My Top 5 Books of 2024

As the new year begins, it's time for my annual round-up of my five favourite books from among all of those I read in 2024. I read 123 books last year — my highest total since the pre-pandemic times when I was still commuting regularly. Thrillers, mysteries and crime were my most-read genres, as usual. And I read almost of these on my Kindle, finally upgrading to the newest Paperwhite model after years of service from its predecessor.

Keep on reading to find out which books I most enjoyed reading in 2024, as well as my complete reading list. I've included links to Bookshop.org, a UK-based online bookshop, although you should also be able to find them all in your local indie bookshop.

My top 5 books of 2024

1. The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley. Girl meets boy. Girl and boy become friends and slowly begin to fall for each other. So far, so standard. But the ingenious premise of Bradley's novel means that the 'boy' in question is in fact Commander John Gore, an 'expat' transported from the 19th century to near-future London, and the 'girl' is the civil servant tasked with helping to ease his time-travelling transition. By turns laugh-out-loud funny and achingly sad, The Ministry of Time is ambitious, brilliant and hugely inventive.

2. Real Americans by Rachel Khong. A compelling, science-infused multi-generational family saga, Real Americans is all about identity, destiny and sacrifice. Khong's novel tells the story of Lily Chen's struggles as an intern in Y2K New York, before skipping forward to the perspective of her son Nick life in coastal Washington State, and then back to her mother's experience in Mao's China. The characters are richly painted and Real Americans remains moving and more than a little devastating, without ever veering into the maudlin.

3. First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston. First Lie Wins was the first book I read in 2024 and it remains the most enjoyable thriller on my list. A twist-a-minute cat-and-mouse caper that sees Evie Porter — a woman who has had to assume so many identities it's almost hard to keep up — try to escape from her past. Or pasts, in this case. She's long since learned not to trust anyone, not even her boyfriend — especially when her boyfriend is also the target of her latest 'job.' I read the novel in one sitting and was impressed how well Elton pulled everything together at the end.

4. Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead by Jenny Hollander. Hollander's novel — great name, BTW — is clever, suspense and incredibly fast-paced. Its protagonist Charlie is a successful magazine editor whose life is rapidly upturned by a new documentary that tries to dig in to a long-ago crime she apparently survived but may have been more involved in than she is letting on. If you like unreliable or, at least, memory-challenged narrators, razor-sharp writing and clever twists, you'll love EWCFMID!

5. When We Were Silent by Fiona McPhillips. McPhillips' psychological drama is another novel where the life of the protagonist — Lou, in this case — is turned upside down by the new investigation of past wrongs. Lou is called to testify against Highfield Manor, the elite Dublin private school she attended years ago. But everyone has their secrets and everyone, including Lou has a lot to lose. When We Were Silent reminded me a lot of Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad series and it's a dark and gripping read.

Bonus non-fiction pick: Border by Kapka Kassabova. I read Kassabova's fascinating work just before visiting Bulgaria for the first time and its stories and details made great context for my trip. Border is a beautiful exploration of the people and places in and around Bulgaria, its complex history and ever-changing relations with bordering lands. 

