2021 has been a pretty good year for me reading wise. I’m really pleased with how many books have managed to squeeze in with some effort so I think it would be good to just go through three of the more memorable reads that I’ve really enjoyed this year.
The Warehouse by Rob Hart
This book is an excellent example of what I seem to enjoy the most both in reading and my own writing – taking a prescient or emerging current issue and extrapolating it to an extreme with around which a compelling story is built. With The Warehouse we get an almost cyberpunk twist on a massive corporate conglomerate (analogous to at least one company right now…) that has its tendrils in everything. I enjoyed the speedy pace and how it introduced us, the reader, to concepts in the story world that become important later and I was quite engaged to find out the revelation of the mystery. The riffing of the characters off each other and their dynamic was quite good to see. This was a thrilling and enjoyable read that was right up my street.
Cold Storage by David Koepp
This book was another thrilling and claustrophobic and read. While the ramifications of the plot are huge, the action takes place in a very small and compact setting with only a handful of characters that we do get to know pretty well by the conclusion. I thought the stakes were built up quite quickly and it felt believable in the universe and there was a lot of tension as the clocks are wound down towards the disaster. Cold Storage was another read that flew by pretty quickly, it grabbed me pretty fast and left me wanting more! David Koepp being a screenwriter on Jurassic Park impressed upon me its technothriller heritage and considering the novel of Jurassic Park is a firm favourite, Cold Storage is a definite contender for carrying on the mantle of what made Michael Crichton’s books so good.
Angels & Demons by Dan Brown
Dan Brown books are always a little bit chaotic but this was one that I got quite into. The plot played at breakneck pace while I knew that the main plot device was a slightly nonsensical if given a great deal of thought, I managed to suspend my disbelief enough for it to be an enjoyable and brisk thriller read. What this book does well is not to get hung up too much on the religious aspects but to focus on using those religious elements as devices on which to hang a thrilling plot.
I hope my recommendations of these books helps you find some good reads to fill your shelves! If you want to see the full list of books I managed to have a go at (as I didn’t finish all of them) then I set up this page on my Goodreads. I generally use this just for my own purposes but you might find something you’re interested in!
If you have not yet subscribed to my exclusive monthly newsletter and wish to, please do so here! Thank you!
Richard Holliday 