As we bid goodbye to 2024 and look forward to 2025 it’s time for me to select my TEN favourite books of the year.
It’s been a particularly busy year for me. I’ve read 137 books. This is the most I’ve read since I started recording my reads, and this is due to becoming a judge for the CWA awards this year.
So a quick recap : 137 books read. 45,046 pages read. Average book length 328 pages. My average rating 4.1.
Here is a snapshot of the books:
So, now I have the difficult task of picking 10 of these books which I think were either OUTSTANDING or ORIGINAL or THOUGHT-PROVOKING and this is my selection below:
Number 10. Liv Constantine – The Last Mrs Parrish, The First Shot and The Next Mrs Parrish.
Yes, I know – it’s actually 3 books, but I was late to the party reading The Last Mrs Parrish and I absolutely LOVED all 3 which I have reviewed in full below.
Number 9 – Dervla McTiernan – What Happened To Nina
Outstanding and I could NOT put it down. Read my full review here.
Number 8 – MW Craven – The Mercy Chair
The 6th book in the incredible Washington Poe series and the darkest story EVER.
Read my full review here
Number 7 – Peter Swanson – A Talent For Murder
This is the 3rd book in the incredible Lily Kintner/Henry Kimball series which starts with the outstanding A Kind Worth Killing followed by The Kind Worth Saving and finally this one:
Read my full review here.
Number 6 – John Boyne – The Elements – Earth, Water, Fire.
Yes I know, another 3 books, but these are so good I picked them as my number 6. All short stories, all interlinked and all OUTSTANDING. I literally can’t wait for the final book AIR which is being published in May 2025.
Read my reviews here
Number 5 – Alice Feeney – Beautiful Ugly
Not actually published until Jan 2025, but this is FANTASTIC – possibly her best book yet. This book is chilling, atmospheric, spooky, weird, messed up, clever, gripping, sinister, full of twists and kept me guessing throughout.
Read my full review here
Number 4 – Gregg Dunnett – The Lake House Children
I’m normally a bit stingy with my 5 star ratings because, to me personally, a book with 5 stars has to be something exceptional, have that special ingredient that sets it apart from all the other books I read and The Lake House Children does. It also includes a very spooky 4 year old boy, a dual timeline, a very dysfunctional family and several dead bodies! Win/Win.
Read my full review here
Number 3 – David Ellis – Look Closer
Look Closer is insanely brilliant, it’s fiendishly clever, nothing is what it seems, no-one is who they claim to be, everyone has an ulterior motive, believe nothing and buckle up for a mind-blowing thriller.
Read my full review here
Number 2 – Sarah Pinborough – We Live Here Now
Although technically this is a 2025 book, it’s so good I had to include it in my books of 2024.
Clever, spooky, amusing and absolutely UNPUTDOWNABLE, the queen of cross-genre WTF fiction has done it again
Read my full review here
Number 1 – Lisa Jewell – Don’t Let Him In.
What can I say…. Lisa keeps getting darker and darker and this is utterly fantastic. Again it’s not out until July 2025, but I absolutely devoured it.
Read my full review here
