What I'm Reading: Becky's Best Books I Read in 2025

For the ninth year in a row, I am doing my best books that I read during this calendar year in a category list rather than in some kind of ranked order, Why? Because why I loved these particular books matters more to me than the order in which I would place them. How I interacted with them, how they affected me, how they stayed with me over the course of the calendar year, this is what is most important because it is why they are my on personal "Best" list.

Some of the categories are the same from year to year, others change. This is because the books I read each year create their own experiences and categories to me personally and I want to capture that experience along with the titles. I am not a robot, I am a human reader, even if reading and suggesting titles is my job. In order to remind myself [and all of you] of the joy in what we are paid to do, I strive to create a year end best list that captures, celebrates, and acknowledges that.

By this time, lots of people have already weighed in with critically acclaimed "best" lists for weeks, but I always wait to post this until end the year here on RA for All. I am keeping that tradition both because I like traditions, but also for ease of retrieving this list and other from years' past. To find any of my year's best read lists, from any year, all you have to do is click on the year in the right gutter on the blog scroll down). It brings up every post for that year in reverse chronological order, meaning that the last post of the year is first. Always the librarian, I am sharing my favorite reads AND cataloging them in an easy to retrieve way. 

I also wait to post this because my list is about my reflections on myself as a readers over the last 12 months. It is not just another best list. This is a list that is personal to me, my tastes, and my weird quirks. I need time and quiet to really think about it. I have been sitting with the categories for a a few weeks.

You can also use this post to help other readers, but because it is so specific to me, it is actually better used by you as a conversation starter. (Click here for my post about turning conversation starters into displays) For example, you can ask people "What is the most fun you had reading a book this year?" or "What title was the biggest surprise to you?" Those are questions readers can answer much more quickly and easily than "What was your favorite book of 2025?" And these are the types of questions that engender dialog.

The categories I have listed here provide great conversation starters to offer to your patrons. You can even use my answers to keep the conversation going by saying, "I was thinking about this question because I read another library workers list and got the idea."

The point of my "Best" list is to both offer books that I loved this year, while also presenting an example of a regular reader view of a "Best" list.

Below you will find my list of the best books I experienced in 2025 (regardless of publication year) in 17 categories created by me. It is an arbitrary amount, but so what? It's my list of what mattered to me the most this year so I get to decide how I present it.

Each title includes my three words and a link to a longer review which will explain more about the book and give you insight as to why it is a "best" book for that category for me.

Some general comments about my list this year:

• This year I had an experience that I have never had in 25 years of being a librarian and that is the fact that I have one overall best book and it could be slotted into almost every category as such.
• I have to say it, but this was also the first year I wrote a book for general readers. That will be captured in my list below because my book coming out was the BEST moment of my reading year.
• I read a lot of mysteries for the second year in a row and all were on audio. I also increased my NF by reading them on audio.
• My audio reading went up overall and I not only know why, I now share the reason in my training programs. Since I read so much print for review, for a few years I was finding it hard to turn off my reviewing brain and just enjoy a book as a fan. But, I have now realized that when I listen to a book, my brain understands that it is NOT for work and I have no problem just sitting back and enjoying it. This was a huge discovery I made into my own reading preferences and it led to me reading more books for fun this year than I have in many years.
• And of course-- Horror is everywhere on this list (even some titles that did not make my horror best list) because for me as a reader, it fits in more categories than just the ones for its genre. While I know that is unique to me as a reader, I wonder if that is true for you and a different genre. I am sure it is for many of your readers. If they have a favorite genre, they loved the books they loved for reasons that go beyond their genre classification. This is always important to remember as we help readers.

I'll be back on January 5, 2026 with Part 1 of my Reader Resolutions-- an assessment of how I did on 2025's goals, followed by Part 2 where I will set out my goals for 2026 on January 6th. Have a safe and Happy New Year.

Now what you have been waiting for.....my list with links to my reviews and my three words!

