I read 123 books in 2025. Disregarding titles that were re-reads from previous years, here are my Top Ten(ish) favorites, in no particular order, with links to reviews if I posted one.
How To Fake a Haunting by Christa Carmen. I have loved all of Christa Carmen’s “New England Gothic/Spooky” novels to date, so it is probably no surprise that this in on my list of favorites. A woman in an emotionally abusive relationship decides to gaslight her husband into thinking their house is haunted … but what if it really is? Keeps you guessing throughout as to how supernatural it really is and provides more than a few good scares and creepy moments along the way. I interviewed Christa earlier this year about her writing process and this book in particular.
Christmas and Other Horrors, edited by Ellen Datlow. The darkest, shortest days of winter in general, and Christmas in particular, is traditionally a time for ghost stories. Editor par excellence Ellen Datlow once again assembles a great group of writers to spin horror stories around Christmas, Hannukah, Solstice, Yule, and even sometimes your average winter day. Favorites included Mary Robinette Kowal’s “To Speak in Silence,” Benjamin Percy’s “The Ones He Takes,” “Return to Bear Creek Lodge” by Tananarive Due, “Gravé of Small Birds” by Kaaron Warren, and M. Rickert’s “The Lord of Misrule,” but there isn’t a clunker in the group.
The Breathtaker Collection by Mark Wheatley and Marc Hempel. I didn’t read a lot of graphic novels in 2025, but even if I had this one would stand out. A woman who survives by draining the energy from the men who loves her is pursued by a government super-hero for her perceived crimes. There are so many twists in this one I can’t say much more without giving them away. I interviewed Mark Wheatley earlier this year about his creative process.
Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez, translated into English by Megan McDowell. In a narrative that spans decades and changes not just character point of view but narrative style multiple times, Enriquez melds almost every sub-genre of horror (cosmic, cult, supernatural, slasher, body, medical, and haunted houses) with generational trauma and the real-world horrors of living under Argentine dictatorship. This is not an easy read, but I stand by my assessment that it is an important, vital, one. I read it for the Stanza Books (Beacon NY) Dark Fiction Book Club and reviewed the book back in February.
Born A Crime by Trevor Noah. Noah’s memoir of growing up under Apartheid as a mixed-race child moved me deeply. Highly recommended. I listened to the audiobook, narrated by the author, which just heightened the emotion.
The Front Seat Passenger by Pascal Garnier, translated into English by Jane Aitken. I tripped across this French noir novella at McNally Jackson Books in Rockefeller Center, apparently the only one of Garnier’s books currently in print in English translation. At first it didn’t feel particularly noir, but man does it get there. And when it does, the twists are fast and furious. I loved this one so much I immediately sought out everything of Garnier’s I could find in translation and look forward to doing a deep dive at some point soon.
Saint Death’s Herald by C.S.E. Cooney is a complex fantasy featuring Miscellaneous “Lanie” Stones, a young necromancer who gets ill at any signs of violence, which makes her job – hunting down the man possessed by the ghost of her evil grandfather – must more difficult. This is the second book about Lanie (the first was Saint Death’s Daughter) and the third volume is coming in 2027. The world-building is wonderful, the characters quirky and relatable, the footnotes hysterical. I reviewed the book earlier this year.
Cheddar Luck Next Time by Beth Cato. The mystery I loved so much, I read it then listened to it on audio, then moderated a Sparta Books (Sparta NJ) book club meeting about it. Set in a small town on the central California coast and featuring an autistic lead character who gets embroiled in a murder investigation while dealing with the recent death of her grandmother, Cheddar Luck is hopefully the start of a new series that is part cozy mystery, part thriller. I reviewed the book earlier this year, and interviewed author Beth Cato as well.
The Art Thief by Michael Finkel. The second non-fiction book on the list. Read this one for the Mystery Book Club at Stanza Books, and I’m so glad we did. The book is a fascinating character study of the most successful art thief in European history – a thief who operated not in the 18th or 19th century, when such thefts would have been easier, but the 1990s!
Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity, edited by Lee Mandelo. The second short story anthology on the list, almost every story in this volume blew me away with honest yet still hopefully looks at the future and in particular how LGBTQIA+ people exist in that future. I particularly liked Sarah Gailey’s “Moonwife,” Bendi Barrett’s “Six Days,” “The They Whom We Remember” by Sunny Moraine, and “Sugar, Shadows” by Aysha U. Farah, all of which I talked about in my review back in July.
Sgt. Janus and the House That Loved Death by Jim Beard is the fourth book in his occult detective series starring the mysterious Sgt. Roman Janus. This may or may not be the last book in the series, as it establishes quite a change in the status quo for the main character and his compatriots. The previous three books, which I reviewed in a Series Saturday post in 2020, were purely epistolary in style; this book breaks that mold a bit to great effect. I really need to update the series post to include this latest book.
Girl in the Creek by Wendy N. Wagner. A fantastic ecological horror novel set in the Pacific Northwest that manages to feel cosmic and claustrophobic at the same time and equally effectively. That’s quite a feat in my opinion. Wendy N. Wagner’s work always excites and intrigues me, and this one was no exception. I reviewed this one back in July.
Dogs Don’t Break Hearts by ‘Nathan Burgoine. Burgoine is another of my “go-to” auto-buy authors. This is his second “HiLo” book (High Interest, Low Readability, aimed at getting kids who struggle with reading to read). Teenager Beck volunteers at a dog rescue to get over being gaslit by who he thought was his boyfriend, and through the dogs finds both healing and a new love interest.
Black Hole Heart and Other Stories by K.A. Teryna, translated into English by Alex Shvartsman. The only single-author short story collection on this list, for which I still need to write a review. Teryna’s speculative fiction (mostly science fiction, but not all) is character-based while still exploring larger ideas of how technology improves and disrupts our lives and our greater need for community. I particularly enjoyed “Lajos and His Bees,” “Madame Felides Elopes,” “The Chartreuse Sky,” “Songs of the Snow Whale,” and the title story.
I have to also include Jack of All Comics! A Fan Conversation About the King of Comics, edited by Jim Beard. I had an essay in the book, discussing Jack Kirby’s work on DC’s 1970s Sandman title, so this feels a little like cheating or shameless self-promotion … but the other essays in the book are all great. Each one focuses on a different series Kirby wrote and/or drew for Marvel and DC through the 60s and 70s – from the well-known (Fantastic Four, Thor, Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen) to the more obscure (his issues of DC’s First Issue Special, the aforementioned Sandman run and his work on DC’s war comic The Losers).
Top Ten(ish) is a feature where I identify my personal top ten (or so) favorites in a given category. The key words there are “my” and “favorites.” My favorites may not be your favorites, and I’m not claiming that my favorites are necessarily the best in a given category. Everyone’s tastes are different, and “best” is subjective. I welcome polite discussion on these lists.