My Top 10 Horror, Mysteries & Thrillers Read in 2025 | Backlist

While I felt like the author was careful and conscious of how she dealt with some of those pieces and wasn't looking to glorify or romanticize any of it at all, it's still there to a degree... And I do recommend this one to the right reader.

And this is a serial killer novel that I've heard about for years, finally got a chance to read this year, and yes, it is absolutely as brutal as expected. While it is not my favorite by this author, I do think that it really holds up to all the gushing and praise.

And while it is still not a genre for me, this book is so well done that I really appreciate it despite the fact that it definitely was outside my wheelhouse. And definitely it has what I'm going to describe as that old school horror feel.

It is relatively short as a narrative piece but because of that I find everything in there is really impactful, really punchy and very memorable... So many of you told me to read it and I'm glad I finally did.

And so it's again very compelling, very readable... as a translation, I found it easy to read on the page, you wouldn't know it was written in a different language first because it felt so accessible.

So, it takes kind of the idea of what would normally be a portal fantasy as something good in terms of the escapism and looking at something like Narnia instead turns it on head. So well done, so memorable. So, highly recommend this one.

So, it is one of the best Japanese mystery stories that I have read... I thought the translation worked fantastic from an English perspective.

I hated those scenes, but I love the rest of the book so much that I push through. And so I do recommend this one for anyone again who really loves a character-driven slowb burning mystery... I thought it was really well done, really engaging. Highly recommend.

You have these two great characters that felt fleshed out and like real people with great banter between them... This story in my mind struck that perfect balance of addressing it without it feeling cheesy, making it work, and not having it interfere with the story. So, I had such a good time with this one.

I'm so glad I did with this one because this author is a favorite of mine and I don't know what was wrong with me when I read it because this book is fantastic... it's done so well, so beautifully, and again, hit me in all the emotional fields. Highly recommend.