2024 Books Read

  1. *****Byzantium (Stephen Lawhead). Excellent way to start the year. This book involves the Irish, Vikings, Muslims, and the Holy Roman Empire. 1/6
  2. ***Hawker: Florida Firefight (Randy Wayne White).
  3. ****Code Red (Vince Flynn). Another winner by Kyle Mills, writing his last book about Mitch Rapp.
  4. **Charlemagne (Ricvhard Winston). A short book about this legendary emperor.
  5. ***Prodigals (Alan Dean Foster).
  6. **Reminiscences of Henry Boehm (Henry Boehm). Autobiography of a son of Martin Boehm.
  7. ***Black River (Matthew Spencer). Mystery set in Australia.
  8. ****Q-Space (Greg Cox). First in a trilogy involving Q and the Star Trek Next Generation Crew.
  9. ****Q-Zone (Greg Cox). Second in a trilogy involving Q and the Star Trek Next Generation Crew.
  10. ****Q-Strike (Greg Cox). Third in a trilogy involving Q and the Star Trek Next Generation Crew.
  11. ****Contract: Bait (Ty Hutchinson). Another good hit-woman book.
  12. ****Jane Goes North (Joe R. Lansdale). A quirky road trip novel by one of my favorite writers.
  13. ****Lone Wolf (Gregg Hurwitz). The 9th Orphan X thriller. Great as always.
  14. ****In Wolves’ Clothing (Greg Levin). A novel involving human trafficking.
  15. ****Three-Inch Teeth (CJ Box). the 24th Joe Pickett novel. Absolutely love this series.
  16. ***God Gave Rock & Roll to You (Leah Payne). A history of contemporary Christian music.
  17. *****The Song of Achilles (Madeline Miller), An amazing retelling of the story of Achilles. 3/13
  18. ****Wild Jewell (Tripp Ellis). The 37th Tyson Wild book, set in the Florida Keys. These are always fun and quick reads.
  19. *****Exodus (Leon Uris). A wonderful piece of historical fiction about the founding of the nation of Israel.
  20. ****Wild Greed (Tripp Ellis). the 38th Tyson Wild book;.
  21. ****Ride Away (Cotton Smith). Enjoyable western.
  22. ****The Black Stiletto (Raymond Benson). First of a wonderfully original five-book series. Set in New York City.
  23. ****Black & White (Raymond Benson). Second in the Black Stiletto series.
  24. **Lecture on Secret Societies (Jonathan Weaver). UB bishop Jonathan Weaver wrote this book against secret societies in the 1860s.
  25. ****The Secret (Lee Child/Andrew Child). An interesting tale going back to Reacher’s days as an MP.
  26. ****The Bullet Garden (Stephen Hunter). A book about Earl Swagger in the European theater during WW2.
  27. ****The First Thousand Years (Robert Louis Wilkes). The first 1000 years of Christianity, covering the European, Middle Easter, African, and Asian world.
  28. **Plain Thoughts on Secret Societies (John Lawrence). By a former UB editor.
  29. ****Run Away (Harlan Coben). Another winner. Coben never disappoints.
  30. ****At the Hands of Persons Unknown (Philip Dray). The history of lynching. Quite a book.
  31. ****The Last Stand (Brad Ferguson). Good TNG story involving first contact with a planet about to be wiped out.
  32. ****The Battle of Betazed (Susan Kearney). Set during the Dominion War.
  33. **The Stuff of Dreams (James Swallow). A boring novella.
  34. ****The Housemaid (Freida McFadden). My introduction to a new author, whom I’ll be reading more of.
  35. ****Wild Sky (Tripp Ellis). The 39th Tyson Wild book.
  36. ****Wild Storm (Tripp Ellis). The 40th Tyson Wild book.
  37. ****Stars & Stripes (Raymond Benson). The first of the Black Stiletto trilogy. A very interesting approach.
  38. ****Secrets & Lies (Raymond Benson). The second Black Stiletto book. I’m really loving this trilogy.
  39. ****Endings & Beginnings (Raymond Benson). The final Black Stiletto book finds our heroine in Los Angeles. Great conclusion to the trilogy.
  40. ****Takedown (John Jackson Miller). A Star Trek TNG novel.
  41. ****The Last Word (Taylor Adams). I always enjoy these mysteries/thrillers from Adams.
  42. ****In Five Years (Rebecca Serle). A fascinating relationship story set in New York City. No villain, no great crises, but compelling.
  43. ****A Time of Dread (John Gwynne). First of a trilogy, set 130 years after the four-book series “The Faithful and the Fallen.” Not as good as that other series, not by far, but still a good series.
  44. ****A Time of Blood (John Gwynne). Second in the trilogy. 6/10
  45. ****A Time of Courage (John Gwynne). Third in this trilogy. 6/17
  46. ****Wild Bay (Tripp Ellis). The 41st Tyson Wilde book.