Becky's Best Books I read in 2025

Best Overall Book: The Buffalo Hunter Hunter  by Stephen Graham Jones-- There is not a better book I read in 2025 than this novel. It is a masterpiece of American fiction, I could have been my answer to at least 6 categories below, so I gave it it's own category. (historical, revenge, riveting)

Best Feel Good Read: The entire Thursday Murder Club Series thus far-- all on audio and I binged the first 4 in the first 4 months of 2025 and then listened to the 5th right after it came out. (fun, mature main characters, cozy but still serious issues)

Book That Stayed With Me All Year: Angel Down by Daniel Kraus-- this one was an easy call. This book written as one single sentence was memorable and ambitious, but he also pulled it off! (visceral, ambitious, reads like a chant)

 

Book That I Am Recommending to Everyone I Know: Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Literature by Becky Siegel Spratford. I mean it is true. I don't have three words but here is the Booklist starred review.

Best Debut: Listen to Your Sister by Neena Viel-- I am excited to new reading her second book for my April 2026 LJ column and I will be conducting an interview with the author in the same issue. (family trauma, steadily building dread that burst open to all out terror, original)

The Most Fun I Had Reading a Book: Starter Villain by John Scalzi-- I needed a fun book to read on my vacation and just before I went into my book tour. This book was the PERFECT choice. (fun, thought provoking, fast paced)

Best Audio: Fair Play by Louise Hegarty-- hands down this was the book I loved BECAUSE I listened to it. If I read it in print, it would not have made this list. (Meta, Thought Provoking, Siblings)

Best One Sitting Read: Killer on the Road by Stephen Graham Jones

Best Book From 2024 Best Lists That I Read in 2025: Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune (return to a beloved world and its characters, belonging, cozy with serious issues)

Best Surprise: The Country Under Heaven by Frederic S. Durbin (vignettes, weird western, thought-provoking)

Best Speculative Fiction: Best of All Worlds by Kenneth Oppel-- A YA books every adult should read. (Existentially Terrifying, Thought Provoking, Unique Band of Survivors story)

Best Horror [That wasn't mentioned already] TIE: When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy (the power of fear, immersive terror, pulp homage) and A Game in Yellow by Hailey Piper (discomfort, an original retelling of a classic work, cursed book)

• [See also this post for a more detailed discussion of my personal Best Horror of 2025]

Best Historical Fiction: The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling-- so this is clearly historical but fantasy historical. I am fine with doing this for 2 reasons. 1. BHH was the best historical I read (see the top of the list) 2. It's my list and I loved this book; one of the reasons I loved it was the setting. (richly detailed, highly unnerving, 3 points of view)

Best Collection: The Poorly Made and Other Things by Sam Rebelein -- this is a great example of how a collection also be a great united volume. (Cursed Land, Madness, Unnerving)

Best Nonfiction: Daughter of Daring: The Trick-Riding, Train-Leaping, Road-Racing Life of Helen Gibson, Hollywood's First Stuntwoman by Mallory O'Meara-- this book reminded me why I chose to be an American Studies major. (fascinating, enlightening, fun)

Best Memoir: Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs by Jamie Loftus. This book could have been put in a few categories (audio, most fun, book I am recommending to everyone I know, and surprise), but each time I made a final decision, it got dropped. But just the fact that it kept popping up in my mind meant it had to be here somewhere. So I made this category so that it could be included. (Funny, irreverent, but also sweet and charming)

 

Best Under the Radar Read: The Sofa by Sam Munson-- also the winner of best line in a Becky review of 2025. "...readers will be giving their own couches the side-eye for a while after finishing this one. (Horror in the mundane, dark humor, intensely psychological)

What I'm Reading: August 2024 Booklist Spotlight on Science Fiction Fantasy and Horror

My favorite Booklist Spotlight of the year is now live! The Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Spotlight comes every August and it is like Christmas for me and all of you. Not only will it contain lists of the best speculative fiction of the year but also, so many extra reviews. 

