The Verifiers by Jane Pek, TP, $23.00
Over a year ago, I loved reading this book in its advanced form before its February release. While I was certain that I was not going to allow it to slip through the gaps for me, I thought it would be hard for a book I first consumed over 18 months ago to be the one that would stand up against anything else I read. And yet it has. Jane Pek has written a book that I can confidently say is genre breaking, unique and poised, more than any other book that have EVER recommended on this list, to become a runaway sensation. Take this opportunity, if you have not yet, to buy it for yourself, or for your most digital friend/relative, so that you can prove that you were in on it before it becomes a darling of #booktok.

That said, there were a number of other books that I should say really impressed me this year. Meredith Hambrock brought a great deal of fun, and a lot of madcap energy to Canadian crime fiction with her debut Other People's Secrets. Winter is not often the time for a cabin country caper, but if late night, lake life antics are in your wheelhouse, this may be a perfect warm up on those cold nights to remind you that cottage season is never that far away.

For those seeking a more severe tome, John Teschner is another name to watch. Project Namahana, is his Hawai'i set, corporate agriculture noir, and a book that offers the promise of an author just touching the bare beginnings of his talent. The beauty of his prose, and the power of what remains unsaid in this first novel suggest that there is another great American thriller writer living in the MidWest.