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The Best Books of 2026

82ranked

6five-star

3.7avg rating

10genres

Every book I finished this year, ranked best to worst — re-ranked the day I put each one down, so a novel I read in January can still move.

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The top ten at a glance

The Strength of the Few

James Islington

82 of 82 Updated Oct 13

Rank

Book

Rating

Genre

The Pirate Queen

Ariel Lawhon

★★★★★

Like an Irish version of Braveheart, at sea, with a badass woman at the helm, it reimagines the life of Ireland's legendary pirate queen Grace O'Malley.

★★★★★

Historical Fiction Literature & Fiction

Under Story

Chloe Benjamin

★★★★★

A grieving scientist encounters a glowing dome in Antarctica whose particle physics may prove a universe where time runs backward — and offer her a way to undo her own past.

★★★★★

Science Fiction

Lady Tremaine

Rachel HochhauserAudiobook

★★★★★Audiobook

A brilliant retelling of Cinderella from the "wicked" stepmother's perspective, this witty, inventive historical drama completely reimagines a classic villain.

★★★★★

Literature & Fiction Historical Fiction

Yesteryear

Caro Claire Burke

★★★★★

A "tradwife" and Instagram influencer has cultivated a seemingly idyllic life for herself and family, but it's all upended when she wakes up one day in 1855.

★★★★★

Literature & Fiction Science Fiction Mystery and Thriller

Five

Ilona Bannister

★★★★★

Jaw-dropping dialogue and moral judgement set the tone for this dark exploration of five neurodiverse characters, one of which we're told will die by the end of the book.

★★★★★

Mystery and Thriller Literature & Fiction

Phoebe Berman's Gonna Lose It

Brooke AverickAudiobook

★★★★★Audiobook

One month shy of her thirtieth birthday, Phoebe Berman is determined to conquer her neuroses and finally lose her virginity in this laugh-out-loud rom-com.

A moving generational novel that authentically captures a litany of life moments, from the highs of true love to the challenges of addiction.

★★★★

Literature & Fiction

We Are All Guilty Here

Karin SlaughterBook 1 · North Falls Thriller

★★★★Book 1 · North Falls Thriller

Two teenage girls are abducted in a small Georgia town in this mystery filled with twists and family dynamics that will keep readers guessing.

When a $50k debt meets a fake-dating scheme with a wealthy heir, love blooms in Annabel Monaghan's modern retelling of Pretty Woman.

★★★★

Romance

#10

The Strength of the Few

James IslingtonBook 2 · Hierarchy

★★★★Book 2 · Hierarchy

The sequel to The Will of the Many sees the footprint expand from a single world into three, an ambitious choice that is impressively executed.

When a professional matchmaker meets her "fated" match, she must choose between her prophesied destiny and an undeniable connection she has with someone else.

Caitlin MullenAudiobook

★★★★Audiobook

A young police chief returns to her hometown and is met by an onslaught of mysteries: a missing mother, a drug surge, and a dead-baby cold case from decades prior.

★★★★

Mystery and Thriller

#13

This Story Might Save Your Life

Tiffany Crum

★★★★

One half of a famous podcasting duo goes missing in this unique debut that artfully blends mystery with a will-they-or-won't-they romance.

★★★★

Mystery and Thriller Romance

A chance museum encounter reunites a woman with her long-lost former stepfather, unearthing a decades-old secret that reshaped every life it touched.

A funny, heartwarming character study of a sardonic 81-year-old former convict whose quiet life unravels when a neighbor turns up dead.

Kathryn StockettAudiobook

★★★★Audiobook

In her first book since The Help, Kathryn Stockett transports us to 1933 Mississippi where a female-driven cast exposes the misogynistic society of the time.

★★★★

Literature & Fiction Historical Fiction

An epic story about friendship and betrayal, this behemoth of a novel follows six college friends who make a Faustian deal with a dragon.

★★★★

Horror Fantasy Literature & Fiction

A coming-of-age novel set at an elite boarding that focuses as much on class, race, and outsider status as it does on the central murder mystery.

An immense and dense epic literary journey through the South Pacific of 1000 years ago that explores the struggle for power on Tonga.

