Grave, by Mary McMullen
19: Woe Betide, by Wayne Parkin (to critique)
20: The Glow, by Brooks Stanwood
19 horror
4 film-related
3 drama (includes romance)
19 crime/mystery
4 sci-fi
2 nostalgia
7 humour
In case you’re interested, the previous awards are linked to from here:
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