There are so many reviews in this issue, back in May, my editor, Susan Maguire, was saying the print pages were all full. But that does not deter any of us who help cover SF/F/H. I have 3 reviews in the print issue but I also contributed 3 more for online, doing my part to get you the most reviews possible for your collection decisions. And the 3 e-only reviews are things that would not have made it into print in time without me and Susan making it work. 

There is so much information here to help all of your speculative fiction readers, and as we all know, there are a LOT of them right now. You literally cannot have enough. But for Horror specifically, I always love how this issue lands just in time for our Spooky Season orders to be placed in plenty of time to serve the hordes of readers shambling in to ask for scary books this October. 

I am going to break up the coverage over a few days since there is so much. Today, I will start with the print reviews. All three are going to be in high demand, and interestingly (and this happened just by chance), they represent a wide swath of what horror can read like. From devastating grief horror to a visceral and terrifying vampire epic, to a hauntingly creepy big horror tale, there is literally something here for every reader.

Again, as usual, you can access the full reviews in the print magazine or online here (if your library has the print you can use this link to get your electronic access set up).

Let's get this party started with a small press title by a BIG name author, a novella that I could not put down even though it crushed me. And it's a STAR.

STAR 

Kill Your Darling

By Clay McLeod Chapman  

Sept. 2024. 214p. Bad Hand, paper, $13.99  (9798988128649).   

First published August 2024 (Booklist).

Get ready to be devastated and entertained in equal measures by Chapman’s latest, a novella from an award-winning small press. Glenn’s son Billy died 40 years ago at age 15, brutally murdered, his entire face encased in duct tape, left dead in a strip-mall parking lot. The case was never solved, but Glenn’s grief is still sharp and raw. Now retired, Glenn lives with his wife, Carol, and spends his time creating an unwieldy scrapbook, his attempt to preserve the memory of his son and find his murderer. Hoping to help Glenn, Carol signs him up for a writing workshop at the public library, but being forced to make sense of Billy’s death may lead Glenn too far into the darkness. Told through Glenn’s first person narration, readers palpably experience his pain, helplessly watching it spool out on the page, threatening to suffocate all, much like the duct tape did to Billy. For Horror readers looking for a tale that provides an intense and unflinching look into grief as it morphs into a terrifying obsession such as in, The Devil Takes You Home by Iglesias, In Excess of Dark by Lagoe, and Chapman’s own What Kind of Mother.

Three Words That Describe This Book: Grief Horror, Unflinching, Intense

Further Appeal: Every book Chapman writes is awesome, but know that if I give one of his books a STAR that means it is even better than his usual standards. Chapman is a must buy for every library, even single one of his books. In this case, you need to work slightly harder because this one is coming from Bad Hand Books, the Shirley Jackson Award winner, Bram Stoker Nominated small press run by one of the best editors out there, Doug Murano. I point out the editor because I could see his hand in this book. How he helped Clay to keep the story tight without sacrificing the details needed. And the ending was just perfect for this particular book.

Other notes I took about this book:

• a tight, suspenseful, and masterful story here.
• Chapman’s latest novella has a strong connection to his last novel, What Kind of Mother, as both explore parental loss.
• Purposely meant to upset you, but also to make you think about yourself, your own reactions– like Paul Tremblay makes you feel
• So real. You can feel everything that happens here. From the intense emotions to the stickiness of the duct tape.
• A near perfect example of Grief Horror– the emotion is all there, raw and sticky (duct tape) and complicated and terrifying.
• Just prepare yourself-- devastation and entertainment yes, but think about what that juxtaposition of feelings means-- it will leave you wrecked as well; you have to work out having those feelings at the same time-- This is why it is ultimately a star. When a Horror book can take your feelings off the page with what seems like ease, that is impressive (because it is not easy to actually accomplish).

