Favorite Monthly Lists & Picks for 2024

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Week of January 27, 2025

Paperback releases for the week of January 27th include Ashley Elston's adult debut novel, FIRST LIE WINS, which, according to our reviewer Ray Palen, is "extremely clever and throws one twist after another at you in a narrative that will consume you straight through to the dynamic finale"; FINLAY DONOVAN ROLLS THE DICE, the fourth installment in Elle Cosimano's beloved mystery series featuring Finlay Donovan and her nanny/partner-in-crime, Vero; THE LOST TOMB by Douglas Preston, in which a jaw-dropping discovery of an Egyptian tomb opens up a slew of archaeological mysteries and deadly tales; Dolly Alderton's GOOD MATERIAL, a sharply funny and exquisitely relatable story of romantic disaster and friendship --- and how to survive both; and DEAR SISTER, a profound, intimate story of resilience and the unbreakable bond of family from Michelle Horton, who fights the criminal justice system to release her incarcerated sister after she kills her longtime abuser.

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Week of January 20, 2025

Paperback releases for the week of January 20th include THE NEW COUPLE IN 5B, an unputdownable thriller from Lisa Unger in which a couple inherits an apartment with a spine-tingling past; Laurie Frankel's FAMILY FAMILY, a heartwarming story about how family can come from the most unexpected places and how, when we expand our notions of what is “normal,” the world becomes a better place; RED STAR FALLING by Steve Berry and Grant Blackwood, an action-packed adventure that finds Luke Daniels, in the waning days of the Cold War, embarking on a quest in search of the legendary library of Ivan the Terrible --- the unlikely key to ending a looming threat orbiting 200 miles above the earth; and the paperback original LET'S CALL HER BARBIE, a bold novel from Renée Rosen that excavates the fascinating backstory of Ruth Handler, the co-founder of Barbie, and the trailblazing team that created a one-of-a-kind doll that took the world by storm.

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Week of January 13, 2025

Paperback releases for the week of January 13th include END OF STORY, A. J. Finn’s long-awaited second novel (following the international bestseller THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW), a spellbinding thriller that is part Knives Out and part Agatha Christie; THE PRINCESS OF LAS VEGAS by Chris Bohjalian, a twisting tale of organized crime, cryptocurrency and family secrets on the Las Vegas Strip that revolves around a Princess Diana impersonator and her estranged sister, who find themselves drawn into a dangerous game of money and murder; LONE WOLF, the ninth installment in Gregg Hurwitz’s series starring Evan Smoak, whose unlikely, tiny job quickly explodes into his biggest mission yet, involving twisted AI technocrat billionaires and a mysterious female assassin; and the paperback original THE KENNEDY GIRL by Julia Bryan Thomas, an immersive and heart-pounding story of an American orphan in Paris who becomes embroiled in an international espionage scheme.

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Week of January 6, 2025

Paperback releases for the week of January 6th include YELLOWFACE, a chilling and hilariously cutting novel from R. F. Kuang that grapples with questions of diversity, racism and cultural appropriation, as well as the terrifying alienation of social media; KING: A Life by Jonathan Eig, the first major biography in decades of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. --- and the first to include recently declassified FBI files; NONE OF THIS IS TRUE, an unputdownable psychological thriller from Lisa Jewell that follows a woman who finds herself the subject of her own popular true crime podcast; Lisa Gardner's STILL SEE YOU EVERYWHERE, a twisty novel of suspense featuring missing persons expert Frankie Elkin, who is tasked with locating the long-lost sister of a female serial killer facing execution in three weeks’ time; and MY FRIENDS by Hisham Matar, a luminous novel of friendship, family and the unthinkable realities of exile.

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Julia Armfield, author of Private Rites

Sisters Isla, Irene and Agnes have not spoken in some time when their father, an architect as cruel as he was revered, dies. His death offers an opportunity for the sisters to come together in a new way. In the grand glass house they grew up in, their father’s most famous creation, the sisters sort through the secrets and memories he left behind, until their fragile bond is shattered by a revelation in his will. The sisters are more estranged than ever, and their lives spin out of control. But something even more sinister might be unfolding, something related to their mother’s long-ago disappearance and the strangers who have always seemed unusually interested in the sisters’ lives. Soon, it becomes clear that the sisters have been chosen for a very particular purpose, one with shattering implications for their family and their imperiled world.

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