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A running ranking of the year's best books


Ruth Run
★★☆☆☆ A cyber thief is forced to flee from Homeland Security when her crimes finally come to light in this poorly-plotted mess of a book.

Greg Barlin
May 31, 20253 min read


What Kind of Paradise
★★★★☆ A girl grows up in a remote cabin with just her father, whose distrust of technology and government snowballs with each passing year.

Greg Barlin
May 30, 20253 min read


Murder at Gulls Nest
★★★★☆ A nun leaves her convent to investigate the disappearance of her friend, only to encounter multiple murders at her boarding house.

Greg Barlin
May 15, 20253 min read


You Are Here
★★★★★ A sweet and heartfelt story about finding love when you least expect it, told with a distinctly British cheekiness and sense of humor.

Greg Barlin
May 15, 20252 min read


The Anxious Generation
★★★★★ A thoroughly researched exploration of the rise in mental illness among Gen Z, paired with several suggestions for how we can fix it.

Greg Barlin
May 10, 20254 min read


Scythe
★★★★★ Two teenagers are forced to compete to become a Scythe, whose job is to control overpopulation by killing a set number of people each year.

Greg Barlin
May 3, 20253 min read


Great Big Beautiful Life
★★★★★ Two writers compete for the opportunity to author the memoir of a reclusive heiress while coming to realize they might just be soulmates.

Greg Barlin
May 2, 20254 min read


Society of Lies
★★★★☆ A woman who was part of a secret society while at Princeton investigates her sister's death, who was also part of the same society.

Greg Barlin
Apr 27, 20253 min read


The Wishing Game
★★★★★ A teacher's aide who dreams of adopting a young boy from her school competes in a contest for the sole copy of a reclusive author's new book.

Greg Barlin
Apr 24, 20253 min read


Departure 37
★★★☆☆ A B-52 bomber that has been missing for over 60 years suddenly returns to U.S. airspace in 2025...and it's carrying a nuclear bomb.

Greg Barlin
Apr 21, 20254 min read


The Oligarch's Daughter
★★☆☆☆ Part international espionage, part man on the run, a novel that suffers from plot holes big enough to drive a Russian tank through.

Greg Barlin
Apr 19, 20252 min read


Sunrise on the Reaping
★★★★★ Collins returns to give us the origin story of Haymitch Abernathy in a way that might make this the best Hunger Games novel to-date.

Greg Barlin
Apr 15, 20253 min read


Famous Last Words
★★★★☆ When her husband goes off the rails, taking three people hostage, his wife tries to save him while unraveling the why behind his act.

Greg Barlin
Apr 5, 20252 min read


Real Americans
★★★★☆ A multi-generational novel that focuses on a Chinese-American family while tackling issues of class, race, technology, and belonging.

Stephanie Barlin
Apr 4, 20252 min read


Memorial Days
★★★★☆ Brooks recounts the ongoing impact of the unexpected death of her husband of 35 years and her process years later to properly grieve.

Greg Barlin
Apr 1, 20253 min read


Black Woods, Blue Sky
★★★☆☆ A young mother falls for a strange, disfigured man and chooses to live with him and her 6-year-old daughter in a remote Alaskan cabin.

Greg Barlin
Mar 27, 20253 min read


Frankie
★★★☆☆ A recounting of the fictional life of Frankie Howe, from Ireland to London to America and back, spanning the 1950s to today.

Greg Barlin
Mar 21, 20253 min read


Kills Well With Others
★★★★☆ Author Raybourn runs it back with everyone's favorite female assassins in their 60s in a sequel that's just as good as the original.

Greg Barlin
Mar 11, 20252 min read


The Warbler
★★★☆☆ A woman tries to break a curse which causes the women in her family to transform into a tree forever if they stay in a place too long.

Greg Barlin
Mar 1, 20252 min read


This Book Will Bury Me
★★★☆☆ A novel about true-crime aficionados that uses the recent University of Idaho murders as its source material, an ill-conceived choice.

Greg Barlin
Feb 22, 20252 min read
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