Best reviewed books of the year (so far)

If you read one book from this list, make it James. Critically hailed as one of the year’s essential reads, appearing on nearly every major ‘Best of the Year’ list, James was shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize and has since won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The Sunday Times praised it as “scorchingly funny” and “exhilarating,” while The Observer called it “wry, wise, funny and touching.” In James, Everett takes one of American literature's classic stories – The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – and reimagines it from the perspective of James. Set against the brutal backdrop of 1861 America, this novel charts James’s perilous journey, forging an unlikely alliance with runaway Huck. The result is a book that pulses with razor-sharp wit, righteous rage, and surprising tenderness.

In this much-anticipated novel, Tóibín brings us back to the beloved character Eilis Fiorello, decades after Brooklyn. An unexpected knock at her door utterly unsettles the life she's carefully built, sparking a profoundly moving reckoning with time, regret, and the tantalising possibility of rewriting her own story. Long Island has already garnered immense praise from literary heavyweights and celebrities alike: Elizabeth Strout called it "piercingly graceful," Douglas Stuart found it "deeply affecting," and Oprah Winfrey hailed it as "a beautiful, heartbreaking novel." The critical consensus is clear, too: The Guardian called it “a masterclass,” The New York Times “exquisite,” and The Financial Times “dazzling.”

Donoghue’s latest has been widely praised for its taut pacing and period detail, with The Guardian calling it “a zippy Agatha Christie-like thriller” and The Independent hailing it as “a masterclass” in narrative speed and control. The Washington Post declared it “riveting.” Evocative, urgent, and brilliantly orchestrated, The Paris Express is both a literary feat and a page-turning ride into the heart of fin-de-siècle Paris. Set aboard a doomed express train, this gripping novel captures a diverse cast of passengers, each with secrets, hopes, and something to lose. At its heart: a young woman with a deadly plan, and a city poised on the cusp of transformation.

A baby is found alone on a windswept Irish beach – and with that haunting image, Garrett Carr opens a story as tender as it is turbulent in his debut novel The Boy From the Sea. At its heart is Declan, a boy whose life is beautifully, profoundly upended by the mysterious arrival of a new brother. Carr explores belonging, identity, and those fragile, invisible threads that connect families and communities. The Observer included Carr on their prestigious Best Debut Novelists for 2025 list – putting him in incredible company alongside past picks like Sally Rooney, Bonnie Garmus, and Douglas Stuart. The Sunday Times absolutely loved it, calling it “warm, funny, full of lightly worn wisdom and wit”, praising its perfect balance of humour and hard truths. It's no surprise this novel has been marked as one of the year’s standout debuts.

What begins as a birthday weekend of light-hearted roleplay descends into something far darker in Louise Hegarty’s dazzling debut – a genre-bending, emotionally astute locked-room mystery. When Abigail wakes up to find her beloved brother Benjamin dead, the staged theatrics of their murder mystery party start to bleed, chillingly, into reality. The house itself becomes a hall of mirrors, complete with a suspicious butler, a cryptic gardener, and secrets lurking behind every corner. Celebrated for its ingenious form and emotional depth, Fair Play has been lauded by The Times as “a brilliant dissection of the murder mystery format,” and by The Sunday Times as “a fiendishly elegant jigsaw puzzle.” This novel has nods from literary critics and pop culture figures alike – including Drag DJ icon Jodie Harsh: “With each turn of a page the plot thickens masterfully and the form twists like a wicked game. Get to the Louise Hegarty party early, she’s brilliant.”

In a ravaged world where water is power and mercy is scarce, Tim Winton’s Juice burns with urgency, tenderness, and furious moral clarity. In this stark, propulsive odyssey, a haunted, unnamed man and child seek refuge in a desolate mine, fugitives in a world scorched by ecological collapse and human cruelty. It's a story of survival and love that has had critics blown away. The Guardian heralded it as “a blistering cli-fi epic” and named it one of their best science fiction books of the year. The Daily Telegraph called it “some of the most high-octane thriller writing” in recent memory, drawing comparisons to The Road but noting its own unique, stoic path. Beyond the thrills, its emotional depth and philosophical weight are undeniable. This is a devastating, elemental triumph from one of Australia’s most revered literary voices, and frankly, it's unmissable.

Sarah Moss has long been held up as one of Britain's finest novelists, and with Ripeness, she's truly outdone herself. The Sunday Times didn't hesitate to call it "the achievement of a lifetime," and once you read it, you'll absolutely see why. Endorsed and lauded by authors such as Hilary Mantel: “throws much contemporary writing into the shade” and Eleanor Catton: “t book of lasting pleasures”, this luminous, slow-burning masterpiece is all about identity and motherhood, and it simply demands to be read. It traces the profound aftershocks of one momentous decision made way back in the heat of a 1960s Italian summer, tdispatched to care for her pregnant sister, unwittingly becomes the keeper of a life-altering secret. Years later in Ireland, a single phone call dredges that past from its silence, sending ripples through friendships and families.

If you're looking for a literary debut that truly dissects the delicate dynamics of class and long-standing relationships, you have to pick up Hal Ebbott's Among Friends. Critics have been calling it "assured" and "acutely perceptive" (Financial Times), praising its elegant prose and moral complexity. In this sharply observed and emotionally layered debut, Hal Ebbott dissects the fragile architecture of privilege and long-standing friendship with scalpel-like precision. The story unfolds over a single, tension-filled weekend at an upstate country house. Two couples, bound by decades of intimacy and quiet rivalries, are forced to confront a rupture that might just be beyond repair. As tensions surface and secrets unravel, Among Friends brilliantly interrogates what we choose to overlook in the name of loyalty, comfort, and social ease.