{"id":5625,"date":"2016-05-05T08:08:43","date_gmt":"2016-05-05T12:08:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=5625"},"modified":"2017-05-23T16:53:37","modified_gmt":"2017-05-23T20:53:37","slug":"the-years-best-crime-fiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=5625","title":{"rendered":"The Year’s Best Crime Fiction: 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"police

photo: P.V.O.A., creative commons license<\/p><\/div>\n

Why deal with poorly executed [!], formulaic, airport quality crime fiction, when there\u2019s Best Crime? Booklist<\/a><\/em>\u2019s longtime crime fiction reviewer Bill Ott has combed reviews of the amazing spectrum of books in this genre\u2014from \u201ccrime caper novels, psychological thrillers, and history-mystery blends,\u201d to police procedurals, and every kind of crime, white collar to noir, to come up with his top 10 crime novels of the year, 5\/1\/15-4\/15\/16.<\/p>\n

An end-of-year summary of Best Crime\/Mystery\/Thriller fiction of 2016,\u00a0is here.<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

And, the 2017 update of Ott’s list is here.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Every time the award-granting groups publish their nominees for the year\u2019s top books in this genre, I\u2019ve usually not read (and often not even heard of) any of them. This, despite reading some 70 books a year, heavily weighted toward the new and the criminal.<\/p>\n

Booklist\u2019s Top Picks<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Mexico,

(graphic by Christopher Dombres, creative commons license)<\/p><\/div>\n

I was delighted, therefore, to see at the very top of Booklist<\/em>\u2019s review two novels I not only read and reviewed, but found absolutely spectacular\u2014Don Winslow\u2019s The Cartel<\/em><\/a>, a cri de coeur<\/em> for greater understanding of the clueless U.S. War on Drugs, its spectacular failures, and its deadly impact on the people of Mexico.<\/p>\n

The other is Bill Beverly\u2019s Dodgers<\/em><\/a>, a terrific debut novel about a young black man growing up in Los Angeles, how race and crime affect his worldview, and so much more. While I\u2019m not usually a fan of coming-of-age novels, this one will knock your socks off. Says Ott, Beverly\u2019s characters \u201call live, breathe, and bleed.\u201d<\/p>\n

These two books are beautifully written, with convincing characters and engaging plots, and I wish that all the thrillers I read had the same moral significance. The other eight on Ott\u2019s list\u2014which I now want to read to see whether they meet the standard set by Winslow and Beverly\u2014are:<\/p>\n