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A running ranking of the year's best books


Not Quite Dead Yet
★★★★☆ A novel premise gives way to a well-structured mystery in which a young woman must solve her own murder before an aneurysm kills her.

Greg Barlin
Sep 1, 20253 min read


Night Watcher
★★★☆☆ A serial killer returns to Portland after almost twenty years to terrorize a local radio host, targeting the one person who saw him and lived.

Greg Barlin
Aug 24, 20252 min read


The Ghostwriter
★★★★☆ A woman returns home to ghostwrite her estranged father's memoir while trying to unravel if he was responsible for the 50-year-old murder of his siblings.

Greg Barlin
Aug 8, 20253 min read


Death at the White Hart
★★★★☆ A local publican is found dead with a crown of antlers on his head in this multi-layered mystery taking place in a small English town.

Greg Barlin
Jul 17, 20252 min read


Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng
★★☆☆☆ 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.

Greg Barlin
Jul 8, 20253 min read


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

Greg Barlin
Jun 17, 20253 min read


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


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


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


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


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


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

Greg Barlin
Jan 12, 20252 min read


The Best Books of 2024
My "Best Books of 2024", ranked #1 through #67.

Greg Barlin
Dec 31, 202417 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.

Greg Barlin
Dec 30, 20244 min read


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

Greg Barlin
Dec 28, 20245 min read
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