Greg Barlin
The Best Books of 2024 So Far: Live!
A running list of my "Best Books of the Year", updated as I finish each book.
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Greg Barlin
Nov 234 min read
Pony Confidential
★★★★★ Part mystery, part odyssey, the story follows a sardonic pony as he seeks to reunite with his human, on trial for a 25-year-old murder
110
Greg Barlin
Nov 192 min read
Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder
★★★★☆ Lenny Marks lives a carefully crafted and ordered life for herself until her stepfather's parole sparks memories of childhood trauma.
50
Greg Barlin
Nov 22 min read
The Last One at the Wedding
★★★☆☆ An unfortunately average mystery about a father and his growing concerns that his daughter's fiancé could have a dark and sordid past.
100
Greg Barlin
Oct 168 min read
The Top 50 Books of the Last 5 Years
Inspired by an underwhelming list from Goodreads, this counts down a far superior list of the Top 50 books of the last 5 years (2020-2024).
1130
Greg Barlin
Oct 43 min read
The Night We Lost Him
★★★★☆ When a man falls from the cliffs adjacent to his seaside home, his son and daughter collaborate to uncover the truth behind his death.
120
Greg Barlin
Oct 33 min read
The Return of Ellie Black
★★★★☆ A borderlined-5-star thriller that unveils what happened to Ellie Black, who went missing for more than two years but has now returned
180
Greg Barlin
Sep 24 min read
Assassins Anonymous
★★★★★ A fresh take on the assassin genre, balancing globetrotting action with a main character truly trying to change via a 12-step program.
130
Greg Barlin
Aug 182 min read
Don't Let the Devil Ride
★★★★☆ A slightly-better-than-average southern noir thriller about a wife's search for her missing husband, who might not be who she thought.
60
Greg Barlin
Aug 73 min read
The God of the Woods
★★★★★ Set in 1975, the search for a missing child acts as the foundation for Moore's tactful exploration of societal themes of the time.
640
Greg Barlin
Jul 153 min read
Hunted
★★☆☆☆ A frustrating thriller, packed with unlikable characters and plot holes I could drive a truck through. Significantly disappointing.
50
Greg Barlin
Jun 223 min read
Devil's Kitchen
★★★★★ Reminiscent of "The Shield", it's a split between a missing persons mystery and a dirty firefighting crew committing thefts in NYC.
180
Greg Barlin
Jun 164 min read
Lost Man's Lane
★★★★★ Set in 1999, a coming-of-age story about a high schooler who finds himself embroiled in a supernatural missing persons investigation.
480
Greg Barlin
May 53 min read
The River We Remember
★★★★☆ While a murder mystery is at the heart of this novel, a cast of flawed characters enable the exploration of several weighty topics.
120
Greg Barlin
Apr 54 min read
The Frozen River
★★★★★ Inspired by historical events, a midwife in 1789 finds herself in the middle of both a murder and a rape investigation in her town.
230
Greg Barlin
Mar 163 min read
The Hunter
★★★★☆ French's sequel to The Searcher again slowly builds up the plot -- and the tension -- until a murder mystery dominates the second half
70
Greg Barlin
Mar 103 min read
The Book of Doors
★★★★☆ An inventive concept suffers a bit when the inevitable potential plot holes that come with time travel emerge. Entertaining but flawed
100
Greg Barlin
Mar 82 min read
City in Ruins
★★★☆☆ The Danny Ryan trilogy coasts to a conclusion, wrapping up open plot points but mostly just checking the box in this mailed-in effort.
150
Greg Barlin
Feb 214 min read
The Year of the Locust
★★★★★ Another great spy thriller from Hayes after 10 long years. Despite some questionable supernatural plot choices, it's still a winner.
190
Greg Barlin
Feb 144 min read
Bright Young Women
★★★★☆ A reimagining of the events leading up to and surrounding the crimes of Ted Bundy, with a focus on the victims rather than the killer.
60
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