10. Shock Wave by John Sandford is the fifth novel in the Virgil Flowers series. Flowers is the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension's best agent, and he solves his cases by digging up as much information as he can about the major players connected to the case at hand. I've reviewed all the Virgil Flowers novels thus far in the series; these novels are always a thrill and a quick read with a dash of humor.
9. Spider Bones by Kathy Reichs is the thirteenth novel in the Dr. Tempe Brennan series. Brennan is a forensic anthropologist who works between the North Carolina and Montreal medical examiners' offices, and she also teaches at the local universities in those respective locations. Up to this novel I read every installation in the series. I started reading the series long before the blog started, so only some of the later titles in the series are reviewed here. This was also the last book in the series that I've read, and if you click through to the review, you'll find out why. Though several installations have been released since this one published in 2010, I haven't read a single one.
8. Ruined by Paula Morris is the only YA title on this list. It's a ghost story, and my review of this book is savage. To learn more, you'll have to read the review.
7. The Sixth Lamentation by William Broderick is the first book in a five book series that follows Father Anselm. Father Anselm is a monk who lives at a priory in England, and apparently he develops a five book long habit of getting caught up in murders, mysteries, and other investigations. This is the only book in the series that I've read.
6. The Various Haunts of Men by Susan Hill is the first novel in the Simon Serrailler series. Serrailler is the chief police inspector in Lafferton, a small fictional city in England. Like The Sixth Lamentation, I only read the first novel of the series.
5. Generation Kill by Evan Wright and One Bullet Away by Nathaniel Fick is a single post that reviews two books. Both titles are non-fiction war memoirs written by a journalist and a former U.S. Marine respectively. They are the only non-fiction titles on our countdown.
4. Bad Blood by John Sandford is the fourth novel in the Virgil Flowers series. The review for the fifth novel of this series was number ten on our countdown.
3. Broken by Karin Slaughter is the fourth book in the Will Trent series after it merged with Slaughter's Grant County series. Will Trent is an agent with the Georgia Bureau of Criminal Investigation; he's worked hard to get where he is after growing up in the foster care system and without any proper educational intervention for his severe dyslexia. And if none of the previous reviews on this countdown let you know this, this one will: I get emotionally involved in the books and series I read.
2. Crow Lake by Mary Lawson is the only standalone, fiction title on the list (#8, Ruined, has a sequel). It's a gripping novel about the toll trauma and its ensuing dysfunction takes on a family.
1. In the Woods by Tana French is the first novel of the Dublin Murder Squad series, and its review is by far the most viewed review on this blog. In fact, the review post for this novel is a couple thousand page views ahead of its predecessor. It's a unique series in that it doesn't follow a specific character, but rather a police unit that solves murders in Dublin, Ireland. Subsequent books' main protagonists are often preceding installments' supporting characters. I highly recommend French's suspenseful, character driven series. She specializes in telling characters' stories just as their lives are about to go to hell in a hand basket in a perfect storm of personal and professional struggles and tribulations. Incidentally, the post for In the Woods is also the most commented on post for this blog.
I also want to spotlight the two top DVD reviews in terms of page views: Anzac Girls, a mini-series that follows Australian nurses serving in Egypt and later the European theater during World War I, and Paranormal Activity, the hugely popular horror movie that spawned several sequels, were the two DVD reviews that have received the most page views in the history of the blog.
Were you surprised by any of the titles that made the list? If you have a favorite book that I've reviewed, let us know in the comments! And check in with us next week for a special announcement.
--Ms. Angie
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