The 3 Best Books I Read in 2024
I know it’s late.
Normally, people share their best books of the year at the beginning of the year. And in some cases, they share their list right before the new year.
But I procrastinated.
What can I say? I’m a procrastinator.
But late is better than never, as I used to tell my teachers, so here are the 3 best books I read in 2024, in no particular order:
“Small Mercies” by Dennis Lehane
I initially did not want this book.
I didn’t know much about it but I pre-ordered it from Amazon, thinking that once I got the free shipping for another item, I could just cancel this order.
However, Amazon is a lot smarter than you think and it didn’t work. But I’m glad I couldn’t scam the site because this book was fantastic.
Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane is a story of a single Irish mom from Boston who is on a search to find her missing teenage daughter.
As she investigates the whereabouts of her daughter, she unravels all of these secrets about her community and the people she deemed as friends.
She also goes through self-growth during this journey and realizes she’s not that different (or better) than the people in her community.
Though the mystery aspect of this novel was great, what I liked most about it was how Lehane weaved race relations and community conflict into the story.
I learned a lot about the relationship between Black people and Irish people from Boston through this novel.
You may not care about that stuff, but as a sociology major and history dork, I appreciated it and it made the story more entertaining.
So, if you like historical thrillers that discuss social issues, you’ll enjoy Small Mercies.
Additionally, the only movie I can think of that’s similar to this story is American Gangster.
“The Accomplice” by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and Aaron Philip Clark
If I’m being completely honest, I bought this book because it’s by 50 Cent.
50 Cent was my favorite rapper in high school and I pretty much purchased this novel based on the cover.
But it did not disappoint.
The Accomplice by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson is a story of a female cop who is trying to solve a bank heist while simultaneously trying to prove herself in a male-dominated police force.
But as she investigates the crime, she realizes there’s more to it than just a bank robbery, that there are secret organizations involved in, well, keeping secrets, as well as blackmailing and exposing powerful people.
I enjoyed this book because it was suspenseful, with each chapter ending in a cliffhanger.
It’s also full of action and the details of these scenes are well written.
This is a fun and easy read, and I recommend it to anyone who just wants to read a fun action thriller. It reminded me of movies like Running Scared or Baby Driver.
So, if you’re into these types of stories, you’ll enjoy The Accomplice.
“Yellowface” by R.F. Kuang
I didn’t realize I liked reading thrillers until I read this book.
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang is about an author who steals another author’s manuscript after the original author dies due to unforeseen circumstances.
(That was a mouthful.)
But the thing is that the original author is Asian, whereas the other author is White, and the story she stole is about Asian history.
So, Yellowface is about the events the White author goes through as she publishes the book under her name and receives fame from it.
You’re probably wondering how this novel is a thriller.
Well, it’s a thriller because the White author eventually gets toyed with for stealing and publishing the story.
Someone -or something- messes with her to try to get her to admit that she stole the story from the original author.
Additionally, Kuang does a fantastic job of making the main character hateable, and as I read Yellowface, all I wanted was for the protagonist to lose. Even with all of her justifications as to why she did the things she did, I just couldn’t get behind her cause, and just wanted to keep reading to find out if she would finally get what she deserved.
And, spoiler alert -just kidding. Read the novel to find out for yourself…
This is a fun read that gave me goosebumps from time to time, and if you like movies like Scream or I Know What You Did Last Summer (minus the gore), you’ll enjoy this novel.
Conclusion
These are my favourite books from 2024.
I hope they bring you as much thrills and chills as they did me.