Well, I did it again. I’ve been keeping up my spreadsheet more or less, and because lately it’s been less, I missed marking the occasion of the 66th post, i.e. two-thirds of the way through this delightful yet exhausting #read99women exercise. Anyway, yay! A bit more than a month to go, and plenty of great recs yet to come.

So it’s as good a day as any to welcome our second male author as a #read99women guest — here’s E.A. Aymar, thriller writer, book recommender, and highly valued member of the DC-area writing community.

Of E.A. Aymar’s THE UNREPENTANT, Publisher’s Weekly wrote, “gut-wrenching…readers who appreciate depth of character alongside gritty nonstop action will be rewarded.” His past thrillers include the novel-in-stories THE NIGHT OF THE FLOOD (in which he served as co-editor and contributor). He has a monthly column in the Washington Independent Review of Books, and he is the Managing Editor of The Thrill Begins on behalf of the International Thriller Writers; he also serves on the national board of that organization. He was born in Panama and now lives and writes in the D.C./MD/VA triangle. To learn more, visit eaymar.com.

Of his #read99women recommendation, Ed says, “I worried about Tara Laskowski’s debut novel, ONE NIGHT GONE. I’d been a fan of her two collections of short stories – the marvelously-inventive MODERN MANNERS FOR YOUR INNER DEMONS and the gripping, crime-influenced BYSTANDERS – but transitioning from short stories to novels is famously difficult. And, as deeply as I admired her style and prose, I wasn’t sure if either would work for a novel, particularly a crime novel.

There was no need to worry.

ONE NIGHT GONE is a taut, character-driven read, the kind of book that begs to be read slowly, and dries out your pen if you’re the type to underline mesmerizing passages. It’s recently earned nominations for the prestigious Agatha, Lefty, and Mary Higgins Clark awards, and more nods are likely to follow.”