Readalikes: Grief Horror is having quite a moment right now, although celebrating that hard because it means there is a lot of grief that needs processing-- not surprisingly. I listed 3 that I know Booklist has reviews for, but I have a few others I want you to know about as well. And both are novellas:

• Crossroads by Laurel Hightower-- is a backlist small press title I still think about and hand sell to so many readers.
• 12 Hours by L. Marie Wood-- devestating and entertaining as well; I reviewed it in LJ in January; still thinking about it.

And I mentioned Tremblay in my appeal notes above. Specific readalikes here are Disappearance at Devil's Rock and Survivor Song.

Next up a near STAR, a book that will be a great option for your Vampire readers and Romantasy as well. I got utterly lost in the world of this book, which you will clearly see in the long list of appeal notes you will see below.

All the Hearts You Eat

By Hailey Piper

Oct. 2024. 448p. Titan, paper, $17.99 (9781803367644). 

First published August 2024 (Booklist). 

Soon after Ivory, a trans woman, in a small, seaside town in Massachusetts, comes upon the body of a trans girl, Cabrina, washed up on shore, she is visited by a ghost cat (Is it Cabrina?) who takes her to a hidden world, just off the coast. Xi and Rex, trans girl and boy, are Cabrina’s best friends, who also still feel her presence. The search for answers about Cabrina begins intimately, but as the five operatic acts layer on top of each other, the world and its characters are fleshed out, and the pacing, action, blood, and destruction build, engulfing all in the intense and visceral emotions, until Piper breaks it all open, releasing the existential terror (both real and supernatural) into the world, but not without anchoring it with love and hope. A  great choice for fans of original takes on the vampire trope like Devils Kill Devils by Compton, the queer, teen found family of Cuckoo by Felker-Martin, or the grief and cosmic horror of This Thing Between Us by Moreno.

YA Statement: “What's out there that’s so bad even a dead girl is scared of the dark?” This question asked by Xi early in the book is at the heart of why teens who do not mind existential dread and visceral, but not gratuitous, descriptions will want to devour this book. 

Three Words That Describe This Book: Visceral, Terrifying (from every vantage point), anchored by love

Further Appeal: This book! I took so many notes and so much of what I loved about this book was the ending-- which is TERRIFYING but also very cool and done subtly because you get lost in the story, and the relationships and interactions of the characters (which are very well done) that you almost forget what happens at the end is so much bigger than that. It is actually more terrifying that Piper is able to distract you from that for just long enough to add an extra layer of unease.

Getting all of those emotions in 170 words WAS HARD. However, I knew since it was a Booklist review, I would have a longer post to share all of those notes with you. Here they are:

• This is an epic story told in 5 acts; in fact, it reads like an epic, 5 Act Opera ala Wagner. I say this as a HUGE positive. It has the pacing with each act having its own pacing and story arcs, that build on top of each other. As the story and the world building emerge, the pacing increases until the action, blood, destruction, revenge, violence, and emotions literally engulf the reader in the final act. But each act is definitely needed to build to that 5th act. 
• And engulf is a great word for this book in every act. It is an adjective I will work into the 170 words I get for my review.
• 4 main narrators and they are all trans which I will noted and then refer to them by their correct pronouns for their true selves. It is an issue in the book because Carina's mom does not accept her true self. Ivy, a grown woman. Cabrina, the found dead girl of high school age. And her two best friends Xi, a teen woman and Rex, a teen man. Xi and Rex are accepted by their moms (Xi has a single mom and Rex 2 moms), but Cabrina is not. Her mother, the local politician in their seaside, MA, holiday town, has locked Cabrina up to stop her from being a woman. 
• In terms of plot, this is NOT a book that I want to tell you what happens more than the plot description. What I said above about the operatic nature of the storytelling gives you a sense of what you expect which is what you need here. 
• I suggest you try to read each "Act" in one sitting. Take an intermission between to digest and again, let the story engulf you. And then read another Section-- in full, at once if possible.
• This was the note I am most upset I couldn't fit into the review-- The story has a dreamlike quality at times but I also think that is a trick of the light as well because as it gets more into its own speculative world, the story also gets more real. 
• Also, this story is intimate and follows a few key characters in a small town, but it has implications for the entire world. Again-- terrifying from every vantage point. When you catch your breath with the end of the story, you-- the reader-- have to sit with a whole other set of emotions and fear that Piper has made clear but also left to you to imagine. And that is just the supernatural terror. There is also the horror of living in a trans body, and worse, being trapped in a body that is not the right one for you, not allowed to escape it.
• Get ready to feel all of your emotions with this one. fear, anger, love, existential dread, revenge, horror, sadness, joy, tumult, and even peace. 
• In the acknowledgements Piper thanks little Hailey for sticking it out, even when she didn't want to. That did break me at the end. I dare you not to cry.

