By VANESSA SKILDUM
With 2024 coming to an end, I have reviewed the 81 titles I have read this year and selected my top five. My favorite genres of the year are dark academia and thrillers. Still, I have included a mix to encourage you to find your next read.
Murder Your Employer by Rupert Holmes
First up on the list is a dark comedy, historical mystery, and thriller that came out in 2023 “Murder Your Employer.” That sounds like a lot, and let me tell you that you are in for a ride with this one. The book centers around three students who attend McMasters Conservatory for future “deletes” or, in other words, murderers.
Cliff Iverson, an engineer who works at an aircraft manufacturing company, is the character we get to know the most. Some chapters are from his “journal,” and we follow him as he studies to kill his employer, Merril Fiedler, who has changed Cliff’s designs of an aircraft to include faults that could be seriously dangerous to passengers. We also meet Gemma Lindley, a nurse, and Doria Maye, an actress, on their own journeys. Who will succeed in their deletion? How will they pull this off?
Each dentist has to be able to answer the questions: Is this murder necessary? Have you given your target every last chance to redeem themselves? What innocent person might suffer from your actions? And finally, Will this deletion improve the lives of others? I think these questions do a great job of humanizing the characters. Instead of just following three guiltless murders, they question their actions and intentions, how they go about everything, and even how they feel about others.
I had a blast reading this and could not put it down. Holmes is currently working on a second book, “Murder Your Mate,” which will follow dentists who are learning how to murder their partners. I can say with certainty that I will read it as soon as it hits the shelves.
Enders Game by Orson Scott Card
“Enders Game” is a well-known science fiction book initially published in 1985. It follows the main character, Andrew “Ender” Wiggin, the third child in a family of geniuses. He is selected to go to battle school, which is in space, to train against Fiormics, or as they are most commonly referred to as Buggers, who have attacked the planet Earth twice and almost destroyed the human race.
In order to avoid a third attack, the humans have started training children in hopes of finding a commander. They do this through war games. The kids have to learn zero gravity and teamwork and are tested quite rigorously. Ender is a genius at the games, and the book follows his advancement throughout the program, all while asking the question, will Ender be able to save the planet?
I was a little put off at the beginning because Ender was six at the start of the novel, so the idea that he is a genius took me some time to get used to. It didn’t take me long, however, as the world-building is quite strong. The dynamics we follow between the children are convincing, as you have jealousy and bullying. It is not all sunshine and rainbows; you see when the children break down from the stress.
This is the first book in a series of 19 publications centered on this world. There are three series with multiple novellas, so this is a world you can truly dive into.
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Magical realism, historical fantasy, and romance combine to form the standalone novel “The Night Circus,” which instantly grew in popularity after its publication and has stayed there. As the title suggests, the primary setting is this circus, Le Cirque des Rêves, which is only open at night. It is a rather unique circus, as everything is in shades of black and white.
The story follows several characters but centers on a competition between two young magicians, Celia and Marco. Their mercurial instructors have trained them since childhood to compete in this duel. Their battleground is the circus itself, and only one can win.
Everything about this book felt magical. I wanted to jump right into the pages, and Morgenstern’s description made it feel like I was right there with the characters. I immensely enjoyed this novel, which has different points of view and is primarily written in the third person. However, there are intermission scenes between parts where sometimes the narration turns to the second person, which is not commonly seen in writing. I enjoyed these intermissions a lot as they did draw me out of the story slightly but kept me within the world, just showcasing a different part of it.
I enjoyed all the different moving pieces, and it felt like something new came to pass every time I thought I had it all figured out. The tension between the two main characters was palpable, and when the story didn’t revolve around them and shifted to another character from time to time, I was just as entertained. Everything came together to form one cohesive picture, and that was refreshing.
Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez
Abby Jimenez has quickly become one of my favorite romance authors, so I did not find it shocking how much I enjoyed her most recent novel, Just for the Summer, which came out in April of this year. The main characters, Justin and Emma, both have this curse that everybody they date finds their soulmates after their relationship with them has ended.
They bond over this fact on Reddit and quickly begin to talk. Justin is a software engineer in Minnesota, while Emma is a travel nurse about to be headed to Hawaii. They make a dating pact that they will date for a bit and then break up to find their soulmates. As they date, they start to realize that they quite like each other, which goes against everything in their agreement
Life isn’t picture perfect, and something I truly appreciate about this book is that while it is Romance, there is other stuff going on. Both characters are dealing with quite interesting family situations, specifically Justin, who is about to become the legal guardian of his three younger siblings. Emma has an almost non-existent relationship with her mom, who has now suddenly appeared in her life again.
Jimenz writes both perspectives in ways that are very genuine human reactions. It isn’t just love at first sight and a classic fight, as seen in many romance novels. Both characters react in very real, very humane ways. Their problems do not magically get solved by being together, and they both just magically open up but slowly start to work as a team.
Shark Heart by Emily Habeck
Emily Habeck’s debut novel, “Shark Heart,” emerged in 2023. It follows Lewis and Wren during their first year of marriage. An unexpected roadblock occurs when Lewis starts having abnormal symptoms and gets diagnosed with a genetic mutation that is slowly turning him into a great white shark.
Not only do you see Lewis’s changing process and the strain on his relationship with Wren, but you also get to follow Angela, Wren’s mother, and how she raised Wren. It is a full-circle kind of book where everything all settles into place in such a beautiful way.
You see Lewis struggle with his uncompleted dreams, and Wren does not want to give up on him. She devotes herself to caring for him even when he is barely himself, a behavior similar to that of someone caring for a dementia patient.
This is written in prose, scripts, and more. The varying styles make it feel like a breath of fresh air from school textbooks and giant fantasy novels, even though it covers such a depressing topic. Be prepared to cry and have your heart torn apart with this one.
Honorable Mentions: “The Silent Patient” by Alex Michaelides, “Skyward” by Brandon Sanderson, and “As Good As Dead” by Holly Jackson.
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