Richard SwanBook 1 · The Decurion Saga

★★★★Book 1 · The Decurion Saga

A woman attempts to found a fledgling nation to escape the suffocating control of a totalitarian empire in this interesting sci-fi space opera.

★★★★

Science Fiction

#21

Operation Bounce House

Matt Dinniman

★★★★

A war novel blended with humor and social commentary that pits peace-loving settlers of a planet against an invasion of giant robots intent on killing them.

After a flight to a remote island goes missing, a dual-timeline thriller follows two sisters—one who was on the flight and one who missed it.

★★★★

Mystery and Thriller

#23

The American Way of Killing

Malcolm Gladwell

★★★★

Malcolm Gladwell aims his signature storytelling and research at America's gun violence epidemic, probing why the U.S. sees far more homicides than its peers.

★★★★

Nonfiction

#24

A Violent Masterpiece

Jordan Harper

★★★★

A grisly dive into the dark underbelly of Los Angeles that blends the hunt for a serial killer with commentary on the corrupt world of the ultra-wealthy.

A tragic accident on a remote sheep station eventually leads to a dark family secret in this character-driven exploration of duty and psyche in the Australian Outback.

Tayari JonesAudiobook

★★★★Audiobook

Bound as cradle friends after both losing their mothers, two girls grow into wildly different adult lives—one of privilege, one chasing reunion.

★★★★

Historical Fiction Literature & Fiction

A haunting, dual-timeline tale of estranged siblings reckoning with a traumatic childhood serves up a unique blend of family drama and dark fairy tale.

★★★★

Literature & Fiction Horror Fantasy Mystery and Thriller

#28

What Happened to the McCrays?

Tracey LangeAudiobook

★★★★Audiobook

A man returns home to Potsdam, NY to care for his father after a stroke, forcing him to confront past demons that led to his abrupt departure.

Two actors with an undeniable connection explore a relentless on-again, off-again romance in this spicy, love-it-or-hate-it read built for the theater crowd.

★★★★

Romance Literature & Fiction

#30

A Court of Mist and Fury

Sarah J. MaasBook 2 · A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR)

★★★★Book 2 · A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR)

Following the events of A Court of Thorns and Roses, the story continues in a longer and more polished follow-up that's a step up from Book 1.

★★★★

Romantasy Fantasy Romance

#31

Catch the Devil

Pamela ColloffAudiobook

★★★★★Audiobook

A career conman traded fake jailhouse confessions for lighter sentences, sending multiple men to death row on his word in this noteworthy (and infuriating) work of investigative journalism.

Carley FortuneAudiobook

★★★★★Audiobook

When a woman's fiancé leaves her on their wedding day, she ends up taking her lifelong (gorgeous, heterosexual) male best friend on her honeymoon. What could happen?

Patrick Radden KeefeAudiobook

★★★★★Audiobook

A gripping and fascinating piece of investigative journalism that seeks to uncover the truth behind the mysterious death of a young London man in 2019.

A two-tiered whodunit focused on the murder of a prominent Baton Rouge lawyer and its potential connection to a hit-and-run from a decade prior.

In this thriller that reads like a spicy version of The Da Vinci Code, an academic races across three countries to solve five deadly puzzles before her identity is wiped forever.

★★★★★

Mystery and Thriller Romance

When a pair's exes start dating each other, the two jilted spouses fake a past friendship—only to watch that invented history turn into something very real.

Chuck WendigBook 1 · The Fiends

★★★★★Book 1 · The Fiends

A half-demon heir bands with a ragtag crew to locate his missing father and uncover the meaning behind a mysterious structure in this gore-soaked horror-fantasy.

★★★★★

Horror Fantasy

#38

The One Day You Were My Husband

Rosie WalshAudiobook

★★★★★Audiobook

Years after her husband was captured by armed men on their wedding day, a woman discovers that he's alive. She's happily remarried, but compelled to seek him out.

★★★★★

Mystery and Thriller Romance

A house fire is the jumping off point for this novel less about the partial loss of a home and more about the fractured relationship in it.

An assassin hired to protect—not kill—leads to a brisk, twisty cyberpunk mystery about immortality, secrets, and a job that isn't what it seems.

Emiko JeanBook 2 · Chelsey Calhoun

★★★★Book 2 · Chelsey Calhoun

A woman lies dead and her sixteen-year-old daughter is missing, sending a detective into a trafficking case that cuts painfully close to home.

