Best books of 2018

Top 5 Books of the year

i read a lot of great books this year and this list could even have gone into double figures but i decided a top 5 would be more reasonable

1.Forever And A Day by Anthony Horowitz

A new james bond novel is always a treat , and Forever and a day is no exception. The novel tells the story of how Bond goes from trainee agent to getting his 00 number ,after the old 007 washes up dead on a beach in the South of france.  Forever And A Day is shot through with classic Bond elements ,glamourous locales ,beautiful strong women, sneaking around , gambling , the obligatory bollocking from M and so on .

Like the novel that went before it Trigger Mortis Horowitz has had some help in the form of unseen material from Ian Fleming , the one that gets featured this time round isn't as well fleshed out as the one from trigger mortis but its entertaining all the same.

Forever And A Day is a rare beast , its a book i simply couldnt fault .

2. Call To Arms By Rachel Amphlett

The fifth entry in this fab series sees kay hunter tackle her most personal case yet. With Kay's mentor and friend Devon sharp suspended from duty after the events of the previous book. To try and clear sharps name Hunter takes on a cold case ,linked not only to sharp but the person who got him suspended in the first place. We also get the chance to see a softer side to DCI Larch, who's world gets turned upside down by a family tragedy.

This is the first Kay Hunter novel to not feature the storyline with Hunter's nemesis Joseph Demiri. It gets mentioned but it's very much been wrapped up now .  Call To Arms features a cold case, a first for this series and its nice to see Hunter and the team take on something a little different but still proves to be as challenging as a newly committed murder.

All the Kay Hunter books are brilliant but this one might just be the best yet… until the next one.

3. Past Tense by Lee Child

The 23rd Reacher  book sees teacher stumble upon a roadsigh to the place where his father grew up, but when he gets there  and starts asking around he discovers that no one called Reacher ever lived there.

Intrigued, Reacher decides to start shaking the family tree , just to see what comes tumbling out. Is Reachers father everything his son thought he was?

4. On The Edge by Richard Hammond

The autobiography of everyone's favourite televisual short arse. On the edge goes right the way from Richard Hammond's childhood,to his school and art college days ,local radio and then making it big on Top Gear. There are some hilarious stories in here as well as some truly heartbreaking ones as told by Hammond's wife Mindy ( they wrote the book together). What results is quite simply my favourite autobiography of all time. Apart from Roger Moore's obviously.

5. The Hanged Man by Simon Kernick

The second book in the Bone Field series sees maverick detective Ray Mason and The legandary Tina Boyd attempt to bring down the Bone Field Killers once and for all.  When bodies are discovered at a remote country house and the man who witnessed the murders on the run Ray Mason and Tina Boyd team up to find the witness before the killers do…..

Simon Kernick is one of those writers you can always rely on for a good read and the Hanged Man is no exception , it's violent , funny ,has well constructed villains and even a bit of a love story and the final third of the book is best described as a blood bath. I loved it.