Readalikes: Besides the titles above, Nat Cassidy's Nestlings is also a good comp here-- both are informed by classic vampire lore but also set out their own "rules," creates new fear, and new mythology that is fascinating on its own. I love this sub trend in the re-emergence of the Vampire story in particular. 

But this is more than a "vampire" books. It will appeal greatly to Romantasy fans. GREATLY!

In terms of readalikes, it is hard because this book is very unique (as all of Piper's books are). I do feel like this story and Queen of Teeth are family. Like this is the older, sister story. Without Queen of Teeth, I don't think Piper writes this book. 

And finally, a creepy, quieter, and haunting tale that may not be as gripping and action packed the first two, but will hold your attention until the very last page. Character-centered, atompshereic horror at its best.

The Bog Wife

By Kay Chronister

Oct. 2024. 336p. Counterpoint, $27 (9781640096622); e-book (9781640096639). 
First published August 2024 (Booklist).

The Haddesley Family has lived on the same bog, in West Virginia for generations. As each patriarch dies and is buried, the bog, in return, produces a wife for the eldest son. But, for this current generation– Charlie, the eldest, Wenna, who escaped the bog in her teens, Percy, the son most devoted to the bog, Eda, the matriarch since their mother’s disappearance, and Nora– no wife has come, the bog is dying, and their home is crumbling. Told over the course of a year, with a section for each season, from the alternating viewpoint of each sibling, Chronister crafts an immersive, haunting, and compelling tale of a family being crushed by the weight of their secrets and held hostage by their traditions. A lush and uneasy tale that leaves both characters and readers at the mercy of the land itself. For fans of atmospheric, character driven, Horror featuring a strong sense of place such as Ghost Wall by Moss, Sacrificial Animals by Pedersen or Fever Dream by Schweblin.

Three Words That Describe This Book: Bog Horror, haunting, slightly askew

Further Appeal: Key words that didn't;t make it above: Folk Horror, Appalachian, family trauma, secrets, Gothic, strong sense of place, unease, compelling, confidently written, character

centered.

This is a slightly askew from reality story-- one of my favorite kind of book. It is also character centered-- above plot. We see this one year through the eyes of the 5 siblings. Each has their own perspective and all are unreliable to us because they live an almost cult like experience. Even the sister who "got out" is still limited in her understanding of the outside world. But it is satisfying for us, the more "worldly" reader to see the same situations and events from all 5 of their eyes. If you love character center satires from any genre, you will enjoy this book.

Interestingly, the Bog does not have a POV but is the most important character

I fell into the storytelling immediately. Haunting, full of details and character building but also compelling, the pages fall away. The reader is brought into the family and can clearly see they are missing a lot of information, about the real world yes, but also we come to understand their place in their world very well. The unease grows and grows, the slightly askew tone– clearly more is going on here– there is something at work that is outside the norm. Is it a cult like situation or is there real supernatural stuff happening? The land may or may not have power on its own. I land on the side that it does because from the siblings perspective, it does. The land lashes out at them and their house, it sustains things in ways that are not “real.” But again, it could all be in their minds. There is a a lot of trauma here. 

