There are always amazing books coming out across the year and in our new series of monthly articles, we’ll be shining a spotlight on the top fiction releases across all genres. Here, our team have gathered together to highlight our most anticipated fictions books. Do note that non-fiction releases, including biographies and historical texts, have not been included in this list. Everything below falls strictly in the fiction category! So with all that in mind and without further ado, TheReviewGeek team presents our picks for the top 20 books to check out in October 2022!
The First to Die at the End – Adam Silvera
The First to Die at the End is a prequel to the international bestselling book, They Both Die at the End. The story begins the night before Death-Cast goes live. There’s one question on everyone’s mind: Can Death-Cast actually predict death, or is it an elaborate hoax? Orion Pagan and Valentino Prince are our two protagonists here, and the pair cross paths in Times Square and immediately feel a connection. But when the first End Day calls go out, their lives are changed for ever – one of them receives a call… the other doesn’t.
Release Date: 4th October 2022
The Passenger – Cormac McCarthy
The Passenger is the latest novel from Cormac McCarthy and it promises to be quite the intriguing read. Set in Mississippi 1980, a salvage diver called Bobby Western finds nine bodies still buckled in their seats from a sunken jet. It’s a horrific scene but it appears there’s something awry. Among the list of missing items happens to be a tenth passenger… This book promises to dive into the legacy of sin and the madness of human consciousness, all whilst grappling with this big mystery.
Release Date: 25th October 2022
It Starts With Us – Colleen Hoover
Perhaps the most eagerly anticipated book on this list, It Starts With Us is the follow-on to It Ends With Us. Switching between perspectives for Lily and Atlas, It Starts With Us picks up during that tantalizing epilogue and continues the story forward. Lily and her ex-husband Ryle have just settled into a civil co-parenting rhythm when she bumps into her first love, Atlas, again. After nearly 2 years separated, Lily is ecstatic when Atlas asks her on a date. She obviously says yes, but her excitement soon dissipates when she realizes that Ryle is still very much a part of her life… and he’s not going to take kindly to Atlas Corrigan still being in the picture. Expecting a gripping and pulsating thriller to ensue in this one!
Release Date: 18th October 2022
The Atlas Paradox (The Atlas#2) – Olivie Blake
From dark academia last month in Babel to this month’s long-awaited sequel The Atlas Paradox, it’s a good time to be a fan of this genre! With The Atlas Six essentially laying the groundwork, expect plenty of backstabbing, betrayal and breathless chaos in this follow-up. The story here returns to our magical world, where the The Atlas Six, the society of Alexandrians, is revealed to be a secret society with raw, world-changing power, headed by a man whose plans to change life as we know it are already under way. But the cost of knowledge is steep, and as the price of power sees our six magicians forced to choose a side, which alliances will hold?
Release Date: 25th October 2022
Demon Copperhead – Barbara Kingsolver
Demon Copperhead is certainly a book you’ll want to keep on your radar this month. Poignant and well-written, this is a re-telling of David Copperfield like no other. The story whisks us off to the mountains of southern Appalachia, a boy born to a teenaged single mother is forced to endure through foster care, child labor, derelict schools, addiction, disastrous loves and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own mortality and invisibility in a popular culture where even superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities. Cleverly transposing Victorian times to a contemporary American South setting, this novel looks set to speak for a new generation of lost boys.
Release Date: 18th October 2022
No Plan B – Jack Reacher (#27)
Jack Reacher is the gift that keeps on giving and with No Plan B, this looks set to be another pulsating, thrilling popcorn munching flick. The setting here is Colorado, where two witnesses see the same tragedy but give very different accounts of the incident. One, sees a woman throw herself in front of a busy in what authorities have chalked up to be a suicide. And the other witness? Jack Reacher himself. He’s seen what’s happened. A man in a grey hoodie and jeans pushed the victim to her death, taking her purse and walking away. But why? To what end? Well, Reacher soon finds himself caught up in a much bigger conspiracy with power people at the helm and plenty of moving parts. If any step is compromised the threat will need to be permanently removed because of course, there is no Plan B.
