The best books of 2025

The Impossible Fortune Richard Osman

It’s been a quiet year for the Thursday Murder Club. Joyce is busy with planning a wedding. Elizabeth is grieving. Ron is dealing with family troubles, and Ibrahim is still providing therapy to his favourite criminal. 

But when Elizabeth meets a wedding guest who fears for their life, the thrill of the chase is ignited once again. A villain wants access to an uncrackable code and will stop at nothing to get it. Plunged back into their most explosive investigation yet, can the gang solve the puzzle and a murder in time? 

Nobody's Girl Virginia Roberts Giuffre

The extraordinarily powerful and unforgettable memoir by the woman who stood up and spoke out about Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.  

This is her story, in her own words. A story that has never been told in full before now. A story of an ordinary girl who would grow up to confront adversity and trauma of the darkest form, yet found the strength to move forwards, reclaim her voice and shine light on evil – advocating for others and fighting for a safer, fairer world. 

Alchemised SenLinYu

Once a promising alchemist, Helena Marino is now a prisoner – of war and of her own mind. She has no memory of the months leading up to her capture. To uncover the memories buried deep within her mind, she has been sent to the High Reeve, one of the most powerful and ruthless necromancers in this new world. 

In this riveting dark fantasy debut, Helena fights to survive a war-torn world of necromancy and alchemy, and the man tasked with unearthing the deepest secrets of her past. 

Exit Strategy Lee Child, Andrew Child

Jack Reacher will make three stops today. Not all of them were planned for.  

First, a Baltimore coffee shop. Black coffee, two refills. As he leaves, a young guy brushes against him. Instinctively Reacher checks his pockets. Nothing is missing. Second, a store to buy a coat. As he pulls out his cash, he finds a handwritten note. A desperate plea for help. Third, wherever this bend in the road takes him. Impressed by the guy's technique and intrigued by the message, Reacher makes it his mission to find out more . . . 

The Secret of Secrets Dan Brown

Accompanying celebrated academic, Katherine Solomon, to a lecture she’s been invited to give in Prague, Robert Langdon’s world spirals out of control when she disappears without trace from their hotel room. Far from home and well out of his comfort zone, Langdon must pit his wits against forces unknown to recover the woman he loves. 

Against a backdrop of vast castles, towering churches, graveyards buried twelve deep and labyrinthine underground passages, Langdon must navigate a shadow city hiding in plain sight, a city which has successfully kept its secrets for centuries and will not readily deliver them. 

Great Big Beautiful Life Emily Henry

When Margaret Ives, the famously reclusive heiress, invites eternal optimist Alice Scott to the balmy Little Crescent Island, Alice knows this is it: her big break. 

The catch? Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud, Hayden Anderson, is sure of the same thing. The proposal? A one-month trial period to unearth the truth behind one of the most scandalous families of the 20th Century, after which Margaret will choose who’ll tell her story. 

The Soldier's Daughter Fiona McIntosh

Violet Nash has grown up in the shadows of her father Charlie’s shattered dreams. He walked away from the battlefields of France, a WWI hero but his heart in tatters. In search of a new beginning, they set sail for Tasmania to fulfill his dream of setting up a whisky distillery.  

But as the Second World War rages on, Charlie feels a pull once more to play his part. Charlie must prove his bravery in the ultimate act of courage, but it is Violet, the soldier’s daughter, who will fight to claim his lasting legacy. 

Wild Dark Shore Charlotte McConaghy

Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, an island not far from Antarctica and home to the world’s largest seed bank. But with sea levels rising, the Salts must pack up the seeds before they are transported to safer ground. 

Then during a storm, a woman washes up on shore. As they nurse the woman, Rowan, back to life, they must decide if they can trust each other enough to protect the precious seeds in their care. And if they can put the tragedies of the past behind them to create something new, together. 

Atmosphere Taylor Jenkins Reid

In the summer of 1980, astrophysics professor Joan Goodwin begins training to be an astronaut at Houston’s Johnson Space Center. As the new astronauts prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined and begins to question everything she believes about her place in the observable universe. 

Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, everything changes in an instant. 

Always Remember Charlie Mackesy

‘One day you’ll look back and realise how hard it was, and just how well you did’ 

Charlie Mackesy’s four unlikely friends are wandering through the wilds again. They’re not sure what they are looking for. They do know that life can be difficult, but that they love each other, and cake is often the answer. 

When the dark clouds come, can the boy remember what he needs to get through the storm? 

Nobody’s Fool Harlan Coben

Sami Kierce, backpacking in Spain with friends, wakes up covered in blood. There’s a knife in his hand. Beside him, the body of his girlfriend. Anna. Dead. He begins to scream - and then he runs. 