★★★★

Mystery and Thriller

#42

When Lemons Give You Life

Anna Johnston

★★★★

A former chef fakes dementia in a nursing home before finding redemption and a new reason to live in this latest from the author of The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife.

★★★★

Literature & Fiction

#43

When the Cranes Fly South

Lisa RidzénAudiobook

★★★★Audiobook

An 89-year-old Swedish man narrates as we sail along this sad journey focused on the challenges and indignities encountered at the end of life.

★★★★

Literature & Fiction

#44

You With the Sad Eyes

Christina ApplegateAudiobook

★★★★Audiobook

In this unflinchingly honest memoir, Christina Applegate lays bare her life in Hollywood and her private battles with breast cancer, MS, and self-loathing.

Alex AsterBook 1 · Starside

★★★★Book 1 · Starside

A young woman enters a deadly competition to retrieve a goblet of magic in this romantasy that feels like the love child of The Hunger Games and Silver Elite.

★★★★

Romantasy Fantasy Romance

#46

People We Meet on Vacation

Emily HenryAudiobook

★★★★Audiobook

An homage to When Harry Met Sally in which two opposites form a deep platonic friendship before eventually wondering if it could be more.

Set in a dying Australian mining town, Harper's latest centers around a couple trying to solve the mystery of their son's disappearance five years prior.

A former child star and an unknown actor fall for each other on an indie set while dealing with their personal demons in this novel that is part romance, part Hollywood rebuke.

★★★★

Romance Literature & Fiction

#49

The Left and the Lucky

Willy VlautinAudiobook

★★★★Audiobook

A housepainter and an eight-year-old escaping an abusive brother forge an unlikely friendship in blue-collar Portland in this quiet, Steinbeck-tinged read.

★★★★

Literature & Fiction

#50

Jane and Dan at the End of the World

Colleen OakleyAudiobook

★★★★Audiobook

A heist/hostage situation at an elite restaurant is the vehicle for this novel to explore marriage and parenting as much as the heist.

★★★★

Mystery and Thriller Literature & Fiction

A thought-provoking sci-fi debut exploring identity and immigration through "instances" where a copy of a person is created when they immigrate to a new country.

A self-help book from the "World's Greatest Mentalist" in which he shares advice for how best to connect with people based on how the human mind works.

While clearing a neglected Victorian mansion, university students find journals pointing to a parallel realm in this trippy slow burn that blends mystery with the supernatural.

★★★★

Horror Mystery and Thriller

#54

The Amateur

Chris BohjalianAudiobook

★★★★Audiobook

A golf prodigy's stray practice shot kills a teenage caddie, and the legal and societal fallout snowballs until she finds herself on trial for involuntary manslaughter.

★★★★

Mystery and Thriller Historical Fiction

#55

Broken Dove

Dani FrancisBook 2 · Silver Elite

★★★★Book 2 · Silver Elite

Wren Darlington's journey picks up immediately where Silver Elite ended, continuing to explore the conflict between the Uprising and Command.

★★★★

Romantasy Fantasy Romance

#56

Meredith, Alone

Claire AlexanderAudiobook

★★★★Audiobook

A depressing, poignant look at agoraphobia and abuse in many forms, focused on a woman who hasn't left her home in over three years.

★★★★

Literature & Fiction

#57

The Ending Writes Itself

Evelyn ClarkeAudiobook

★★★★Audiobook

Six authors compete on a remote Scottish island to finish a dead writer's final novel in this middling Clue-like send-up of the publishing industry.

★★★★

Mystery and Thriller

#58

The Song of the Blue Bottle Tree

India Hayford

★★★★

A snake-handling drifter crosses paths with a soldier recently back from Vietnam; together they help his family escape an abusive situation.

A "Book Witch" must use her ability to teleport into books to solve a mystery in her own life when her grandfather and most prized possession go missing.

★★★★

Fantasy Literature & Fiction

#60

Life, and Death, and Giants

Ron RindoAudiobook

★★★★Audiobook

A giant Amish boy becomes a national sensation through his record-breaking athletic feats before the story leans hard into tragedy that starts to feel gratuitous.

