Skip to main content

Bookreporter Reviewers' Favorite Books of 2024

Reviewer Picks

Bookreporter Reviewers' Favorite Books of 2024

Recently we asked our reviewers to provide us with a list of their favorite books from 2024. Included is a mix of fiction and nonfiction titles, all published for the first time this year. We always love hearing which books resonated the most with them! Please note that due to personal and professional commitments, some reviewers were not able to participate in this feature.

 

Kate Ayers

 

Curtis Edmonds

 

Sarah Rachel Egelman

 

Megan Elliott

 

Harvey Freedenberg

 

Pamela Kramer

 

Jane Timmerman Krebs

 

Bronwyn Miller

 

Rebecca Munro

 

L. Dean Murphy

Dean's List

  • THE LIFE AND DEATH OF ROSE DOUCETTE by Harry Hunsicker
    What starts in high gear escalates at meteoric speed in THE LIFE AND DEATH OF ROSE DOUCETTE. Unpredictable but satisfying tornado-like plot twists leave readers gobsmacked.

  • THE BOUNDARIES WE CROSS by Brad Parks
    Breaching boundaries of the surreal and reality in fiction compels readers to analyze their own reactions given the same circumstances. THE BOUNDARIES WE CROSS is a winner!

  • THE UNDERHANDED by Adam Sikes
    Instead of the trite rollercoaster analogy, THE UNDERHANDED is a thriller-coaster ride through a nightmare theme park of corruption and betrayal at the brink of civil annihilation.

  • GUMSHOE LUCK: A Mortimer Angel Mystery by Rob Leininger
    A millipede number of shoes drop as Mort, Ma, Harper and Vale navigate labyrinthine leads in this bawdily entertaining kickass mystery with a message.

  • THE FAR SIDE OF THE DESERT by Joanne Leedom-Ackerman
    Get your passport. The globetrotting Waters trio takes readers to Cairo, Morocco, Spain and Gibraltar in an amazing human-interest and political thriller.
     
  • UNBALANCED: A Jake Longly Thriller by D.P. Lyle
    D.P. Lyle weaves intricate forensics details into this enticing thriller. He hits a home run in his seventh inning.
  • DON’T ASK, DON’T FOLLOW by Mary Keliikoa
    Mary Keliikoa plays cat-and-mouse with the reader’s emotions. This mousy reader followed each misleading turn, only to find a Cheshire grin and a glint in the cat’s eye. Keliikoa is an excellent writer who knows how to manipulate the thoughts of her readers. A great talent!
     
  • DIAMOND CUT by Thomas B. Cavanagh
    Although DIAMOND CUT is a work of fiction, Thomas B. Cavanagh’s brilliant prose focuses on real-life tragedies: human trafficking and contemporary slavery.
     
  • CRACKS BENEATH THE SURFACE: A Jhonni Laurent Mystery by Mary Ann Miller
    Were it not for the gory murders, CRACKS BENEATH THE SURFACE could be a cozy mystery. Mary Ann Miller’s glib style engages the reader with subtle nuances of small-town life.
     
  • A LETHAL QUESTION by Mark Rubinstein
    A LETHAL QUESTION suggests Robert Redford’s character, Joe Turner, from the 1975 film Three Days of the Condor. Those who seek high-paced action will find it here.
     

 

Eileen Zimmerman Nicol

 

Ray Palen

 

Norah Piehl

 

Barbara Bamberger Scott

 

Stuart Shiffman

 

Jana Siciliano

  • PRIVATE RITES by Julia Armfield
  • BEAR by Julia Phillips
  • EARTH TO MOON: A Memoir, by Moon Unit Zappa
  • WHALE FALL by Elizabeth O’Connor
     

 

Katherine B. Weissman

I’m going to divide these into categories that might mean something to someone who shares my weird and eclectic tastes.

An espionage/mystery/thriller element:

  • THE DROWNED by John Banville
    An elegant puzzler by the peerless Irish author. He used to mask his mysteries with a pseudonym. Not anymore.
     
  • ILIUM by Lea Carpenter
    A writer new to me, Lea Carpenter mixes spycraft and romance in her subtle and suspenseful novel. I read her entire backlist immediately.
     
  • FIRST LIE WINS by Ashley Elston
    An Incredibly clever cat-and-mouse thriller with more twists than you ever thought possible.
     
  • THE HUNTER by Tana French
    Another Irish writer, one of the best. This sort-of sequel brings back some of my favorite characters from THE SEARCHER. It’s a rich and bitterly humorous evocation of small-town life, as well as a more-than-respectable whodunit.
     
  • KARLA'S CHOICE: A John le Carré Novel by Nick Harkaway
    Who would have thought that John le Carré’s son could bring back Smiley and the rest of the gang, and do it with so much verisimilitude and panache? But he did. This ardent fan of his father declares him worthy.
     
  • THE FROZEN RIVER by Ariel Lawhon
    Word of mouth has made this mystery-cum-historical-novel (based on the journal of an 18th-century midwife) a surprise hit. It’s just wonderful.
     
  • COME TO THE WINDOW by Howard Norman
    Although Canadian author Howard Norman has a substantial oeuvre, this is the first of his novels I’ve read. Set in World War I Nova Scotia, it’s both an odd, melancholy murder mystery and a tender evocation of a happy marriage.

An extraterrestrial/fantasy element:

  • THE MINISTRY OF TIME by Kaliane Bradley
    This novel combines some of my favorite things: time travel, romance, history. It reads like a dream.
     
  • THE ROAD FROM BELHAVEN by Margot Livesey
    Like many of Margot Livesey’s books, this one is explicitly autobiographical. The story of a Scottish girlhood, it is witty, compassionate and perceptive. For me, the touches of mysticism (the heroine is clairvoyant) were a bonus.
     
  • IN ASCENSION by Martin MacInnes
    This book puts the science in science fiction: a wonderful if disturbing tale of an ardent researcher who plunges into one deep and dangerous project after another.
     
  • THE MARS HOUSE by Natasha Pulley
    And, in quite another vein, Natasha Pulley --- one of the most imaginative world builders around --- devises a cruel and fascinating colony on Mars, populated by a bunch of delicious characters who juggle gender and class with abandon.

Just plain great writing:

  • OUR EVENINGS by Alan Hollinghurst
    I think this Booker-winning novelist is right up there with Dickens, James and Forster. Although the book follows the protagonist, a mixed-race boy in England, through modern times, it has a 19th-century feel: substantial, complex, wonderfully humane.
     
  • THE SAFEKEEP by Yael van der Wouden
    A Booker shortlisted title, this unusual first novel brings together loneliness, unconventional love, and the long, long consequences of World War II and its crimes, both personal and global.

And for good measure:

  • 1000 WORDS: A Writer's Guide to Staying Creative, Focused, and Productive All Year Round, and A REASON TO SEE YOU AGAIN both by Jami Attenberg
    The first book got me started on a daily journal, which I’ve kept up for nearly a year now. (I’m a fiction writer, and I subscribe to Jami’s substack, Craft Talk. It’s great.) The second I reviewed recently for Bookreporter.
     

 

Philip Zozzaro

More Reviewer Picks Features