My year got off to a very strong reading start, and I’m finally sharing the books I read in January 2019. I read five books that month, a little above my usual pace, and I’ve written concise thoughts on each one below. I’m a member of an enthusiastic reading community called Casa Costello Reads Facebook group, where recommendations and conversations regularly revive my reading mojo—though it doesn’t help my TBR pile get any smaller. If you’re looking for lively book chat, that group is a great place to find ideas and motivation.
Here are the books I enjoyed in January:
A Keeper – Graham Norton
Graham Norton continues to surprise as a novelist. A Keeper follows Elizabeth, who returns to her mother’s neglected house after her death. While sorting the estate, she discovers letters that reveal a secret life her mother led forty years earlier. The novel captures a real sense of isolation and the slow burn of uncovering the past. Norton writes loneliness and fear convincingly, building tension without resorting to melodrama.
The plot contains several twists that I partly anticipated but still found startling when they arrived. The atmosphere and pacing make this a gripping read from start to finish.
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Tell Me A Secret – Jane Fallon
I received this book in exchange for an honest review. Tell Me A Secret is an office-based drama that plays to Jane Fallon’s strengths: sharp observations about workplace relationships and the dissonance between public and private selves. The protagonist, Holly, is happy to accept a promotion, but soon she suspects someone at work is undermining her. The story toys with obvious suspects and misdirection, keeping the tone light and readable.
This is the kind of book that’s perfect for holidays or commuting—easy to dip into, with enough plot to keep you turning pages without demanding heavy emotional investment.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Winter in Paradise – Elin Hilderbrand
Elin Hilderbrand, known for her Nantucket-set novels, takes a slightly darker turn in Winter in Paradise. The story opens with Irene receiving news that her husband, Russ, was found dead in a helicopter accident in the Caribbean. Irene didn’t know he was on the island; it emerges that their marriage had become distant and compartmentalised. Irene and her two sons travel to St. John to investigate the circumstances surrounding Russ’s death, which also involved a young woman and a pilot.
The characters didn’t always win my affection—some names and traits grated at times—but the plot maintained enough intrigue and surprise to keep me engaged. While parts of the story are predictable, Hilderbrand mixes melodrama with genuine emotional moments, and the book left me curious enough to consider the next in the series.
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Evil Games (DI Kim Stone #2) – Angela Marsons
Angela Marsons’s Kim Stone thrillers remain a firm favourite. Evil Games is a deliciously dark instalment: a rapist is found murdered, but the surface solution is complicated by deeper, more disturbing truths. DI Kim Stone faces off against a psychotherapist whose mind games are every bit as chilling as the crimes themselves. The tension between them is expertly handled, blending cat-and-mouse suspense with unsettling psychological depth.
This book delivers the kind of relentless plotting and atmosphere that makes these thrillers hard to put down.
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Lost Girls (DI Kim Stone #3) – Angela Marsons
After Evil Games I immediately picked up Lost Girls. The Kim Stone books can be read out of order, but they are richer when followed in sequence because the recurring personal threads enhance the crime narratives. Lost Girls might be Marsons’s best yet: two little girls disappear outside a leisure centre, and their tightly knit families are manipulated and played off against one another in devastating ways.
The final section of the book is breathless and propulsive—those last hundred pages fly by—and the twist at the end is brilliantly executed. For readers who enjoy tense, emotionally charged crime fiction, this one is a standout.
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
January’s reads ranged from light, holiday-friendly fiction to dark, twisty thrillers. If you enjoy a mix of domestic drama, psychological suspense, and police procedural grit, these selections cover a satisfying spread. I’ll keep sharing monthly round-ups here—there are always more books to discover and discuss.