My Worst Reads of 2024

[@ITCamefromthePage]

I'm glad I sent you one of the worst reads of the year. I have been doing my job.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

LOL I remain grateful for it, I mean, it was from Moosejaw!

[@Michael_Wertenberg]

Another great video, Olly. The Devil Takes You Home makes my list of worst reads for 2024, too. Wishing us both better success with our reads in 2025❣

[@LiterateTexan]

There's a movie called Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, which is a mockumentary about an aspiring horror movie slasher. It works well as a comedy but also as a horror movie. I think you might find it scratching the same itch as I Was a Teenage Slasher, but it's probably more satisfying.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Ahhh, I remember hearing about that one. Thanks for the rec, Randy

[@bigaldoesbooktube1097]

When you read as many books as you are Olly I guess they can’t all be hits. Keep fighting the good fight 🫡.

[@M-J]

Your worst is my best - which is exactly why we get along! 😂🤗

[@CriminOllyBlog]

ha! it is

[@StephaniePatterson-jb5it]

Yep. I really disliked “The Devil Takes You Home.” I DNFed it which I rarely do.

[@eonarts]

I’ve read a lot of Jo Nesbo books with Harry Hole as the main character and some of the books are better written than other but I’ve found them all engaging so I do finish them quickly. Part of their charm is the thin ridiculousness line Nesbo walks. I no longer read Horror so I haven’t read this book. I’m currently slogging through another Norwegian author Karin Fossum (The Whisperer). This has been a slow read and I don’t look forward to it. Now that I near the end it’s picking up but if I was reading Nesbo I’d have finished 3 books!! I hope to finish it tonight!!

[@sid1gen]

I read Nesbo's novel set in Australia, The Bat, and it was terrible. I have several of his other books, but I may never pick them up. I've read I'm Travelling Alone, by Frode Sander Øien (Samuel Bjørk) and disliked it, too. I like crime thrillers and "that kind of stuff," but I just don't seem to click with many of the authors. Snow White Must Die, by Nele Neuhaus, was awful, too. There was a novel by a Scandinavian writer that took place in the Danish island of Bornholm, but I just remember that. I've started two of Henning Mankell's novels, only to abandon them unfinished. So far, the Nordic crime novels I've liked are the Stieg Larsson ones, starting with The Men Who Hate Women (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), and Doctor Glas, a Swedish classic from 1905 by Hjalmar Söderberg, but this last one cannot be considered among the Nordic Crime group. I am interested in reading two books on your list: Ghost Station and The Devil Takes You Home, but my TBR pile is large already. The weird thing is that in these last few months I've read a series of books that I haven't liked. The last two that I read and enjoyed very much were The Sundown Motel, by Simone St. James; and Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens. I'm just finishing Greg Bear's Blood Music and it has been underwhelming. This last one, and Silverberg's The Book of Skulls, which I didn't finish, were highly recommended by Bookpilled and no luck so far. Thanks for the reviews. Even when I don't agree with your opinions, they are always interesting and quite entertaining. You have a very engaging way to present the books and of enriching my reading experience.

[@kmwwrench]

Well, that was interesting. Thankfully, I had not attempted even one of those books. I've read most of Highsmith, but I don't think I've tried that one - and maybe I won't.

[@malundy]

I take your points about I Was a Teenaged Slasher but I did enjoy it because of the way it directly addressed the slasher and final girl tropes. The protagonist, Tolly Driver, did horrible things but he didn't want to. He was compelled by the rules of the slasher genre. I rolled with the idea. Thanks for the heads-up about Jack Carter's Law. I'm a great fan of Jack's Return Home and the Michael Cain film adaptation, Get Carter. If you feel like punishing yourself, watch the Sylvester Stallone version of Get Carter. The gritty Newcastle pub becomes a Seattle fern bar.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

I think I'll continue avoiding that Stallone version. I do really want to read GBH by Lewis - that one is supposed to be great

[@malundy]

@@CriminOllyBlog Good choice re the Stallone film version. GBH is very good and as noir as one could hope for. I had to get my paperback copy from a UK seller but, now that you have reminded me, I might get the ebook version as well.

[@haughtyturtle5702]

I agree with I Was a Teenage Slasher. It was more of a bummer than out right bad but still.

[@arekkrolak6320]

It is good to see what books to avoid but there is no book on this list that I would even consider reading in the first place :)

[@LauraBCReyna]

I've also tried Jo Nesbo a couple times & can't seem to get into his books. And I've liked most of the Scandinavian/Nordic crime novels I've read. I have a copy of The Snowman & will try again. Thanks for the vid!

[@marciajohansson769]

I liked The Snowman and The Leopard. I went back to the first of the series The Bat and it was just OK.

[@blane1814]

I have read 6 books on my new kobo thank you for recommending me the kobo 📚💋💋

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Glad you're enjoying it!

[@JohnSeney-t1i]

The only part of "The Devil Takes You Home" that I liked was the interlude when they traveled to Mexico. Other than that there were too many problems including the very corny twist in the end.

[@Rodriguezkuba80]

the devil takes you home was awesomeeeeee

[@CriminOllyBlog]

I know so many people who love it

[@thebookthatnooneread]

Glad to see I wasn’t the only one who thought Ghost Station was a disappointment. It had so much potential too. 😔

[@mikesbookreviews]

I'm always happy when I haven't read anything on a worst of the year vid.

