The Best Books of 2020
15ranked
9five-star
4.6avg rating
5genres
The standouts of 2020, in order. Before 2023 I didn't review everything I read, so this is a best-of list rather than a ranking of the whole year.
The top ten at a glance
BEST OF 2020#1Blacktop Wasteland
S.A. Cosby
BEST OF 2020#2The Mountains Wild
Sarah Stewart Taylor
BEST OF 2020#3Race the Sands
Sarah Beth Durst
BEST OF 2020#4Nothing To See Here
Kevin Wilson
BEST OF 2020#5Group
Christie Tate
BEST OF 2020#6Things in Jars
Jess Kidd
BEST OF 2020#7The House in the Cerulean Sea
TJ Klune
BEST OF 2020#8Long Bright River
Liz Moore
BEST OF 2020#9American Dirt
Jeanine Cummins
BEST OF 2020#10Pretty Things
Janelle Brown
15 of 15
Updated Jul 26
Showing order — the numbers are still each book's rank, just no longer in sequence.
Rank
Book
Rating
Genre
#1
Blacktop Wasteland
S.A. CosbyBEST OF2020
★★★★★BEST OF2020
A “one last job” crime caper that ends up with a lot more depth and character development than expected. It's outstanding.
★★★★★
Mystery and Thriller
#2
The Mountains Wild
Sarah Stewart TaylorBEST OF2020
★★★★★BEST OF2020
Years after her cousin's disappearance, detective Maggie D'Arcy is asked to consult an a case with eerie similarities.
★★★★★
Mystery and Thriller
#3
Race the Sands
Sarah Beth DurstBEST OF2020
★★★★★BEST OF2020
Part Seabiscuit, part palace politics, part commentary on societal boundaries and castes -- this novel was great on multiple levels.
★★★★★
Fantasy
#4
Nothing To See Here
Kevin WilsonBEST OF2020
★★★★★BEST OF2020
An old friend desperatly needs Lillian's help caring for her kids. There's one catch, though: when the kids get upset, they catch fire
★★★★★
Literature & Fiction
#5
Group
Christie TateBEST OF2020
★★★★★BEST OF2020
When author Christie Tate hits rock bottom, she decides to try a radical form of group therapy, where everything is NOT confidential.
★★★★★
Nonfiction Memoir
#6
Things in Jars
Jess KiddBEST OF2020
★★★★★BEST OF2020
A private investigator in 1860s London looks into the disappearance of a young girl who may have special (and dangerous) powers.
★★★★★
Mystery and Thriller Fantasy
#7
The House in the Cerulean Sea
TJ KluneBEST OF2020
★★★★★BEST OF2020
A lovely and cheeky queer story, this traces the evolution of a man as he comes to grips with his professional and sexual identity.
★★★★★
Literature & Fiction
#8
Long Bright River
Liz MooreBEST OF2020
★★★★★BEST OF2020
When sex workers start to turn up murdered, a Philly cop investigates, hoping to stop the trend before her sister becomes a victim.
★★★★★
Mystery and Thriller
#9
American Dirt
Jeanine CumminsBEST OF2020
★★★★★BEST OF2020
The journey of a mother and her son as they flee Acapulco for the United States after becoming targets of the local cartel.
★★★★★
Literature & Fiction
#10
Pretty Things
Janelle BrownBEST OF2020
★★★★★BEST OF2020
Two women with a tangled past -- one a con artist, the other a wealthy influencer -- are reunited in this well-crafted yarn.
★★★★★
Mystery and Thriller
#11
Dear Edward
Ann NapolitanoBEST OF2020
★★★★★BEST OF2020
When a 12-year-old boy is the sole survivor of a plane crash that killed 183, including his parents and brother, what happens next?
★★★★★
Literature & Fiction
#12
The Once and Future Witches
Alex E. HarrowBEST OF2020
★★★★★BEST OF2020
Three sisters join forces to influence the suffragist movement, but they must tap into old magic to level the playing field.
★★★★★
Literature & Fiction
#13
The Shadows
Alex NorthBEST OF2020
★★★★★BEST OF2020
25 years ago, a small town was rocked by the grisly murder of a teenage boy, the main suspect never caught. Now it's happening again.
★★★★★
Mystery and Thriller
#14
The Searcher
Tana FrenchBEST OF2020
★★★★★BEST OF2020
An American ex-cop settles in a small Irish town to try to make a fresh start, but a local kid needs his help finding his brother.
★★★★★
Mystery and Thriller
#15
When We Were Vikings
Andrew David MacDonaldBEST OF2020
★★★★★BEST OF2020
Zelda, a 20-year-old with mild developmental disabilities, channels her love of vikings and embarks on a “quest to become legendary".
★★★★★
Literature & Fiction
How the ranking works
One list, every book, no ties. When I finish something it goes in against everything else I've read this year, which means the order shifts constantly — a book that sat at 12 in March can be at 20 by August without having gotten any worse. Star ratings and rank are related but not the same thing: among fourteen five-star books, someone still has to be fourteenth.
The next one, in your inbox.
One email on the first of every month with a summary and rating of each book reviewed over the past 30 days, and a look at where the year's ranking stands.