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The best books of 2023

This list is part of the best books of 2023.

We've asked 1,627 authors and super readers for their 3 favorite reads of the year.

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My favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of The Cartel

John Houle Why did I love this book?

I started Winslow’s Cartel series in the middle of the trilogy. His novel, The Cartel, was the book that hooked me, not only on his series but on all of his past and future work.

His writing style is different than mine with his long prose, but also similar to my own in its conversational style. If you want to feel like you’re on the front lines of the drug cartel business and wars in Mexico, this book provides a first-hand account, or at least what I expect this world looks and feels like.

Winslow’s character development is also especially strong, and you feel like you’re walking in their shoes. For any profession, I feel it’s essential to study the masters, and I think Winslow is one of our finest thriller writers today.

By Don Winslow,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Cartel as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The New York Times bestselling second novel in the explosive Power of the Dog series—an action-filled look at the drug trade that takes you deep inside a world riddled with corruption, betrayal, and bloody revenge.

Book Two of the Power of the Dog Series

It’s 2004. Adán Barrera, kingpin of El Federación, is languishing in a California federal prison. Ex-DEA agent Art Keller passes his days in a monastery, having lost everything to his thirty-year blood feud with the drug lord. Then Barrera escapes. Now, there’s a two-million-dollar bounty on Keller’s head and no one else capable of taking Barrera…


My 2nd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of Target Acquired

John Houle Why did I love this book?

I love great stories, and I especially gravitate towards international intrigue. As a big Tom Clancy and Dan Brown fan, I found that Don Bentley honors the great works of Clancy.

While I grew up with the stories of Jack Ryan, I now enjoy reading the new adventures of his son, Jack Ryan, Jr. This storyline is also ripped from today’s headlines as I write this. If only Jack Ryan, Jr. had been on the ground in real life to stop the atrocities perpetrated by Hamas.

Target Acquired provides some insights into the geo-political realities on the ground but in an entertaining format.

By Don Bentley,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Target Acquired as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Jack Ryan, Jr., will do anything for a friend, but this favor will be paid for in blood in the latest electric entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling series.

Jack Ryan, Jr. would do anything for Ding Chavez. That's why Jack is currently sitting in an open-air market in Israel, helping a CIA team with a simple job. The man running the mission, Peter Beltz, is an old friend from Ding's Army days. Ding hadn't seen his friend since Peter's transfer to the CIA eighteen months prior, and intended to use the assignment to reconnect. Unfortunately, Ding had…


My 3rd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of Red Winter

John Houle Why did I love this book?

As a fan of the Tom Clancy genre, I felt like I was right back reading Clancy’s classics when I picked up Red Winter. Most of the new Clancy fiction surrounds Jack Ryan, Jr., and while I enjoy those works as well, it was fun to return to the Cold World era.

Cameron pays homage to the greatness that was Clancy, and while I can no longer read the master of modern-day political thrillers, I found a worthy successor.

I enjoyed uncovering a past mission of Jack Ryan, who is one of my all-time favorite characters in fiction. As a child of the Cold War, it was a fun ride behind the Iron Curtain.

By Marc Cameron,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Red Winter as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

1985: For Jack Ryan, the Cold War is burning hot

A top secret F117 aircraft crashes into the Nevada desert. The Nighthawk is the most advanced fighting machine in the world and the Soviets will do anything to get their hands on its secrets.

In East Berlin, a mysterious figure contacts the CIA with an incredible offer: invaluable details of his government's espionage plans in return for asylum. With the East German secret police closing in, someone will have to go to behind the Berlin Wall to investigate the potential defector. It's a job Deputy Director James Greer can only…


Plus, check out my book…

The King-Makers of Providence

By John Houle,

Book cover of The King-Makers of Providence

What is my book about?

The King-Makers of Providence is a tour de force in five acts through campaign craft to all-out political warfare, uniting the Machiavellian with the Shakespearean to answer one looming question: When you only play to win, how do you keep from becoming your worst enemy?

Rumors of extortion and embezzlement surround sitting Providence Mayor Jack Donovan, and he abandons his post to abscond to Europe. Back home, the vacancy leads to an emergency referendum for which the scrappy political consultant Henry Mercucio is recruited as a consultant.

To make a name for himself, Henry will put everything he’s earned on the line—his place at the table, his wealthy fiancée, and his strong values—forcing him to play both sides beyond the pale.