Wilson and She Reads Take Their Stands

Author and Guardian book Laura Wilson has released her own choices of the 10 “best” crime and thriller works released in 2025:

• Clown Town, by Mick Herron (Baskerville)
• The Good Liar, by Denise Mina (Harvill Secker)
• The Confessions, by Paul Bradley Carr (Faber & Faber)
• The Winter Warriors, by Olivier Norek (Open Borders)
• The Ghosts of Rome, by Joseph O’Connor (Harvill Secker)
• The Bureau, by Eoin McNamee (Riverrun)
• The Death of Us, by Abigail Dean (Hemlock Press)
• The Impossible Thing, by Belinda Bauer (Bantam)
• Fair Play, by Louise Hegarty (Picador)
• Strange Pictures, by Uketsu (Pushkin Vertigo)

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Concurrently, the Web site and digital magazine She Reads has announced the winners of its best books of 2025 awards, chosen by readers. There are 17 categories of recipients, but the most important of those (at least for Rap Sheet readers) might be Mystery, Thriller & Suspense. Top honors there go to King of Ashes, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron/Pine & Cedar).

Also nominated in that same division were Beautiful Ugly, by Alice Feeney (Flatiron); Count My Lies, by Sophie Stava (Gallery/Scout Press); Culpability, by Bruce Holsinger (Spiegel & Grau); Fog and Fury, by Rachel Howzell Hall (Thomas & Mercer); Heartwood, by Amity Gaige (Simon & Schuster); Not Quite Dead Yet, by Holly Jackson (Bantam); The Compound, by Aisling Rawle (Random House); and We Are All Guilty Here, by Karin Slaughter (Morrow).

To review the results in all 17 categories, click here.