5 POVs, each of the children. Charlie, the oldest and one meant to carry on the tradition, Wenna, got out but comes back for Dad’s funeral rites, Percy, the second son and one most devoted to the Bog, Eda, the matriarch since mother’s disappearance, and Nora, the baby (24 years old but still a child) Love these characters. Each is unique and interesting and heartbreaking in their own ways.

Wenna is our eyes-- as much as she can be. She is able to see the family and their land falling apart – literally and psychologically, since she has lived in the real world.

4 sections– seasons– almost exactly same length– could read in 4 sittings: Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring one cycle, the last cycle? Also there is a definite switch from the men to the women of the family in terms of who has control of the land by the book's end.

Readalikes: I had to cut the statement above for words, but it originally read as: For fans of atmospheric, character driven, Horror featuring a strong sense of place and dangerous secrets such as Ghost Wall by Moss, Sacrificial Animals by Pedersen or Fever Dream by Schweblin

The Moss is the best overall readalike if you needed just 1.  Overall, this book is very similar to the Pedersen (which I gave a star because in my opinion, the Pedersen had a better executed ending. This one was great but a little too quiet for the way the story built, although it was very satisfying.)

Also Boatman’s Daughter or The Hollow Kind by Davidson would both work very well. And last year's The Insatiable Volt Sisters by Rachel Eve Moulton. All of the readalikes featured in the reviews of all of the books I have mentioned are also options.

I will be passing this book on to the Shirley Jackson jury to consider. It is a great readalike for most SJA nominees.

Come back tomorrow for more Booklist August 2024 Spotlight goodies.

What I'm Reading: Booklist's Annual Spotlight on SF/F/H Issue

Friday, I highlighted the lists and bonus content in the August 2023 issue of Booklist, the spotlight on Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror.

Today, I am focusing on the 3 reviews I have this in this issue that is bursting with Superlative Fiction. All three titles are high demand and perfect for a general public library audience. I loved them all individually, but what I want to say about them as a group is that all three books approach Horror from a  different angle. Taken together these three books show how broad the genre is from the way the stories are told, to  the subgenres and tropes they explore, to the chill they leave you with after you turn the final page.

As usual, I have my draft reviews to which I have added extra appeal info, more readalikes, and my three words.

STAR

The Dead Take the A Train

Cassandra Khaw and Richard Kadrey

Oct. 2023. 400p. Tor Nightfire, $28.99 (9781250867025); e-book (9781250867032). 
First published August 2023 (Booklist).

Kadrey, Urban Fantasy mainstay, and Khaw, a Horror rising star, team up for a cinematic and immersive “eldritch whale”* of a duology opener. Julie, 29, is starting to feel the aches and pains of her job, using her small, magic packed body to help keep NYC clear of monsters. She recovers with booze and drugs, barely making enough money to cover the rent. But when an old flame, the head of “Excision” for one of the top Wall Street firms, comes asking Julie for help she starts a chain of events that threatens to eat** up the whole world in its wake. Told with dark humor, excellent world building that never sacrifices the fast pace, an engaging narration with multiple points of view that allows the characters to fully develop, from Julie and her ragtag team of flawed but sympathetic friends to villains both human and otherworldly, action sequences that are as fun as they are visceral, and a scathing rebuke of capitalism, this is an original, thought-provoking, and entertaining title that will call to readers from multiple dimensions***. For fans of Sandman Slim combined with the Cosmic Horror of The City We Became by Jemisin and Sister, Maiden, Monster by Snyder.