Release Date: 25th October 2022
Flight 171 – Amy Christine Parker
Those afraid of flying might want to steer clear of Amy Christine Parker’s latest book, Flight 171! The story here centers on Devon Marsh, who’s haunted by secrets. She’s determined to make a fresh start but when she boards a four-hour flight along with her classmates for a ski trip, the secrets she’s been keeping surface in the worst way possible. A supernatural creature hijacks their flight and gives them a deadly ultimatum – choose one among them to sacrifice before the end of the flight. If she fails, the plane will crash. With just over 300 pages to play with, this looks like the perfect horror treat before Halloween!
Release Date: 4th October 2022
The Christmas Clash – Suzanne Park
Tis the season for Christmas romcoms, even if it does come several months too early! Suzanne Park’s new novel looks like a delightful little book to snuggle up with. Here, the story centers on two rivals who get together to save their families’ livelihoods. Chloe Kwon can’t stand Peter Li but when it turns out the mall is about to be sold to a developer, demolished for condos, eviction notices are handed out right before Christmas. The only solution is for Chloe and Peter to set aside their differences and work together.
Release Date: 4th October 2022
Mad Honey – Jodi Picoult
October’s must-read mystery thriller falls to Jodi Picoult’s later novel, Mad Honey. Described as a soul-stirring novel about what we choose to keep from the past, this suspenseful book looks like it’s going to be a sure-fire winner. The story centers on Olivia McAfee who has a picture-perfect life but circumstances bring her back to her New Hampshire hometown, where she takes over her father’s barkeeping business. At the same time, Lily Campanello also relocates to the same town, ready for her final year of high school. When their paths cross, things take a turn for the worst. Lily is found dead and Olivia’s son, Asher, is questioned by police. Olivia is adamant her son is innocent… but is he really?
Release Date: 4th October 2022
Our Missing Hearts – Celeste Ng
From the writer of Little Fires Everywhere, Celeste Ng’s latest novel, Our Missing Hearts, is one of the most highly anticipated books of the year. The story here is an inspiring book about the unbreakable love in a world consumed by fear. 12 year old Bird Gardner is the protagonist of the piece and he works lives a quiet existence with his loving but broken father, a former linguist who now shelves books in a university library. For a decade, his relationship with his father has been governed by laws written to preserve “American culture” in the wake of years of economic instability and violence. To keep the peace and restore prosperity, authorities are now allowed to relocate children of dissidents, especially those of Asian origin, and libraries have been forced to remove books seen as unpatriotic—including the work of Bird’s mother, Margaret, a Chinese American poet who left the family when he was nine years old. Bird’s journey sees him head off in search of his mother, through the ranks of an underground network of librarians, into the lives of the children who have been taken, and finally to New York City, where a new act of defiance may be the beginning of much-needed change.
Release Date: 4th October 2022
The Family Game – Catherine Steadman
The Family Game is another suspenseful thriller on this list that looks like it could be a proper page-turner. The story centers on Harry, who’s a novelist on the brink of stardom; Edward, her husband-to-be, is seemingly perfect. Very much in love, their bliss is interrupted by the reemergence of the Holbecks, Edward’s family and the embodiment of old money. For years, they’ve dominated headlines and pulled society’s strings. Edward is set to get a nice inheritance from them but when Harry meets Robert, he slips her a cassette tape which happens to hold a shocking confession that changes everything.
Release Date: 18th October 2022
Hester – Laurie Lico Albanese
Hester is an intriguing reimaging of the woman who inspired Hester Prynne, the heroine of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlett Letter. The main character is Isobel Gamble, a young seamstress carrying generations of secrets. When she sets sail from Scotland in the early 1800’s with her husband, they long for a fresh start in the New World. Days after they’ve arrived in Salem, Edward abruptly joins a departing ship as a medic, leaving Isobel penniless and alone in a strange country. When Isobel meets a young Nathaniel Hawthorne, the two are instantly drawn to each other: he is a man haunted by his ancestors, who sent innocent women to the gallows, while she is an unusually gifted needle-worker, troubled by her own strange talents. As the weeks pass and Edward’s safe return grows increasingly unlikely, Nathaniel and Isobel grow closer and closer. Together, they are a muse and a dark storyteller; the enchanter and the enchanted. But which is which?