[@sjmsutherland]

The first book you mentioned....I almost bought it but got My Best Friends Exorcism instead. I did want to read it, maybe I will in the future, but I'm in no hurry to get to it for a while!! I might put it on my Christmas list, then if I don't like it I didn't buy it 🤣

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Honestly, all these books have people who absolutely love them, they just weren't for me

[@sjmsutherland]

@@CriminOllyBlog if we all liked the same books, life would be boring!!

[@ConkerKing]

I barely managed 13 books this year...

[@graciacardassia7306]

I felt the same about the Nesbo novel. It had an interesting start but then the twist simply derailed it and it had a realla annoying ending.

[@mackenzie284]

Totally agree. I was almost angry at that book! Premise was good, started out well... but then it fell apart.

[@KieranLikesCake]

I loved Hawk Mountain.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

I read it because I'd heard so many people loved it, but that twist mid way killed it for me

[@WilkieBarth]

That is an awful lot of bad reads for a years time 😭 What generally inspires your selections? May I suggest a few reputable book lists?

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Well, I've read about 260 books this year, so 13 is only 1 in 20, which doesn't seem too bad

[@WilkieBarth]

@@CriminOllyBlog that’s a decent rate, about 5%. I’ve read about 40, but only one was truly dismal- Elementals by McDowell.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Yeah I didn’t like that one either

[@bbbadkitty9638]

I loved Dead Silence by Barnes, thus I read Ghost Station. Really did not like it. What you said about Jo Nesbo is how I feel...he has some great parts but it does not hold together and ultimately disappoints.

[@AllenFreemanMediaGuru]

Oh no! “The Night House” by Jo Nesbo was one of my favorites of 2024.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

We're all different!

[@joshuachaplinsky4414]

Lol, glad I'm on the OTHER list!

[@CriminOllyBlog]

lol

[@markwestwriter]

Of these, I read "Dirty Weekend" back in the day and wasn't impressed even then. I doubt it's something I'd ever revisit and you've just helped make up my mind on that...

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Ha!

[@SuperStrangSshadow]

Dodn't like The Devil Takes You Home either. It felt lkke a bad dramathriller and the characters was just flat. Almost reaching my 100 books in a year goa on Goodreads. It has been slow this year because I've read some big books. And I'm still waiting for the great reading year everyone is talking about. It hasn't happened yet. And it is nice to see other people reading some older books as well. Merry Christmas.😊

[@SuperStrangSshadow]

*Didn't, lol.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Well done on that 100 goal! Hope you hit it by year end

[@robertgallagher5285]

Small Mercies Dennis Lehane started out so good I recommended it to another big reader BUT as a crime fiction reader I obviously don't expect a happy ending all the time but in the second half of the novel when I found out her daughter died I couldn't take it it was TOO depressing and came closer to Stephen King's darkest HORROR novel Pet Semetary know Noir and Horror close but don't expect Horror in Crime Fiction The second half too dark!!!

[@Kritz_Reads]

Teenage slasher? yer killin' me. I'm with you on the Night house though.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

As my granny used to say, if we all liked the same things it would be a boring world

[@patlockwood6207]

I have another worst read for you. I finally got around to reading Dark Matter by Michelle Paver. What a disappointment. I kept reading the thing thinking something was going to happen. A figure with a round head and one shoulder lower. Whooooo, scary. The best part of the whole book was Jack's growing relationship with Isaak. I did enjoy the history of Spitsbergen(Svalbard) only because I subscribe to a couple who live there. Paver needs to stick to kiddie lit. I am reading Pretty Girls next. Fingers crossed.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Sorry you didn’t like it more, I thought it was really good! Pretty Girls on the other hand…

[@michellesmelancholia]

I'm shaking my fist for Teenage Slasher hahaha

[@CriminOllyBlog]

I know a lot of people loved it!

[@eriebeverly]

If you need any backup I didn't enjoy the books by Graham Jones, Iglesias, Nash, Barnes, Nesbo, or Habib. The Stephen Graham Jones was the disappointing one because he always works for me but Slasher either needed to be longer or shorter or something. I know that people really like Gabino Iglesias but I don't think he's a writer for me. I've read a couple of other things now by him and there is a kind of tell don't show aspect to him building characters which doesn't work for me. But the Nesbo book was the only one I wanted to punch.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

I'm glad I'm not alone! And yes The Night House just got worse and worse

[@cerealnana]

I just can't read Stephen Grahame Jones. He stresses me out. Jo Nesbo is dead to me for a twist in his series. Did not like Ghost Station at all.

[@666lupine666]

I tried to get on worst reads, but I wasn't good enough. wait...

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Lol

[@chris9gonzo]

I really enjoyed S A Barnes other 2 books, Dead Silence and Cold Eternity, but haven't got round to reading Ghost Station yet...hoping your dislike of it shows difference in tastes, not a drop in the authors quality...lol

[@nicholasjones3207]

The most disappointing for me was the abuse of Ashley collins. It was awful. Took it as indication to have a break from extreme horror and I’ve been enjoying SF instead since then.

[@someokiedude9549]

I hate The Devil Takes You Home. It's pretty rare for me to get angry at a book, much less despise a book outright. Sloppy and self-righteous political commentary that really adds nothing to the characters. While the noir genre is a political one, I find the way Iglesias implemented his commentary was unforgivably preachy and cliched. Glad to see I'm not alone in disliking it.

[@worldobserver3515]

Did I miss the best books of 2024?

[@jay_poet]

I’ve tried with Jo Nesbo but I just can’t. Everyone says The Snowman is great but I DNFed it because the misogyny was so bad and Harry Hole is a barely functioning alcoholic who would’ve lost his job irl by now 😂 There are much better Scandi noir authors out there that I prefer.