Further Appeal: I often include notes to my editor about specific words she cannot remove because since I only get 200 words for a star review, I have to make them count. I often remove these notes when I publish the drafts here on the blog, but these are not spoilers and I think including them gives you more information about who would enjoy this book. So here are the comments to pair with the *'s above:

*a phrase that is used toward the end of the book. I knew I wanted to use it in the opening lines right away.

**”eats” is key. One of the monsters is “the mother who eats.”

***cosmic horror humor but also an appeal statement because it will appeal to MANY

This story will appeal to a lot of reader for so many reasons, but like Kadrey's Sandman Slim's series does. The  awesome cast of severely flawed characters are a huge part of that. There are a core team you want to root for, and they are all interesting and distinct.

The language here is also a highlight. Great turns of phrase, lines you want to reread, but this has become Khaw's signature as an author. 

Here are some more notes I took while reading:

• Excellent world building without sacrificing plot– just slightly askew from “normal” NYC.
• Engaging narration
• Fast paced, action packed
• All five sense are employed here. It is gory and squishy and smelly and awesomely done. Nothing is gratuitous.
• A satire of wall street greed and capitalism in general
• Books and research play a part in the story
• Spells, witchcraft, magic, immortal powerful beings PLUS eldritch horror– lots of it.
• Tyler is an awesome villain
• The monsters are so creative and unique.

This book (and its planned sequel) will bring new fans to Cosmic Horror because this is cinematic, fun, action packed, with great world building, characters, humor and lots of great fight sequences.

The violence and gore are very much present and you can smell, taste, touch, hear and see all of it. It works, It is all necessary. The extravagance of the gore is key to the story telling. 

Three Words That Describe This Book: Great characters, Action packed, Cosmic Horror

STAR
Last to Leave the Room
By Caitlin Starling
Oct. 2023. 320p. St. Martin’s, $29 (9781250282613); e-book (9781250282620). First published August 2023 (Booklist).

Starling’s latest is her most original, compelling, and terrifying novel yet, a tale that signals her growth as a writer and is sure to bring the attention of even more readers. Dr Tasmin Rivers is a brilliant scientist, leading a top-secret experiment, deep underground, for a large corporation in San Siroco. During their research, her team discovers that everything within the city limits is slowly sinking 27 mm a month, except Tasmin’s basement, which is sinking even faster. Or is it stretching? As she becomes more obsessed with the happenings in her own home, Tasmin loses track of time, her team, and the danger facing the city, until the day a door appears in her basement, out of nowhere, and through it walks her exact, physical double. What follows is a thought provoking, creative, and compelling novel, one that relentlessly squeezes unease out of the reader, palpably closing in around them and Tasmin, presenting a cautionary tale so deeply unsettling that it is best described as a depiction of existential dread itself. For fans of the liminal space where science fiction and cosmic horror overlap such as in Kingfisher’s The Hollow Places or Moreno’s This Things Between Us.

Further appeal: Here is a note I took immediately after finishing this novel: A mixture of her last two big 5 novels. I see bits and pieces of the ideas and narrative choices of both, but I also see tremendous growth here as it is better than both individually but she needed to write those to pull this one off. For context, here're my thoughts on those two novels: The Luminous Dead and The Death of Jane Lawrence.

More notes: 

• I feel like this book is existential dread explained in a novel. Like it is the definition of it. 
• No one does claustrophobia on the page better than Starling.
• Narrative restraint enhances the dread

Finally, the POV never switches off of Tasmin which is KEY to why the story works. I noted a point just about half way through (page 165 in my print ARC) where a key change in the plot begins to happen, but the narrative restraint Starling showed in keeping the point of view ONLY with Tasmin makes this book a star. It allows the unease, existential dread, and claustrophobia to rise above the plot itself.

Three Words That Describe This Book: Breathtakingly Original, Claustrophobic, Existential Dread

Further Readalikes: I would add Klara and the Sun and Never Let Me Go by Ishiguro as well as Dark Matter by Crouch. I left that last one out of the text of the review because while the doppelganger issue and the questions of who is the original and who is the copy are here in this story, it is not the main thrust AND that book is more thriller paced, but it is worth noting. Finally, Wonderland by Zoje Stage is also a great readalike here.