  47. ****The Cairo Job (Vince Milam). The 13th Case Lee book. This one swirls around an organization with roots in Egypt.
  48. ****Acid Vanilla (Matthew Hattersly). First in a series about a female assassin (of which there are many series). This one was pretty good, and I’ll read more.
  49. ****The Bourne Sacrifice (Brian Freeman). The 17th Jason Bourne book, and the 3rd by Brian Freeman. 7/11
  50. ****The Bourne Defiance (Brian Freeman). Another winner in the Bourne series by Brian Freeman. 7/13
  51. ****The Match (Harlan Coben). The second book involving Wilde, the boy from the woods. Very good. Involves him looking for his birth parents. 7/16
  52. ****Treasure in the Keys (Matthew Rief). The 20th Logan Dodge book. This one involves a woman assassin coming after a treasure Dodge and his friends have found. Good one. 7/20
  53. ***Nightshade (Laurell K. Hamilton). The TNG Enterprise tries to broker peace on a war-torn planet, and Picard gets taken prisoner for murder. Interesting. 7/24
  54. ***Finding Sommer (Nicholas Harvey). The beginning of a series involving a Norwegian heroine in the Caymans. Didn’t grab me. 7/27
  55. ****The Donut Legion (Joe R. Lansdale). Another quirky novel from one of my favorite writers. This one involves a Flying Saucer cult in East Texas. 8/1
  56. ****Wild Chaos (Matthew Reiff). Yet another good Tyson Wilde books. 42nd in the series.
  57. ****The Breaker (Nick Petrie). The 6th Peter Ash books, this one set entirely in Milwaukee with his friend Lewis. 8/13
  58. ****Shelter (Harlan Coben). The first of a Mickey Bolitar trilogy, involving rescuing children. 8/14
  59. ****Seconds Away (Harlan Coben). The second Mickey Bolitar books. 8/15
  60. ****Found (Harlan Coben). The conclusion of the Mickey Bolitar trilogy. I read all three books in consecutive days. 8/16
  61. ****Elusive Salvation (Dayton Ward). A time travel book involving aliens, being pursued by an oppressive race, who crash in the Arctic around 1850. Admiral Kirk and Spock end up helping them. Guinan also makes an appearance. Loved this book. 8/18
  62. ****Exiles: The Church in the Shadow of Empire (Preston M. Sprinkle). A study of how people in the Bible responded to living under the rule of other empires (Babylon, Assyria, Egypt, Rome), and how that applies to us today. Good stuff. 8/20
  63. ***The Garden (Melissa Scott). A Star Trek Voyager book (#11). Scurvy is overtaking the crew, so they go to a planet with lush plant growth and try to trade with them. Not a great book, but ok. 8/21
  64. ****Seven of Nine (Christie Golden). The story of Seven of Nine, set against a Voyager attempt to navigate through a major empire. 8/23
  65. ****Killer in the Keys (Matthew Rief). The 21st Logan Dodge book, and quite a good one. Involves a serial killer called the Honeymoon Homicider. 8/24
  66. ***Exiles: the Church in the Shadow of Empire (Prestone Sprinkle). A biblical look at how Christian should live as citizens of the Kingdom of God, but living as “exiles” as part of an earthly empire, whether Assyria, Rome, or the USA.
  67. ***Shadows have Offended (Casandra Rose Clarke). Two storylines going at once. Riker, Crusher, and Data encounter a puzzling life form on a planet being prepared for refugee settlement. That story got kind of tedious and confusing. Meanwhile, Picard is involved in a big celebration on Betazed in which priceless historical items are stolen. I liked that storyline. 8/30
  68. ***Editing Jesus (Rick Lawrence). Subtitled “Confronting the Distorted Faith of the American Church.” Good stuff, but not very compelling writing. Some chapters were weak, others very good (like the one about social justice). 9/1
  69. ****Wild Cruise (Tripp Ellis). Tyson Wilde and JD get involved in capers aboard a huge cruiseship on which JD’s band, Wild Fury, is performing. 9/2
  70. ****Wild Catch (Tripp Ellis). The 44th Tyson Wilde book. 9/3
  71. ****Wild Encounter (Trip Ellis). The 45th Tyson Wilde book. 9/4
  72. ****Wild Blood (Tripp Ellis). The 46th Tyson Wilde book involves vampire impersonators. 9/5
  73. ****The Long Walk (Stephen King). One of his early books written under the Richard Bachman name. 9/7
  74. ****All Systems Red (Martha Wells). The first Murderbot sci-fi book. Interesting. 9/9
  75. ****Artificial Condition (Martha Wells). The second Murderbot book. Liked it better. 9/11
Share Button