The Fourth Annual Westies - review of the year 2012

Well this year seems to have whipped by and so, as we gear up for Christmas, it’s time to remember the good (and not so good) books of 2012. 

It was a really strong field this year (or, alternatively, I made some good reading choices) and places in the top 20 were hard-fought.

So without further ado, I present the Fourth Annual Westies Award - “My Best Fiction Reads Of The Year” - and the top 20 looks like this:

Joint First

Last Days, by Adam Nevill

Whitstable, by Stephen Volk (not actually published until next year)

3:  Silent Voices, by Gary McMahon

4:  Dream A Little Dream, by Sue Moorcroft

5:  Reaping The Dark (not published yet), by Gary McMahon

6:  A Cold Season, by Alison Littlewood

7:  Ceremony, by Robert B Parker

8:  Beyond Here Lies Nothing, by Gary McMahon

9:  Darcie’s Dilemma, by Sue Moorcroft

10:  The 9 Deaths Of Dr Valentine, by John Llewellyn Probert

11:  Into The Penny Arcade, by Claire Massey

12:  Eyepennies, by Mike O’Driscoll

13:  The Widening Gyre, by Robert B Parker

14:  The Way Of The Leaves, by David Tallerman

15:  Taming A Sea-Horse, by Robert B Parker

16:  Marionettes, by Claire Massey

17:  Joe & Me, by David Moody

18:  Videodrome, by Jack Martin (Dennis Etchison)

19:  The Eyes Of Water, by Alison Littlewood

20:  Valediction, by Robert B Parker

The next ten, in no particular order, were:

One Summer In Malta and Where The Heart Is, by Sue Moorcroft, Thin Men With Yellow Faces by Bestwick & McMahon, Hell’s Ditch (critique) by Simon Bestwick, The Butterfly Waltz by Lisa McCarthy, Small Animals by Alison Moore, Black Mirrors by Paul Edwards, The Respectable Face Of Tyranny by Gary Fry, Vampire Circus by Mark Morris and The Howling 2 by Gary Brandner. 

Nothing was spectacularly bad this year, though The Plague Pit by Mark Ronson and The Cartoonist by Sean Costello were both a bit ropey and only garnered 2 stars.

Stats wise, I’ve read 59 books - 35 fiction, 14 non-fiction and 10 comics/nostalgia.  Having not read any Three Investigator books last year - and missing the series - I’m just about to start The Mystery Of The Invisible Dog as my Christmas read and I’m really looking forward to it

Of the 59 books, the breakdown is thus:

5 biographies

25 horror novels

9 film-related

5 drama (includes chick-lit)

4 crime/mystery

1 sci-fi

1 nostalgia

9 humour (including the first two Adrian Moles)

All of my reviews are posted up at Goodreads here

Just in case you’re interested, the previous awards are linked to from here:

2011

2010

2009