Top Reads of 2025
I read 121 books in 2025, the most in a single year since I started counting. Retirement has its perks. The year bookended nicely: starting with Peter Swanson's A Talent for Murder (4 stars) and closing with Fritz Gilbert's Keys to a Successful Retirement (4 stars). The oldest? The Amateur from 1981. The newest? Witness Protection, which won't hit shelves until April 2026.
Out of 33 books I rated 5/5, here are my top ten, in alphabetical order.
Ashley Elston at her absolute best—a tense, layered, and utterly consuming thriller that plays with perception, trust, and the lies we tell to protect ourselves and the ones we love. When Ben Bayliss is murdered his wife, Camille, has a perfect alibi: she was in a bar with witnesses. Except the woman in the bar wasn't Camille Bayliss, it was Aubrey Price. Time-jumping fragments build toward an explosive conclusion that left me reeling.
Part sci-fi, part thriller, all adrenaline. In Sakey's world, "brilliants" with superpowers emerged in the 80s -- just 1% of the population, but enough to terrify everyone else. Nick Cooper is a brilliant federal agent hunting other brilliants labelled as terrorists. That is, until he becomes one himself: America's most wanted terrorist. Breakneck pacing with shrewd social commentary. The climax had me anxiously hunting for book 2 in this trilogy.
I don't read Westerns. But when a good friend asked me to read his favorite book -- a Pulitzer prize winner, no less -- I made a promise. At over 800 pages, I dreaded this behemoth. Boy was I wrong. This epic hooked me with its memorable cast of characters and interwoven stories that touched something deep within me. Why did it take me so long to discover this winner?
Look Closer by David Ellis (2022)
A book club pick from my graduate school, Imperial College, that looked like a fun thriller. Simon and Vicky are a wealthy Chicago couple who have it all -- until a beautiful socialite is found murdered nearby and their secrets start unravelling. Affairs, trust funds, grudges. It all adds up to a fast-paced novel of greed, revenge and obsession. I finished it in days, weeks ahead of the book club schedule.
Steven King rarely disappoints. This thriller features Holly Gibney who has been in several of his books and who I last encountered in the supernatural horror, The Outsider. Here she is hired as a bodyguard for a women's rights activist targeted by a deranged killer. Cross this with another serial killer threatening to murder thirteen innocents and one guilty party and it is a perfect recipe for a wild ride.
Practicing the Way by John Mark Comer (2024)
Winner of ECPA's Christian book of the year award, Comer's modern classic calls us to rediscover a deeper life with God. As a pastor in Portland, he invites us to become apprentices of Jesus -- living by the practices and rhythms of first century disciples. Slow down. Open up space. Let God do what only he can. This reminded of RIchard Foster's Celebration of Discipline. Easily the best Christian book I read in 2025.
I love courtroom dramas, and Turow is the master. In Presumed Innocent, prosecutor Rusty Sabich was charged with murder. Here, retired judge Sabich is about to marry Bea when her son, Aaron, out on probation for drug possession, is charged with murder Rusty returns to the courtroom one last. Is he too rusty? Is Aaron, an ex-con, presumed guilty? Delightful, tense drama about true justice.
Retreat by Krysten Ritter (2025)
Ritter, yes Jessie's doomed girlfriend from Breaking Bad, delivers a sophomore stunner. Con-woman Liz Dawson plays the long game. When she is hired to install some art for wealthy Isabelle Beresford at a fabulous Mexican coastal villa, she sees her chance to become Isabelle and pull off her final con. But secrets spin out of control. Who is Isabelle? Who is conning whom? Breakneck thrller about identity and obsession, and what we'll do for the life we want.
Smart Brevity by Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen and Roy Schwartz (2022)
My son-in-law asked for some communication book recommendations for his engineering team. I found this gem. The authors developed a formula to prioritize information. And they communicate it in under 200 pages of short punchy chapters. I finished it in under 2 hours, and it challenged me to ruthlessly cut my writing to the bone. Find the core. Excise the rest. Need to brush up on communication? Read this. Now.
The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins (2024)
I expected another self-help book. Got something way better. Robbins shows how to stop giving away our power -- to the driver who cuts us off, the colleague who steals our ideas. Sop wasting energy on what you can't control. Break free from fear and self-doubt. Build resilience against the everyday stressors. Let them, let me. Four simple words. A new mantra for a new man. Get it. Try it. It works.
