CBTB’s Top 10 Crime Books of 2022 — Crime by the Book

1. REPTILE MEMOIRS by Silje UlsteinWHY I LOVED IT:Reflecting on my reading year while writing this blog post, there were so many amazing contenders for this “Top 10” list—but there was really only one choice for my top favorite book that 2022 had to offer. REPTILE MEMOIRS by Silje Ulstein was, for me, the very best of my bookish year. I’m going to preface this by saying: REPTILE MEMOIRS will not be a book for everyone (not that there’s any such thing as a book that is for everyone to begin with!), but if anything I’m about to say about REPTILE MEMOIRS appeals to you, I would encourage you to give this wildly underrated, fiercely original thriller a try. This debut Norwegian psychological thriller is one I’d been online-stalking for years before it released in the US; it was published in Norway a few years ago to tremendous acclaim, and it finally made its way to American bookstores in early 2022. It was worth the wait. REPTILE MEMOIRS is a singular work: hypnotic, original, dark, and deeply strange in the best way. This is one of those books that’s nearly impossible to categorize. It’s a disturbing thriller, a missing persons mystery, a coming-of-age story… and, yes, a book about a pet snake. This dual-timeline literary crime novel follows a young woman who purchases a pet snake in the early 2000’s, and a woman whose daughter goes missing in the present day. Set in Norway, REPTILE MEMOIRS blends Nordic sensibility with razor-sharp thriller writing; this is not traditional Nordic Noir, and it’s not your typical psychological thriller, either. Silje Ulstein seems to have figured out how to draw the very best from multiple crime writing traditions, combining them into an irresistible, deeply-weird-in-the-best-way concoction all her own. REPTILE MEMOIRS is a book about loneliness and connection, a book filled with people desperate to shed their pasts and start over—and, moreover, it’s a book that asks whether or not that kind of rebirth is ever actually possible. It’s tragic, dark, disturbing, and hypnotic, a fiercely original and utterly excellent crime story, and my personal favorite book I read this year. About the Book:A bestselling Norwegian debut already sold in thirteen territories, Reptile Memoirs is a brilliantly twisty and unusual literary thriller for fans of Gillian Flynn, Jo Nesbø, Kate Atkinson, and Tana French, asking the question: Can you ever really shed your skin?Liv has a lot of secrets. For her, home is the picturesque town of Ålesund, perched on a fjord in western Norway. One night, in the early-morning embers of a great party in the basement apartment she shares with two friends, Liv is watching TV, high on weed, and sees a python on an Australian nature show. She becomes obsessed with the idea of buying a snake as a pet. Soon Nero, the baby Burmese python, becomes the apartment’s fourth roommate. As Liv bonds with Nero, she feels extremely protective, like a caring mother, and she is struck by a desire that surprises her with its intensity. Finally she is safe.Thirteen years later, in the nearby town of Kristiansund, Mariam Lind goes on a shopping trip with her eleven-year-old daughter, Iben, who angers her mother by asking for a magazine one too many times. Mariam storms off, leaving Iben in the shop and, expecting her young daughter to find her own way home, heads off on a long calming drive. When she returns home in the evening, her husband is relieved to see her but terrified that Iben isn’t also there. Detective Roe Olsvik is assigned to the case of Iben’s disappearance; he has just turned sixty and is new to the Kristiansund police department. As he interrogates Mariam, he instantly suspects her—but there is much more to this case and these characters than their outer appearances would suggest.A biting and constantly shifting tale of family secrets, rebirth, and the legacy of trauma, Reptile Memoirs is a brilliant exploration of the cold-bloodedness of humanity, and the struggle to mend broken lives and families.