In November and December just about every newspaper, magazine, and Web site seems to come out with a best of the year list. It's an amusing annual tradition. Even the writers who create these lists (whether for movies, music, or books) seem to realize that these things are so subjective as to be pretty useless.
Still, I find myself enjoying these late-year round-ups. At the very least, they remind me of what I might have missed. Since I write mysteries, I pay particular attention to the crime novels getting the most buzz (Megan Abbott's End of Everything seems to be showing up almost everywhere). Today, I got a pleasant surprise from Omnimystery News which listed Trespasser as one of its favorites (although with some qualifications that kept it from the top of the list):
Trespasser by Paul Doiron. Minotaur Books (June 2011 Hardcover). Atmospheric with a well-crafted plot and a strong lead character … but not quite as polished as it could have been.
As the author, I can't really take issue with this assessment. Honestly, I'm not sure that any of my books are as polished as I would have liked them to be. At the moment, I am completing the copy edits on Bad Little Falls (which will be published in August) and desperation has set in with the ticking clock: I know that this my last chance to shine and buff the story before it goes to print.
No pressure at all!