★★★★

Literature & Fiction

#61

AVAILABLE OCT 27, 2026

The Natural OrderNewOut Oct 27

Matthew Aldrich

★★★★

On the brink of launching his revolutionary anti-aging treatment, a tech mogul must avoid assassins and heal his bond with his estranged son before his legacy kills them both.

★★★★

Science Fiction Mystery and Thriller

A rock star returns to the rural NY mountain town he abandoned at eighteen, forcing him to confront a past that brings long-buried secrets to the surface.

Gabriel TallentAudiobook

★★★★Audiobook

Two high school friends use rock climbing to try to escape a seemingly predetermined future in this emotionally heavy character study from Gabriel Tallent.

A short story collection masquerading as a novel, it follows the exploits of a family who consistently find themselves on the fringe of honest society.

★★★★

Mystery and Thriller Literature & Fiction

#65

Exit Party

Emily St. John MandelAudiobook

★★★★Audiobook

In a fractured near-future world, a set of bizarre events at a party suggest that there may be a parallel universe, and potentially a path to reach it.

★★★★

Science Fiction

#66

This Book Made Me Think of You

Libby PageAudiobook

★★★★Audiobook

Six months after her husband dies, a woman finds out he left her a year of books, one per month, to help her heal and move forward.

★★★★

Literature & Fiction Romance

#67

The Adventures of Juan Planchard

Jonathan JakubowiczAudiobook

★★★★★Audiobook

Explicit BDSM romance in the first half, Don Winslow-style cartel thriller in the second: an ambitious mashup that never quite meshes but stays fun.

★★★★★

Mystery and Thriller

#68

The Things We Never Say

Elizabeth StroutAudiobook

★★★★★Audiobook

A brief, introspective read in which themes of free will, identity, and interpersonal relationships are explored through a teacher's midlife crisis.

A woman returns to a mythical floating island she once visited as a child, only to become stranded with the ageless man who is living there.

Cynthia D'Aprix SweeneyAudiobook

★★★★★Audiobook

An exploration of the fallout of a 1977 affair and divorce over several decades. Despite nuanced characters, this family drama mostly missed the mark for me.

★★★★★

Literature & Fiction Historical Fiction

When an encroaching "rogue black hole" gives Earth less than a month before annihilation, two men travel by RV from Maine to Washington to complete one final task.

Neal ShustermanBook 3 · Arc of a Scythe

★★★★Book 3 · Arc of a Scythe

The third and concluding book the "Arc of a Scythe" trilogy answers a myriad of open questions but plods along for much of the story.

Jeff Rake, Rob HartBook 1 · Detour

★★★★Book 1 · Detour

An interesting start to a series, but be warned that this is purely setup for a broader story with no resolution in this first installment.

A Texas farm family faces a massive storm, corporate threats, and a string of burglaries in this multi-layered, yet muddled, thriller.

A stranded group faces predators—both animal and human—in a South African game reserve in this twisty thriller that falls short on execution.

A boy band cruise tries to offer nostalgia but fails to set sail in this disappointing look at fame and aging that lacks the heart and romance expected.

★★★★

Literature & Fiction Romance

#77

The Shampoo Effect

Jenny JacksonAudiobook

★★★★Audiobook

A writer joins a tight-knit coastal town only to feel isolated by decades of shared history in this slice-of-life character study full of people I couldn't care less about.

Informative about Taipei and the slow grind of language immersion, but with little plot and an unlikable cast, this novel that reads like a memoir fell flat for me.

Matt HaigBook 2 · The Midnight World

★★★★Book 2 · The Midnight World

While not exactly a sequel, Matt Haig revisits the premise of 2020's The Midnight Library with another examination of the different paths our lives can take.

★★★★

Literature & Fiction

#80

The List of Suspicious Things

Jennie GodfreyAudiobook

★★★★Audiobook

Two young girls try to catch the Yorkshire Ripper in 1979, but their "list of suspicious things" is just a vehicle to clumsily comment on prejudice.

A picture-perfect French honeymoon ends in a double abduction, followed by a CIA rescue scheme so implausible the plot holes swallow every ounce of suspense.

A multi-timeline story that had me hopeful for something akin to Cloud Cuckoo Land unfortunately sputters to a disjointed and wholly unsatisfying conclusion.

★★★★★

Science Fiction 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.