FAVOURITE NOVELS OF THE YEAR...SO FAR and FREE BOOKS (AGAIN!)

It's middle of summer (at least up here in the northern hemisphere) and I think that 2014 is already a great year for crime fiction. Here are my favourite books so far; please refrain from telling me that I'm an idiot for not including this or that title; I haven't read everything that's been published so of course I've left out many good titles. Which is why I include, at the end, a list of titles that I am looking forward to read (hopefully) before the end of the year.

So, instead of reading comments about which books I forgot to include, I would welcome your own lists of favourites, if you dare to share. To thank you for making the effort of sharing some titles, I will give away a couple of books. I'll announce the names of the winners on Saturday, August 9th when I start my vacation. The books are: The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith/J.K. Rowling and Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes. I might even throw in another paperback or two. My email address is still housecrimyst@gmail.com (You need to be 18 years or older and live in the US or Canada). UPDATE: winner is Paul Graham, from Minneapolis (MN). Congrats, Paul. Thank you everyone for participating, and stay tuned for more giveaways in the weeks ahead. Again, thanks for visiting The House!

The following titles are in no particular order (you can click on some of the titles for my reviews; other reviews will be added soon):

#- BLACK ROCK by John MCFETRIDGE (ECW Press)

#- THE GUILLOTINE CHOICE by Michael J. MALONE (Saraband)

#- LONG WAY HOME by Eva DOLAN (Harvill Secker, Random House UK)

#- AFTER I'M GONE by Laura LIPPMAN (William Morrow)

#- THOSE WHO WISH ME DEAD by Michael KORYTA (Little, Brown)

#- NATCHEZ BURNING by Greg ILES (William Morrow)

#- I AM PILGRIM by Terry HAYES (Atria/Amy Bestler Books)

#- MR MERCEDES by Stephen KING (Scribner)

#- ALL DAY AND A NIGHT by Alafair BURKE (Harper)

#- THE SQUARE OF REVENGE by Pieter ASPE (Pegasus Books)

#- THE LONG WAY HOME by Louise PENNY (Minotaur Books)

#- AMERICAN WOMAN by Robert POBI (Thomas Mercer)

#- NO SAFE HOUSE by Linwood BARCLAY (Doubleday Canada)

#- LIFE OR DEATH by Michael ROBOTHAM (Sphere)

#- ENTRY ISLAND by Peter MAY (Quercus)

#- ONE KICK by Chelsea CAIN (Simon & Schuster)

#- THE DROP by Dennis LEHANE (William Morrow)


And a few more books I'm looking forward to read:

#- THE SILKWORM by Robert GALBRAITH/J.K. ROWLING (Mulholland Books)

#- THE BURNING ROOM by Michael CONNELLY (Little, Brown)

#- THE BONES BENEATH by Mark BILLINGHAM (Little, Brown)

#- THE WOLF IN WINTER by John CONNOLLY (Atria/Emily Bestler Books)

#- THE SON by Jo NESBO (Random House Canada)

#- WAYFARING STRANGER by James Lee BURKE (Simon & Schuster)

#- THE GOLEM OF HOLLYWOOD by Jonathan & Jesse KELLERMAN (Putnam)

#- BLIND SPOT by Reed Farrel COLEMAN (Putnam)

#- BROKEN MONSTERS by Lauren BEUKES (Mulholland Books)

#- REVIVAL by Stephen KING (Scribner)

#- BLISS HOUSE by Laura BENEDICT (Pegasus Crime)

#- THE FINAL SILENCE by Stuart NEVILLE (Soho Press)

#- THE MARTINI SHOT by George PELECANOS (Little, Brown)
 

and many more whenever possible.

What are yours?

August 3rd, 2014 (updated September 13th)
JF

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DOUBLE GIVEAWAY: Linwood BARCLAY and Michael ROBOTHAM

 TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE...WELL, ACTUALLY IT'S TWO FOR THE PRICE OF NONE.
THEY ARE TWO OF THE BEST THRILLER WRITERS YOU CAN FIND; ONE IS CANADIAN (initials LB), THEY OTHER IS AUSTRALIAN (initials MR).

SEND ME YOUR NAME BEFORE TUESDAY, AUGUST 5TH, AT NOON (MONTREAL TIME) FOR A CHANCE TO WIN BOTH OF THESE BOOKS. THERE WILL BE ONLY ONE WINNER.



UPDATE: the winner is Jeffrey Mackie, from Montréal (Québec), Canada. I think he is my first ever Montréal winner. Congrats to you, Jeffrey and to thank everyone else who entered the giveaway, I've added your names to the other giveaway of the week. BONNE CHANCE!

# Here's the publisher's description about Linwood BARCLAY's NO SAFE HOUSE:

THERE ARE SOME HOUSES YOU SHOULD NEVER GO INTO. EVEN YOUR OWN.

Seven years ago, Terry Archer and his family experienced a horrific ordeal that nearly cost them their lives. Today, the echoes of that night are still haunting them. Terry's wife, Cynthia, is living separate from her husband and daughter after her own personal demons threatened to permanently ruin her Relationship with them. Their daughter, Grace, is rebelling against her parents' needless overprotection. Terry is just trying to keep his family together. And the entire town is reeling from the senseless murder of a local retired couple.

But when Grace follows her delinquent boyfriend into a strange house, the Archers must do more than stay together. They must stay alive...

# Now, here's an excerpt from a letter by Michael ROBOTHAM about LIFE OR DEATH:

"(...) Life or Death, a story that I've nurtured and turned over in my mind for more than twenty years --ever since I read a newspaper account of a man who had served a long prison sentence, but escaped the day before he was due to be released.

Why, I asked myself --what could possibly be the reason?

It took me years to come up with an answer and even longer before I felt I had the skills to tell the story properly. I needed to practice. I needed to learn. I needed to get better.

(...) It's a love story and a prison story and a heart-stopping account of one man's refusal to surrender. More importantly, it's the book that I was meant to write."

NO SAFE HOUSE by Linwood BARCLAY will be officially published this coming Tuesday, and is a softcover copy; LIFE OR DEATH by Michael ROBOTHAM is an advance reader's copy (with a gorgeous cover) and will be published later this week in UK/Australia (but only on October 7th in Canada, and in March 2015 in the US). My email address is housecrimyst@gmail.com
To be eligible to win, you need to be 18 years or older and live in Canada or the US.     

BONNE CHANCE!

Visit the authors's websites here: Michael ROBOTHAM and Linwood BARCLAY.

Sponsors: THANK YOU to Random House of Canada for the copy of NO SAFE HOUSE (published by Doubleday Canada), and to Hachette Canada/Hachette UK for the copy of LIFE OR DEATH (published by Sphere, an imprint of Little, Brown Book Group UK).

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