The Best Reviewed Books of the Month: February 2026

The best reviewed crime fiction, nonfiction, mystery, and thrillers of the month, via Bookmarks.

Ian McGuire, White River Crossing
(Crown)

“Thrilling … Expertly paced … Predictably, the novel’s twin undercurrents of pride and corruption surface with fatal consequences, and the lively narrative ends as fate demands that it must. Murder is avenged and avarice thwarted in a novel that verges on allegory and yet transports us to a time and place as solid as the ill-fated rock that brings only disaster.”

                                                                                                                                          –Anna Mundow, (Wall Street Journal)

Shelley Puhak, The Blood Countess
(Bloomsbury)

“Puhak is a skillful guide through the thicket of political turmoil, weaponized accusations and palace intrigues … Sordid, grisly and above all memorable.”

–Jennifer Szalai (New York Times Book Review)

Claire Oshetsky, Evil Genius
(Ecco)

“A noir delight of a novel…Deceptively light on its feet, skittering along the page to deliver its scorpion sting.”

–Hamilton Cain (New York Times Book Review)

Yosha Gunasekera, The Midnight Taxi
(Berkley()

“This is a richly detailed, well-crafted debut mystery led by an appealing amateur detective duo.”

–Jane Jorgensen (Library Journal)

Jo Nesbo, Wolf Hour
(Knopf)

“Intricately plotted … Very much a fair-play mystery, with breadcrumbs scattered strategically along the way … The violence and macabre elements that are Nesbø’s trademarks emerge gradually and organically, building to a chilling conclusion.”

–Lisa Henricksson (Air Mail)