Twenty two years later, Kierce, now a private investigator and new father, recognises a familiar face. Anna. It’s unmistakably her. But as soon as he makes eye contact with her, she bolts. For Kierce there is no choice. He knows he must find this woman and solve the impossible mystery that has haunted his every waking moment since that terrible day. 

A Different Kind of Power Jacinda Ardern

From the former prime minister of New Zealand, then the world’s youngest female head of government and just the second to give birth in office, comes a deeply personal memoir chronicling her extraordinary rise and offering inspiration to a new generation of leaders. 

Jacinda Ardern is a model for anyone who has ever doubted themselves or has aspired to lead with compassion, conviction, and courage. A Different Kind of Power is more than a political memoir; it’s an insight into how it feels to lead, ultimately asking: What if you, too, are capable of more than you ever imagined? 

Everyone In This Bank Is A Thief Benjamin Stevenson

Ernest Cunningham has spent the last few years solving murders. But even for him, a bank heist is a new one. And he’s never been a hostage before. The doors are chained shut. No one in or out. Which means that when someone in the bank is murdered, hostages become suspects. 

Turns out, more than one person planned to rob the bank today. You can steal more from a bank than just money. So who is stealing what? And are they willing to kill for it? 

Gone Before Goodbye Reese Witherspoon, Harlan Coben

Maggie McCabe is a renowned army combat surgeon. But now, after a devastating series of personal tragedies, Maggie is hired by an elite surgeon whose anonymous clientele demand the best care money can buy – as well as absolute discretion. 

Halfway across the globe, one of the world’s most mysterious men requires unconventional medical assistance. Maggie enters his realm of unspeakable opulence and fulfils her end of the agreement. But when the patient suddenly disappears while still under her care, Maggie must become a fugitive herself. 

Return of the Spider James Patterson

Alex Cross thought serial killer Gary Soneji was dead and buried. But when a hidden cabin reveals a stash of gruesome trophies and diaries, Cross realises the Spider's evil influence has spread wider than he ever thought possible. 

The chilling truth soon becomes clear: Cross imprisoned the wrong man. As he studies the clues, Cross becomes enmeshed in a web of evil designed to ensnare him all along. Now he must retrace the steps of a long-ago investigation and face…the Return of the Spider. 

Strong Ground Brené Brown

Over the past six years, Brené Brown, along with a global community of coaches and facilitators, has taken more than 150,000 leaders in 45 countries through her Dare to Lead courage-building work. In Strong Ground, Brown shares the lessons from these experiences along with wisdom from other thinkers.  

This is a vital playbook for everyone from senior leaders developing and executing complex strategies to Gen Z-ers entering and navigating turbulent work environments. It is also an unflinching assessment of what happens when we continue to perpetuate the falsehood that performance and wholeheartedness are mutually exclusive. 

We All Live Here Jojo Moyes

Lila Kennedy has a lot on her plate. A recently broken marriage, two wayward daughters, a house that is falling apart, and an elderly stepfather who seems to have quietly moved in. Not to mention a once promising writing career that is now in freefall. So when her real dad – a man she has barely seen since he ran off to Hollywood thirty-five years ago – suddenly appears on her doorstep wanting to make amends, it feels like the final straw. 

But it turns out even the family you thought you could never forgive might have something to teach you: about love, friendship, and what it actually means to be family. 

Flesh David Szalay

Winner of The Booker Prize 2025, Flesh is a propulsive, hypnotic novel about a man who is unravelled by a series of events beyond his grasp.  

Fifteen-year-old István lives with his mother in an apartment complex in Hungary. His neighbour – a married woman close to his mother’s age – is his only companion. When these encounters shift into a clandestine relationship, his life soon spirals out of control. 

As the years pass, he is carried upwards on the twenty-first century’s tides of money and power. His own competing impulses for love, intimacy, status and wealth win him unimaginable riches, until they threaten to undo him completely. 

How They Get You Chris Kohler

Have you ever felt like your wallet has a slow leak you can’t find? In this sharp, funny and empowering guide, journalist Chris Kohler takes you through the rigged carnival of modern life, where the games are broken, the prizes are fake and somehow you’re paying $28 to park near the entrance. 

You’ll laugh, you’ll groan, and you’ll probably cancel a few subscriptions. But most of all, you’ll walk away with the clarity and confidence to make better choices about how to spend and save your hard-earned money. 

Blood Pact Fiona McIntosh

Detective Superintendent Jack Hawksworth is seconded by counter-terrorism to investigate a spate of domestic events and breaking news of a possible serial killer only heightens the alarm. 

There are no leads, no DNA, no witnesses, no CCTV footage. Jack and his team must figure out why someone would want to harm innocent victims, each of them curiously linked to a single blood transfusion. When a hospital bomb threat erupts, the clock is ticking, and no one is safe from the possibility of a tragedy on a catastrophic scale.