My full 2024 reading list

1. First Lie Wins — Ashley Elston
2. The Vacation House — Jane Shemilt
3. Everyone Here Is Lying — Shari Lapena
4. Prom Mom — Laura Lippman
5. Everyone on This Train is a Suspect — Benjamin Stevenson
6. Someone We Know — Shari Lapena
7. The Things We Do to Our Friends — Heather Darwent
8. The Castaways — Lucy Clarke
9. Eleven Liars — Robert Gold
10. The Search Party — Hannah Richell
11. The Fury — Alex Michaelides
12. The Heiress — Rachel Hawkins
13. Revolution of Wolves — Johnny Phillips & Paul Berry
14. The Clinic — Cate Quinn
15. Happiness Falls — Angie Kim
16. Darling Girls — Sally Hepworth
17. The Leftover Woman — Jean Kwok
18. The Girls Who Disappeared — Claire Douglas
19. Monogamy — Sue Miller
20. Such Pretty Flowers — K.L. Serra
21. The Resort — Sara Ochs
22. The Guest — B.A. Paris
23. Keep Your Friends Close — Leah Koen
24. A Gentleman in Moscow — Amor Towles
25. A Step Past Darkness — Vera Kurian
26. The Couple Next Door — Shari Lapena
27. The End of Her — Shari Lapena
28. The Other Mothers — Katherine Faulkner
29. Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead — Jenny Hollander
30. The Split — Kit Frick
31. City People — Elizabeth Topp
32. The Wrong Sister — Claire Douglas
33. No One Can Know — Kate Alice Marshall
34. Listen for the Lie — Amy Tintera
35. Not a Happy Family — Shari Lapena
36. The New Couple in 5B — Lisa Unger
37. The Midnight Library — Matt Haig
38. Expiration Dates — Rebecca Serle
39. Border — Kapka Kassabova
40. Keep Her Secret — Mark Edwards
41. The Mystery of Four — Sam Blake
42. Come and Get It — Kiley Reid
43. She’s Not Sorry — Mary Kubica
44. Confessions of a Forty-Something F**k Up — Alexandra Potter
45. The Street — Susi Holliday
46. How To Fail — Elizabeth Day
47. The Unheard — Nicci French
48. The Cartographers — Peng Shepherd
49. The Sunset Crowd — Karin Tanabe
50. The Shards — Bret Easton Ellis
51. One Perfect Couple — Ruth Ware
52. The Latecomer — Jean Hanff Korelitz
53. Kill for Me, Kill for You — Steve Cavanagh
54. Doughnut Economics — Kate Raworth
55. Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone — Benjamin Stevenson
56. The Main Character — Jaclyn Goldis
57. The Candy House — Jennifer Egan
58. A Game of Lies — Clare Mackintosh
59. The Vacancy in Room 10 — Seraphina Nova Glass
60. When We Were Silent — Fiona McPhillips
61. What Have we Done — Alex Finlay
62. The Postscript Murders — Elly Griffiths
63. Stranded — Sarah Goodwin
64. Home Is Where the Bodies Are — Jeneva Rose
65. The Golden Spoon — Jessa Maxwell
66. The Last Word — Elly Griffiths
67. Real Americans — Rachel Khong
68. More Confessions of a Forty-Something F**K Up — Alexandra Potter
69. Daughter of Mine — Megan Miranda
70. The Seventh Son — Sebastian Faulks
71. What Never Happened — Rachel Howzell Hall
72. The Midnight Feast — Lucy Foley
73. What Is Love? — Jen Comfort
74. The Paris Widow — Kimberly Belle
75. Bad Tourists — Caro Carver
76. Close to Death — Anthony Horowitz
77. A Talent for Murder — Peter Swanson
78. Like Mother, Like Daughter — Kimberly McCreight
79. The Man in Black and Other Stories — Elly Griffiths
80. The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby — Ellery Lloyd
81. The Switch — Lily Samson
82. The Unwedding — Ally Condie
83. The Haters — Robyn Harding
84. The Liars — Katherine Fleet
85. The Ministry of Time — Kaliane Bradley
86. What Have You Done? — Shari Lapena
87. Blue Sisters — Coco Mellors
88. A Lovely Lie — Jaime Lynn Hendricks
89. Guilty by Definition — Susie Dent
90. House of Glass — Sarah Pekkanen
91. The Mystery Guest — Nita Prose
92. The Stranger at the Wedding — A.E. Gauntlets
93. Death at the Sign of the Rook — Kate Atkinson
94. The Square — Celia Walden
95. Here One Moment — Liane Moriarty
96. Blood in Grandpont — Peter Tickler
97. Someone in the Attic — Andrea Mara
98. Watch Her Fall — Erin Kelly
99. By Any Other Name — Jodi Picoult
100. Middle of the Night — Riley Sager
101. The Wedding People — Alison Espach
102. The Group — Sigge Eklund
103. The Next Mrs Parrish — Liv Constantine
104. The Housemaid — Freida McFadden
105. The Dead Husband — Gillian Jackson
106. Big Fan — Alexandra Romanoff
107. The Dream Home — T.M. Logan
108. I Need You To Read This — Jessa Maxwell
109. A Stranger in the Family — Jane Casey
110. A Very Bad Thing — J.T Ellison
111. We Solve Murders — Richard Osman
112. The Blue Hour — Paula Hawkins
113. Here They Come with Their Make-Up on — Jane Savidge
114. Beyond Reasonable Doubt — Robert Dugoni
115. The Last One at the Wedding — Jason Rekulak
116. Entitlement — Rumaan Alam
117. The Darkest Water — Mark Edwards
118. The Night We Lost Him — Laura Dave
119. The Housemaid’s Secret — Freida McFadden
120. How To Solve Your Own Murder — Kristen Perrin
121. Sandwich — Catherine Newman
122. What the Wife Knew — Darby Kane
123. The Puzzle Box — Danielle Trussoni

The bookshop featured in the photo is P&G Wells, a lovely shop in Winchester that has been selling books since the 18th century!