PEOPLE’s Best Books of October 2024: New Suspense from Paula Hawkins and More

Mar. 15, 2025

PEOPLE’s picks for the best books of Oct. 2024.

An artist with a dark secret and the return of a beloved sleuther — plus new celebrity memoirs — here are PEOPLE’s picks for the best books of October 2024.

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The best memoirs reveal the worlds of others and help you reflect on your own. With a keen eye on family secrets and generational trauma, this one does just that.

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Abrams

For those who rewatchWhen Harry Met Sally . . .every autumn, this illustrated look at the queen of rom-coms’ life and legacy is a perfect complement.

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Vanessa Chapman, known for her ceramics, paintings and a husband who disappeared inexplicably years ago, has bequeathed her collection to a London gallery, but some works are missing. When young curator James is dispatched to her home on an isolated Scottish island to retrieve them from her longtime companion, Grace, he’s thrilled with the assignment — until hints of sinister secrets begin to emerge. Hawkins is at her best in this tense, satisfying ride.– Robin Micheli

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Shrekfans: Do we have a romantasy romp for you! Ex-best friends defended the realm once, and now they’re back — and so are their undead nemeses.

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College students on an Appalachian road trip to film roadside memorials start noticing sinister symbols. Is something worse than traffic at play? Creepily arresting.

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In this sexy, scary novel, a monstrous force that feeds on passion awakes, and Angelina has to stop it before it eats her life — literally. A delightfully queer romp that doesn’t skimp on the steamorthe scares.

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Dutton

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This sparkling, emotive debut sends a 70-year-old therapist on a cross-country road trip with the ashes of her best friend. As she revisits the choices she’s made and the people she’s cared for, Magda’s path through grief leads to wonder. —Marion Winik

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This beautiful, captivating novel follows Meadow, a New York bartender who finds a book in his friend’s apartment while she’s away in Shanghai. Soon, truth is stranger than fiction as Meadow juggles relationships, his parents’ expectations and the mystery of his friend’s disappearance in this LGBTQ+ coming-of-age story. —Wadzanai Mhute

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In this surprise conclusion to the Southern Reach series, we get some answers, some new questions and three freshly terrifying expeditions back to the haunting Area X. VanderMeer fans, don’t miss this one.

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As six astronauts take a trip into the great beyond before the space program gets dismantled for good, we get to peek inside their lives both in space and on Earth in this quietly profound novel.

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courtesy amazon

While Bethany Joy Lenz rose to fame playing Haley James Scott on the early 2000’s dramaOne Tree Hill, the actress was also involved with a Christian cult, which would soon take both Lenz’s earnings and autonomy. In this riveting, revealing new memoir, the star opens up about how she escaped and began a journey toward a new beginning.

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This brilliant short story collection interweaves modern retellings of Greek myths with contemporary concerns for a chilling dystopian journey that reveals how humankind hasn’t changed much through the centuries after all. Thought-provoking, dark and wonderful. —Lisa Greissinger

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Renowned children’s author Banks, who died earlier this year, reflects on her life and impending death in this posthumous poetic memoir. Banks’s breathtaking, accessible poems are stunning in their simplicity while inviting the reader to savor. A perfect antidote to the relentless tension of our world. —Rennie Dyball

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Abandoned children fighting for survival, captive citizens staging a revolt and a struggle between new and old ways— this is a stunning, sweeping novel of humanity and hope.

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Maid Estela has kept her employers’ secrets for years, but now their daughter is dead, and the truth must come out. Tense, taut and tantalizing.

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It’s 1943, and a young Nena fears her emerging powers and what they’ll cost her. Decades later, history threatens to repeat itself in this magical family story.

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Random House

Before Lisa Marie Presley died at age 54 in 2023, she asked her daughter, actressRiley Keough, to help her finish her memoir. Based on recordings that her mother left behind, Keough completed this poignant, moving memoir about Presley’s life, which recounts Presley’s childhood in Graceland with parentsElvisandPriscilla, the crushing grief that followed after the death of her son Ben and more.

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Penguin Press

Before he was the Oscar-winning actor known for movies likeScent of a Woman,ScarfaceandThe Godfather, Al Pacino was a boy growing up in the South Bronx, in a tenement apartment with his mother and grandparents. In his long-awaited memoir, the star looks back on it all, from his rise in Hollywood to his dedication to his craft.

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Augusta’s first love is the delivery boy in her father’s pharmacy, Irving Rivkin, but the magic misfires for reasons involving Jewish gangsters and a love potion. Heartbroken, she devotes herself to her career for 60 years, until her employer demands she retire. Off she goes to a senior community in Boca Raton, Fla. — where she finds none other than that heartbreaker Rivkin. Full of sweetness and charm. —Marion Winik

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When a former U.S. President is accused of murdering his mistress, he asks his best friend, attorney Rob Jacobson, to defend him. Jacobson takes the case — even though the victim was once his own lover. Clever and thrilling with a shocking twist. —Robin Micheli

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In this gorgeously written, shattering debut, teenager Queenie arrives in New York City with her brother and her elderly Chinese dad to join her Filipina mom and be a family. But intergenerational trauma, her parents’ rigid expectations and insurmountable odds tear apart the household and bankrupt their American dream. As her brother acts out, Queenie finds herself struggling to eke out a living all her own. Deeply compassionate and devastating. —Caroline Leavitt

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Anna got away with killing her author husband in 2021’sThe Plot, and now she’s relishing his royalties and writing bestsellers of her own. But the past, as they say, is never really dead. When Anna’s history resurfaces, there’s hell to pay. Korelitz fans will eat up this satirical, bookish suspense. —Kim Hubbard

source: people.com