A running tally of the books that I have reviewed this year, updated and reranked after each book that I finish. Explore the latest reviews and discover hidden gems with insights from BarlinsBooks, your literary companion for top new releases.

★★☆☆☆ A serial killer targeting Asian women during the pandemic combines with a ghost story to form one of the more racist books I've read.

★★★★★ Edgy, violent, and dark, Cosby's latest sees a successful money manager sucked into working for a sadistic gang in order to save his brother.

★★★★☆ Our assassins hell-bent on *not* killing return in a sequel to Assassins Anonymous that is satisfying but falls short of the original.

★★☆☆☆ 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.

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

★★★★★ A small town, a love triangle, a murder, and a trial form the foundation of this twisty, emotional novel set in mid-1900s England.

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

★★★★☆ 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.

★★★☆☆ 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.

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

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

★★★★☆ 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.

★★★★★ Kerr's mature and tightly-plotted debut follows the murder investigation of the founder of a fictitious tech company in San Francisco.

★★★★☆ 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.

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

★★★☆☆ Set in 1981, a 14-year-old girl—whose hobbies happen to include studying roadkill—helps police investigate several murders in England.

★★★★★ Set in 1999, a coming-of-age story about a high schooler who finds himself embroiled in a supernatural missing persons investigation.

★★★★★ Whitaker delivers another masterpiece of character development while tackling several tough topics -- a challenging but uplifting read

★★★★★ Skillful dialogue and prose adorn this debut that combines a love story with the search for a mysterious gangster in 1920s Chicago.