Amazon Decides, Goodreads Deliberates

Two thousand twenty-five’s “best crime fiction of the year” pronouncements seemed to dribble out at first, but now their pace of delivery is accelerating. Giant online retailer Amazon, for instance, came out with its editors’ top-20 mystery, thriller, and suspense picks:

• The Intruder, by Freida McFadden (Poisoned Pen Press)
• King of Ashes, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron/Pine & Cedar)
• The Impossible Fortune, by Richard Osman (Pamela Dorman)
• What a Way to Go, by Bella Mackie (Harper Perennial)
• Dead Money, by Jakob Kerr (Bantam)
• Crooks, by Lou Berney (Morrow)
• The Black Wolf, by Louise Penny (Minotaur)
• Seven Reasons to Murder Your Dinner Guests, by K.J. Whittle (Sourcebooks Landmark)
• We Are All Guilty Here, by Karin Slaughter (Morrow)
• The Secret of Secrets, by Dan Brown (Doubleday)
• The Oligarch’s Daughter, by Joseph Finder (Harper)
• The Hallmarked Man, by Robert Galbraith (Mulholland)
• Gone Before Goodbye, by Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben (Grand Central)
• She Didn’t See It Coming, by Shari Lapena (Pamela Dorman)
• Fever Beach, by Carl Hiaasen (Knopf)
• The Doorman, by Chris Pavone (MCD)
• Strangers in Time, by David Baldacci (Grand Central)
• Guilty by Definition, by Susie Dent (Sourcebooks Landmark)
• Never Flinch, by Stephen King (Scribner)
• No Body No Crime, by Tess Sharpe (MCD)

Both The Intruder and King of Ashes also appear among Amazon’s foremost general favorites of 2025.

This is certainly not a bad list; I’ve read several of the titles here, and enjoyed them greatly. My sole disappointment is that it holds no surprises—with the possible exception of Mackie’s What a Way to Go. With its worldwide Web presence, Amazon has an oversize impact on book sales. Rather than merely endorse what is already flying off the shelves, wouldn’t it be wonderful if its editors championed a few standout yarns that have enjoyed less publicity, giving their authors the sort of encouragement needed to dream bigger?

Or is that just terribly naïve of me?

* * *

At the same time, the social cataloguing site Goodreads (another Amazon property, by the way) has opened its initial round for public voting in the 2025 Goodreads Choice Awards competition. In the Mystery and Thriller category, the 20 nominees are:

• We Are All Guilty Here, by Karin Slaughter (Morrow)
• Don’t Let Him In, by Lisa Jewell (Atria)
• The Secret of Secrets, by Dan Brown (Doubleday)
• The Ghostwriter, by Julie Clark (Sourcebooks Landmark)
• King of Ashes, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron/Pine & Cedar)
• The Intruder, by Freida McFadden (Poisoned Pen Press)
• Gone Before Goodbye, by Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben (Grand Central)
• The Tenant, by Freida McFadden (Poisoned Pen Press)
• Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man), by Jesse Q.
Sutanto (Berkley)
• Heartwood, by Amity Gaige (Simon & Schuster)
• The Crash, by Freida McFadden (Poisoned Pen Press)
• The Impossible Fortune, by Richard Osman (Pamela Dorman)
• Not Quite Dead Yet, by Holly Jackson (Bantam)
• The Missing Half, by Ashley Flowers (Bantam)
• Forget Me Not, by Stacy Willingham (Minotaur)
• You Killed Me First, by John Marrs (Thomas & Mercer)
• Famous Last Words, by Gilliam McAllister (Morrow)
• The Perfect Divorce, by Jeneva Rose (Blackstone)
• The Widow, by John Grisham (Doubleday)
• Beautiful Ugly, by Alice Feeney (Flatiron)

There’s rather more novelty in this mix, but also a pretty serious over-representation by pseudonymous author Freida McFadden.

If you’d like to participate in selecting this year’s Mystery and Thriller winner, go here by Sunday, November 23, to vote for your favorite candidate. The second and final round of balloting will take place from November 25 to 30, with the winner in this and other Goodreads categories to be declared on Thursday, December 4.