The Book Review: Looking for a thriller to read? You’re in luck.
Plus: Han Kang’s new novel and catching up with Gay Talese
Books

January 17, 2025

The New York Times

Dear fellow readers,

If — like me — you love a good thriller and are always casting about for your next one, I think you’ll like this gorgeous new guide. It collects all of our thrillers coverage in one place, including the best thrillers of 2024, reviews of the latest releases, and recommendations from writers like Lucy Foley (who shares her favorite marriage-gone-wrong thrillers) and Ruth Ware (who writes about thrillers set in remote, very hard-to-reach places). Want to know which classic crime novels have been recently reissued, what the latest series mysteries are or which thrillers have just come out in paperback? You’ll find all of that, and more.

If you have time, let us know what you’re reading. (We may publish your response on our Letters page, or feature it in an upcoming newsletter.) I’m engrossed in Amira Ghenim’s “A Calamity of Noble Houses,” which tries to piece together a fateful night that has reverberated through two families for four generations. It’s my favorite kind of historical fiction, teaching me about events I’m not familiar with and set in a place I know little about — in this case, Tunisia.

You can email us at books@nytimes.com.

Tina Jordan
Deputy Editor, The New York Times Book Review
@TinaJordanNYT

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Let Us Help You Find Your Next Book

Reading picks from Book Review editors, guaranteed to suit any mood.

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THIS WEEK IN THE BOOK REVIEW

A close-up illustration of a woman’s closed eye, with drops of either rain or tears on her cheek below. A snowflake rests on her eyelashes.

Hokyoung Kim

Fiction

In Han Kang’s Latest, a Quixotic Bird Rescue Expedition Turns Tragic

The Nobel laureate’s new novel, “We Do Not Part,” revisits a violent chapter in South Korean history.

By Lydia Millet

This illustration shows a roadside signboard at the edge of a small town with rolling hills and a couple of buildings in the distance. The sign reads “About the Affair,” which is the title of one of Maria Zoccola’s poems, with a line from the poem in red letters beneath: “From the Hot Folds of Her Body.”

Shirley Chong

Poetry

The Desperate Housewife Whose Face Launched a Thousand Ships

In “Helen of Troy, 1993,” the poet Maria Zoccola relocates a figure from Greek mythology into small-town Tennessee.

By Karl Kirchwey

The photograph portrays an open cardboard box containing several sealed bags. Visible are a pencil and a toothbrush.

Sara Stathas for The New York Times

nonfiction

She Changed History, Then Erased Her Own

In “The Secret History of the Rape Kit,” Pagan Kennedy explores the tangled story of a simple but life-changing innovation, and the woman who fought for it.

By Cindi Leive

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Pablo Amargo

Crime & Mystery

In These 4 Novels, the Detectives Have Killer Instincts

Our columnist on the month’s best new releases.

By Sarah Weinman

A photo of a marble statue of Socrates, seated in a chair in a toga and sandals, his right hand poised under his bearded chin.

Prisma/UIG, via Getty Images

Nonfiction

The Secret to a Good Life? Thinking Like Socrates.

In “Open Socrates,” the scholar Agnes Callard argues that the ancient Greek philosopher offers a blueprint for an ethical life.

By Jennifer Szalai

THE BOOK REVIEW PODCAST

Four books, one yellow, one orange, one brown and one blue, standing, each separate from the others, on a light yellow surface against a darker yellow wall. "The Book Review" is written in white on the top left, and a "T" logo for the The New York Times is on the bottom.

The Book Review

How Silence Improves Pico Iyer’s Life

The travel writer and essayist discusses his new book, “Aflame,” about his stays at a California monastery.

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44 MIN LISTEN

ETC.

Gay Talese, in a black and white portrait, wears a three-piece suit and light gray tie.

Ahmed Gaber for The New York Times

Gay Talese Keeps Notes, Especially on Everyone’s Clothes

In a new collection about New York City, the writer turns his gimlet eye on its icons, its architecture, its hot spots — and its suits. “Clothes matter — especially when you get old,” he says.

By Sadie Stein

This is the cover of “We Tried to Tell Y’All” by Meredith D. Clark

editors’ choice

5 New Books We Recommend This Week

Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times.

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Caroline Gamon

Children’s Books

First Love and First Loss in 1941 Iowa

In H.M. Bouwman’s wise and heartbreaking “Scattergood,” the shadow of the Holocaust reaches a farm girl trying to help her ailing friend.

By Laurel Snyder

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Ben Hickey

How Much Do You Know About These Controversial Classics?

Try this short quiz on literature from the first half of the 20th century that drew censorship challenges — and still does.

By J. D. Biersdorfer

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Amir Hamja/The New York Times

Publishers and Authors Wonder: Can Anything Replace BookTok?

With a ban looming, publishers are hoping to pivot to new platforms, but readers fear their community of book lovers will never be the same.

By Alexandra Alter

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