Books I Enjoyed In 2022

As 2022 comes to a close, I figured it was finally time to reveal what books I enjoyed this past year.

Before that, though, I should recap what I did in 2022, at least writing-wise.

I released two titles: one novel under my own name, Bullet Country, and a novella under my pen name that I released as an ebook and paperback which was initially released as an Audible Original.

What does 2023 have in store? Well, a couple of things, some of which I can’t announce quite yet, but there will be a new thriller by me that’ll be in bookstores, so that should be fun. Oh, and will there be more Avery Bishop? You better believe it!

So yeah, I’ve been staying busy, and I’ve been reading and listening to audiobooks whenever I can. And so, without further ado, here are the books that I enjoyed in 2022 which I think others might enjoy too. But as is the case with everything, your mileage may vary.

Novels 

  • THE COLLECTIVE by Alison Gaylin 

  • THE DAMAGE by Caitlin Wahrer

  • NO EXIT by Taylor Adams

  • THE LAST DAYS OF PTOLEMY GREY by Walter Mosley 

  • THE SHINING GIRLS by Lauren Beukes

  • ALL THE OLD KNIVES by Olen Steinhauer

  • OCEAN STATE by Stewart O’Nan

  • BLUE BILLY by Laura Ellen Scott

  • THE SENTRY by Robert Crais

  • CHILD ZERO by Chris Holm

  • THE OBSERVANT by Ravi Mangla 

  • NORTH BORDER by Benjamin Percy and Francesco Francavilla

  • HEAT 2 by Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner 

  • SLEEPWALK by Dan Chaon 

  • THESE SILENT WOODS by Kimi Cunningham Grant

  • RACING THE LIGHT by Robert Crais 

  • EVERYTHING I NEVER TOLD YOU by Celeste Ng 

Audiobooks

  • I AM NOT WHO YOU THINK I AM by Eric Rickstad, read by Steven Weber

  • DARK HORSE by Gregg Hurwitz, read by Scott Brick 

  • VERITY by Colleen Hoover, read by Vanessa Johansson and Amy Landon

  • THE GRAY MAN by Mark Greaney, read by Jay Snyder

  • COMEDY COMEDY COMEDY DRAMA by Bob Odenkirk, read by Bob Odenkirk

  • ONE OF US IS DEAD by Jeneva Rose, read by Andi Arndt, Hillary Huber, Elizabeth Evans, Brittany Pressley, Cassandra Campbell

  • WHY WE DID IT: A TRAVELOGUE FROM THE REPUBLICAN ROAD TO HELL by Tim Miller, read by Josh Bloomberg

  • 56 DAYS by Catherine Ryan Howard, read Alana Kerr Collins

  • THE SUMMER HOUSE by James Patterson and Brendan DuBois, read by Ari Fliakos

  • TELL HER STORY by Margot Hunt, read by Dakota Fanning

  • TELL ME LIES by J. P. Pomare, read by Aimee Horne 

  • ON TARGET by Mark Greaney, read by Jay Snyder

  • RAZORBLADE TEARS by S. A. Cosby, read by Adam Lazarre-White

  • BEFORE SHE DISAPPEARED by Lisa Gardner, read by Hillary Huber.

Stories

  • UNCLEAN JOBS FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS by Alissa Nutting

  • TWISTED: THE COLLECTED STORIES OF JEFFERY DEAVER by Jeffery Deaver

Now, what about you? Any books you read (or listened to) this past year you really enjoyed?

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Three Things

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Second, speaking of Barnes & Noble, I was wandering around the one in Exton, Pennsylvania, on Friday and happened to pick up the most recent The Best American Mystery & Suspense and received a pleasant surprise.

Finally, happy birthday to this little goofball!

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My Newest Book

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*tap tap*

Is this thing on?

*clears throat*

So it’s been a minute, hasn’t it? I’ve mostly abandoned this blog in favor of social media — Twitter, for the most part.

But if you’ve been paying attention to, well, the world, you know just how much of a shitshow Twitter has become (and will inevitably continue to be) so I figured I might as well dust off this here ol’ blog and see if I can squeeze any juice out of it.

And so, without any further fanfare, I should note that my newest book is out!

BULLET COUNTRY, the second book in the Nova Bartkowski series (a spin-off of the Holly Lin series) came out a few weeks ago.

Kindle • Nook • Kobo • Apple • Google Play

While BULLET COUNTRY — like the previous Nova Bartkowski thriller BULLET RAIN — is part of the Holly Lin series, readers do not need to have read any of the books in that series to enjoy it. For those readers interested in the overall series timeline, the events of BULLET COUNTRY take place between THE DEVIL YOU KNOW and HOLLOW POINT.

It occurred to me the other day that this is the first thriller under my own name that I've published in two years, as END GAME came out at the beginning of 2020. Granted, I've been publishing books under my pen name in the meantime, but still. Two years!

(Oh, yeah, for those who have only been keeping an eye out on this dusty blog, for the past several years I’ve been publishing psychological suspense under the pen name Avery Bishop. I’ve published two novels so far, GIRL GONE MAD and ONE YEAR AGO, as well as a novella published by Audible which I later released as an ebook and paperback. And for fans of the AB stuff, fear not: there will be more coming in 2023!)

Anyway, I talked a bit about the new book in the latest issue of The Big Thrill, and I was a recent guest on the Brutal Dudes podcast where I discussed the book as well.

So … I guess that’s it for now. I’m going to try to remember I still have this blog moving forward and update it on a regular basis (especially as I have a new thriller being published next year by Blackstone Publishing), but for those just dying to keep up with me on a day-by-day basis, definitely check me out on Twitter. I’ll be there until the site dies or I get suspended because, well, Fox News recently labeled me as a “liberal writer.” On the plus side about that, new blurb!