Following on from my Best crime reads of 2017 – Part One, and in no particular order, here are the last eight nine! of my absolute favourites from this year. Again most of the following were ARCs so I am extremely grateful to #NetGalley and all the publishers and authors for granting me the opportunity to read them.
Angela Marsons’s whole DI Kim Stone series is fantastic and this year’s Dead Souls is one of my favourites so far, despite it having an extremely dark story. Kim is at her kick-ass best, some new characters shake things up a bit and the plot is genuinely terrifying. There’s also another interesting glimpse into Kim’s (relatively recent) past.
See my full review here
Taylor Adams’s No Exit was recommended in Facebook’s #crimebookclub and has one of my favourite tropes: a group of strangers stranded, trapped by snow, unable to contact the outside world…and then a crime is committed. This is, simply put, one of the most thrilling books I have ever read and I cannot wait for the film version.
See my full review here
I adored Cass Green’s The Woman Next Door and I think In A Cottage In A Wood is even better. I loved its atmosphere and Neve’s gutsy attitude. It was part creepy, part mysterious and part very moving. The revelations towards the end were complete surprises and I’m really looking forward to her next book. (And I also really want a Jarvis now!)
See my full review here
A Dangerous Crossing is an absolute joy. It was much more than I was expecting and I have recommended it far and wide. Every page is filled with sumptuous and exotic detail, glamorous characters and simmering tensions. It is a departure from the modern psychological thriller genre for Tammy Cohen, writing as Rachel Rhys, and I hope she pens some more.
See my full review here
Holy shit, Don’t Wake Up is a great book. Yes, as per its strap-line, the first chapter is incredible but it actually manages to keep up that same terrifying, breakneck pace throughout. Honestly, I could barely put this book down and I cannot believe it is Liz Lawler’s debut. I really hope there is another book in the works…providing my nerves can stand it!
See my full review here
Don’t Close Your Eyes is the first of Holly Seddon’s books that I’ve read, but as soon as I’d finished it, Try Not to Breathe went straight onto my groaning #TBR pile! Don’t Close Your Eyes is an epic dark and mysterious read with quite a few shocking twists. I really felt for Robin and Sarah and, ultimately, after everything that had happened, I found the ending quite touching.
See my full review here
Another new-to-me author this year was Erin Kelly, with He Said/She Said. I doubt it will be the last of her books I read: this is a fascinating and gripping story and the twist is genuinely surprising and clever. I loved the structure and I raced through it, dying to know how Laura and Kit had ended up where they were in the present day and who had been telling the truth.
See my full review here
Good Me Bad Me is another incredible crime thriller debut from 2017. This disturbing and often heart-breaking story has stuck with me since I read it nearly a year ago and I think it will do so for some time to come yet. It has an original plot, a sympathetic lead character and a great ending. I’m really looking forward to seeing what Ali Land does next.
See my full review here
Plus an additional, last-minute, entry for Sharon Bolton’s Dead Woman Walking, making this now my Top 17 for 2017!
Here’s to many more brilliant books during 2018!
juliapalooza.com 
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