This past year has been a great year of reading for me. I committed to reading 60 books, but then changed my goal to 55 after some health issues got in the way. I wanted to read more books than previous years, and I did it! I concluded the end of the year with some excellent readings. Here is a summary of just a few of my favorites from fall 2024.

I received an advanced reader copy of Jason Rekulak’s The Last One at the Wedding (thank you NetGalley and Flatiron books!). I had read his previous book, Hidden Pictures, and thought he did a good job of creating tension and suspense early on in a book. I listened to his latest book via audiobook, and the narrator made the story believable and engaging. This book not only involved a great deal of suspense like Hidden Pictures, but also had some fairly comical moments in it, especially for a parent of a teen like myself.

The book centers around a male narrator who is the father of a young woman who may or may not have been involved in a murder. Initially, the father makes a compelling argument for why his daughter wouldn’t ever commit a crime, or be involved in something as terrible as murder. But as he tells the story of her upbringing, and his role as a single dad, it becomes clear that his daughter is not perfect by any means. The tension builds in the book, with a finale that is shocking and worth every turn of the page.

Another fall favorite is Jean Hanff Korelitz’s The Sequel is a follow-up to The Plot. Like The Plot, The Sequel has a wild plot revolving around writers taking other people’s plots and stories. I listened to this book as an audiobook. I don’t want to spoil the plot, but essentially it follows up from where the last book ends. It begins with the wife of The Plot’s main character, who was a disillusioned professor teaching introductory writing classes to disinterested students. Much to his surprise, one of the students has a gift for writing, a student who is disrespectful and downright obnoxious.

The professor has spent most of his professional life trying to write a bestseller that will free him from teaching and allow him to dedicate all his time to writing. And now here is a student – one who is barely passing his class – penning a bestseller with the ease of a pro. Then the student dies, leaving the manuscript in the professor’s hands. This is the professor’s one shot at achieving his dream of becoming a bestselling author. He knows it’s wrong, but his desire to be successful at all costs outweighs his moral compass.

In The Sequel, the professor passes away, ironically at his desk doing the thing he loved the most: writing. His wife is left to pick up the pieces. She writes a novel, which becomes a bestseller. But her motivations for writing her book, and for being the wife of the professor, are questionable. The Sequel was just as fast-paced and entertaining as The Plot – it also tied up some loose ends from The Plot. I hope there is a third book in this series! Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and the author for an advanced reader copy of this audiobook.

Sarah Pekkanen’s single-authored and co-authored psychological thrillers are reliable purchases for me. Her books never disappoint. House of Glass was yet another thrilling read. I chose to listen to the audiobook, which was an enjoyable listen.

There were several different timelines involved in this book. It was easy to identify the timeline and changes in characters via the narrator’s voice acting. The book’s premise involves a lawyer charged with figuring out what happened to a little girl’s nanny. The little girl, Rose, is presumed to be a witness to the nanny’s murder, which took place in Rose’s family’s mansion.

There are a lot of unpredictable plot twists – an overbearing mother-in-law, a cheating husband, a wealthy heiress, and a now mute Rose, all of which keep me listening to the audiobook. A must-read for fans of thrillers.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and the author for an early edition of this book!