Nestlings
By Nat Cassidy
Oct. 2023. 304p. Tor Nightfire, paper, $18.99  (9781250265258); e-book (9781250265241). First published August 2023 (Booklist).

Keep for blog.

Cassidy (Mary) returns with another engrossing and disturbing Horror novel, this time focused on New York City real estate, antisemitism, new parenthood, grief and, oh yes, vampires. After years of trying, Ana and Reid welcomed daughter Charlie, but her birth put Ana in a wheelchair. Every day that first year was a struggle, that is until their name comes up in a housing lottery, landing them an apartment in the luxurious, famous, and mysterious Deptford. However, it is immediately clear that Reid and Ana do not belong there, and their discomfort escalates, getting more terrifying with each passing day, even as Charlie gets more comfortable. Cassidy builds the intense atmosphere, characters, and his fascinating vampire lore without sacrificing the pacing, masterfully working important details into the action and shifting the point of view when necessary. As a result, readers will be snared in a web of intrigue as Ana and Reid fight for their family and, ultimately, their lives. A visceral story that will entertain readers from start to finish, coating them in dread even as it plays with their minds and pushes their limits much like The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Hendrix and What Kind of Mother by Chapman.

Further Appeal: Before I say anything else, I need all of you to make sure you read the moving afterward  at the end of this book. Seriously. It is important and adds even more emotional and terrifying depth to this already emotional and terrifying story. Just don't miss it.

Okay but back to my notes as I read this book:

• GREAT ending. I hate when I am enjoying a book at the ending sucks. That is NOT the case here. This book sticks its landing. Realistic ending on many levels. There really is no way for the characters here to “win” but there is a resolution that makes a lot of sense within the framework and history of the sub  genre of “vampire menace”
• A cosmic touch as well which I liked because vampires would have a similar attitude when it came to humans as the elder gods would. It is not explicit but it is there.
• As much as about grief as it about vampires
• The Jewish frame here is literal and existential. The phrase "We do not belong here," is one Jews know and feel all of the time and throughout history. As a fellow Jew, I got it immediately, but again, that afterward, he explains it well.
• Excellent taking the scary vampire trope and looking at it through a Jewish lens. Usually is is framed with Christian imagery and language. Also he comments that the vampires go back way before Christianity and that true. What goes back further? Judaism. It would make sense to look at our history for some answers. Also the matrtiarchal nature of Judaism makes sense here too. I loved it as a Jew, but I also want to point out that it is important representation into a subgenre that has been told from mostly a Christian frame and for far too long. Everyone of every identity can use the vampire to invoke fear.
• Speaking of the long standing vampire trope, I love how the “true story” behind the “vampires” is revealed to be that we humans got it mostly correct. That would make sense that if there were vampires living among us, we would have some of it correct but not all. I loved that part. It honors the tradition of the trope.

I have written a lotbut I promise you, I have worked hard to give nothing away here. One of my notes was that this book deserves more than the 170 words I am allowed, so I made sure to give them here.

Three Words That Describe This Book: Jewish frame, vampire menace, immersive dread

Further Readalikes: Cassidy cites The Tribe by Bari Wood as helping him write a clearly Jewish horror novel.  Cassidy is part of an exciting explosion of Horror with a conscious and specific Jewish frame. Other recent tiles of note that I would include here are Midnight on Beacon Street by Emily Ruth Verona (for which I will have a review in the January issue of Library Journal) and Zachary Rosenberg's Long Shalom and Hungers as Old as This Land. Rosenberg will be featured on the Hour blog during the month of October as well.

There are a lot of vampire books right now, scary vampire books. Get ready.

Also I would consider the Disappearance at Devil’s Rock by Tremblay as well.