(43) The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd (2022, 400 pages) (speculative fiction/fantasy, thriller). Audiobook. Definitely a contender for one of the best books I've read this year! Cartographer Nell Young idolized her fellow cartographer father, until he inexplicably fired her and destroyed her reputation over a conflict regarding an old, cheap gas station road map. When he is found equally inexplicably dead in his office with a copy of that map in his desk, Nell returns to the map and its mysteries. What she finds out could explain everything--and potentially destroy it. This was such a fresh, original, brilliantly written book! Definitely did not see where this was going until it got there.
(44) The Murder Rule by Dervla McTiernan (2022, 304 pages) (crime mystery). Paper book. Having discovered a family secret, Hannah transfers to a different law school in her last year in order to work on The Innocence Project. They think she's there because she's passionate about saving someone who possibly been wrongly convicted, but she's there for just the opposite reason--to make sure he's destroyed. I didn't love this one as much as I have some of McTiernan's other work. It's not her best in terms of writing and to be honest the entire plot is overwhelmingly and unnecessarily convoluted. But it was short so I just finished it. Nevermind that the eponymous murder rule never comes into play at all, as far as I can tell.
(45) The Oracle Year by Charles Soule (2018, 432 pages) (speculative fiction, thriller). Audiobook + re-read. Will Dando wakes up one day with 108 predictions about the future permanently lodged in his mind. At first, his ambitions are no greater than to use what he knows to anonymously make money off of multi-million dollar corporations as the mysterious "Oracle". But soon he's made enemies of any number of powerful figures, including the President, a famous TV evangelist, and a warlord with nuclear weapons, not to mention a cutthroat grandmotherly assassin. Ultimately it's up to Will and his journalist sidekick to use the remaining predictions to save the world. I first read this one a few years ago and it was one of the most fresh, unique stories I'd ever read, and managed to be smart, funny, entertaining, and just serious enough to feel like a drama. Highly recommend!
(46) Disclaimer by Renee Knight (2015, 304 pages) (crime, mystery, drama). Paper book. Oof, this one was dark dark DARK. Catherine Ravenscroft doesn't remember how the mysterious novel The Perfect Stranger wound up on her nightstand or how she ended up flipping through it, but she is soon disconcerted and disturbed to find that it's--kind of, sort of--about her, and a secret she's never told anyone, especially not her husband and child. Now her entire life is under threat, and Catherine must somehow sort it all out without destroying her family. Mannnnn this one pulled absolutely no punches. Zero. Zilch. None.
(47) The Intuitionist, by Colson Whitehead (1999, 272 pages) (speculative fiction). Audiobook + re-read. Another that was so good the first time, I had to read it again! In an alternative early 20th century (20s? 40s?), the brand-new invention of elevators and "verticality" are changing everything. Elevator inspectors are almost like priests, with two conflicting schools of elevator inspection: the Empiricists, who determine an elevator's safety through traditional methods, and the Intuitionists who simply trust their gut and somehow just know. When an elevator recently inspected by intuitionist and first Black woman elevator inspector Lila Mae Watson catastrophically fails, Lila Mae is thrust into the middle of someone's political machinations. Wheels within wheels in this one, and I kept finding new pieces of it to understand more deeply even on my 3rd read. Original & ambitious!
(48) Dear Amy by Helen Callaghan (2016, 348 pages (crime, mystery, drama). Paper book. Another dark dark DARK one. Margot Lewis, writer of the 'Dear Amy' advice column for a Cambridge newspaper, is shocked to receive a letter from a young woman who's been missing for years: "I don't know where I am. I've been kidnapped and am being held prisoner by a strange man. I'm afraid he'll kill me." Then more letters arrive, with details that no one but Beth could have known. Margot will stop at nothing to solve the mystery and save the girl, but it may cost her more than she realizes. I found this one a bit far-fetched, but eh, it was short.
(49) The Three by Sarah Lotz (2014, 471 pages) (sci fi, drama). Audiobook + re-read. When four planes crash almost simultaneously around the world, three of the four with a young child as the lone survivor, reactions around the world are immediate and intense. A charismatic cult leader even goes so far as to claim that the four surviving children--because surely there is a fourth that hasn't been located yet--are the four harbingers of the apocalypse. As the children begin exhibiting strange behavior and are forced into hiding, even their guardians begin to wonder what's really going on. Another super original, fresh premise that kept me on the edge of my seat all the way to the end.
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