best of 2020: fiction

Now that December's rolled around, it's time to start posting my "best of 2020" lists!  A few notes before I begin:

• Not all of these were first published in 2020, but that's when I read them.
• These are in random order, though I did make note of my favorite novel of the year.
• It's a coincidence that all of these were written by women, but I ain't mad about it.
• Obviously 2020 isn't over yet (unfortunately), so if I read something between now and the end of the month that belongs here, I'll update accordingly.
  
• And, as always, your mileage may vary.

 

1. The Better Liar by Tanen Jones:  In order to receive her inheritance, Leslie hires a woman to impersonate her dead sister; it does not go as expected.  Good and nasty.

2. True Story by Kate Reed Perry:  In 1999, Nick Brothers attends a party with his fellow lacrosse teammates, and two of them are later accused of sexually assaulting a passed out girl.  In 2015, Alice is now a successful ghostwriter, but she's haunted by the story she can't tell about the things that happened "when [she] was asleep".  One of the reviews said it's about the power of lies to shape the truth, which is spot on.  This book was really good all the way through, but the ending was phenomenal.  I think I actually clapped.

3. Godshot by Chelsea Bieker: In the drought-plagued town of Peaches, California, a charismatic preacher claims he can bring the rain. 14-year-old Lacey's mother runs away after being exiled, and Lacey is left with her strange taxidermy-obsessed grandmother.  Lacey is afraid of the preacher's plans for her and the other girls in the cult, so in desperation, she turns to the women at the phone sex hotline where her mother secretly worked.  Let me tell you, I very rarely cry at books, and this made me SOB.  My favorite novel of the year.

4. The Familiar Dark by Amy Engel: In a poverty-stricken Missouri town, two little girls are murdered. Eve, the mother of one of the victims, is determined to find the killer, but it might mean she has to return to a world she was desperate to leave.  

5. The Return by Rachel Harrison:  Elise's best friend Julie disappears and is declared dead. Two years later, Julie suddenly comes back and claims to have no memory of what happened to her or where she's been.  Elise, Julie, and two of their other friends go on a girls' trip to a weird theme hotel (think a classier version of the Madonna Inn), but it's becoming more and more apparent that something is wrong with Julie. This frickin' book kept me up very late and then I had a hard time sleeping because it got under my skin so badly.   

6. The Searcher by Tana French:  After Cal retires from the Chicago PD, he moves to a tiny Irish village, but his dreams of peace and quiet vanish when a local boy begs for help finding his missing brother.  It's a real slow burn, but you won't mind the wait, especially when French pulls a really nifty trick about halfway through, and as usual, she sticks the landing.  I don't think anyone else writes endings as consistently well as she does.

7. The Knockout Queen by Rufi Thorpe: Michael, a gay teenager living with his aunt after his mother is sent to prison for stabbing his dad, unexpectedly befriends the beautiful rich girl next door.  When Michael falls in love with a much older man he meets online, gossip spreads through their school and Bunny has an unusual reaction to it.  Beautiful and vivid. 

8. Road Out of Winter by Alison Stine: When spring doesn't return for the second year in a row, a young pot farmer named Wylodine hits the road in hopes of finding her mother in California, but she runs into trouble along the way.  Engrossing.

9. Luster by Raven Leilani:  Edie is a young black woman in New York City, meandering through her boring job and having flings with her coworkers.  Things get interesting when she meets Eric, a white married man in an open relationship, and she finds herself entangled in his family in ways she wasn't expecting.  Sharp, smart, and so funny at times I wondered if it was written by Samantha Irby under a pen name.

10. The Silent Wife by Karin Slaughter:  A young woman is attacked, and the case is similar to several previous ones, but the perpetrator of those crimes is behind bars and claims that he was set up by a corrupt police force...including Sara Linton's dead husband.  So engrossing I had a hard time doing anything else until I finished it.  (Content warning:  EXTREMELY graphic descriptions of brutal sexual assault and its aftermath.)