Release Date: 4th October 2022
Bad Girl Reputation – Elle Kennedy
Bestselling author Elle Kennedy is back with another book that you can just sit back, relax and switch your brain off to. That’s not a disservice to her as an author though, as these books are very moreish! So what’s this one about? Well, bad girl Genevieve West is our protagonist, and she’s brought back home for her mother’s funeral. Genevieve is prepared to keep her distance from her ex-boyfriend, Evan Hartley. Their history is rife with turbulence and passion. However, it’s impossible to stay away from someone in such a small town and the pair inevitably cross paths once more. Genevieve is determined not to go down this path again though, and she manages to stay strong, temporarily remaining in town to help her father run his business. All’s well until Evan finds somebody else.
Release Date: 4th October 2022
Jackal – Erin E. Adams
Jackal is essentially a book combining multiple genres together. There are elements of horror, thriller, mystery and suspense all entangled together with a through-line tackling racism. Liz Rocher gets things started here by returning to Johnstown, Pennsylvania, a predominantly white town. As a black woman she’s a little uneasy but as her best friend is getting married, she braces herself for a weekend of awkward and passive-aggressive reunions. On the day of the wedding, the bride’s daughter, Caroline, goes missing— the only thing left behind is a piece of white fabric covered in blood. To reveal much more would be a disservice to this one but it certainly looks like an enticing mystery.
Release Date: 4th October 2022
If You Could See The Sun – Ann Liang
If You Could See The Sun is the sort of young-adult book that’s going to be very easy to pick up… and very difficult to put down. The main character is Alice Sun, who has always felt invisible at her elite Beijing international boarding school. She’s the only scholarship student among China’s most rich and influential teens. But then she starts uncontrollably turning invisible – actually invisible. When her parents drop the news that they can no longer afford her tuition, Alice hatches a plan to monetize her strange new power – discovering the scandalous secrets her classmates want to know, for a price.
Release Date: 1th October 2022
The Boys from Biloxi – John Grisham
Speaking of prolific writers, John Grisham’s latest novel looks like it’s going to ignite the literary world. For most of the last hundred years, Biloxi was known for its beaches and seafood industry… but it had a darker side. Biloxi is notorious for corruption, with the vice controlled by small cabal of mobsters, many of whom rumored to be members of the Dixie Mafia. Keith Rudy and Hugh Malco grew up in Biloxi in the 60’s and were childhood friends. But as teenagers, their lives took them in different directions. Keith’s father became a legendary prosecutor. Hugh’s father became the Boss of Biloxi’s criminal underground. The two families were headed for a showdown, one that would happen in a courtroom. Life itself hangs in the balance in The Boys from Biloxi, a sweeping saga rich with history and with a large cast of unforgettable characters.
Release Date: 1st October 2022
One Woman’s War – Christine Well
Christine Well’s historical novel, One Woman’s War, should whet the appetite for those looking for another wartime novel. The setting is World War II London. Victoire “Paddy” Bennett expects a secretarial position to the charismatic Commander Ian Fleming. But soon her job is so much more, and when Fleming proposes a daring plot to deceive the Germans about Allied invasion plans, he requests the newlywed Paddy’s help. She jumps at the chance to work as an agent in the field, even after the operation begins to affect her marriage. But could doing her duty for King and country come at too great a cost?
Release Date: 4th October 2022
Dark Room Etiquette – Robin Roe
Another young adult offering on this list comes from Robin Roe’s new book, Dark Room Etiquette. The story centers on 16-year-old Sayers Wayte. He has everything… until he’s kidnapped by a man who tells him the privileged life he’s been living is a lie. Trapped in a windowless room, without knowing why he’s been taken or for how long, Sayers faces a terrifying new reality. To survive, he’s forced to play the part his abductor has created for him. But as time passes, the line between fact and fiction starts to blur…
Release Date: 11th October 2022
No Strangers Here (County Kerry Murders #1) – Carlene O’Connor
The first County Kerry Murders volume looks to deliver a good ol’ dose of mystery fiction. Bestselling author Carlene O-Connor’s new series takes place deep in the heart of Ireland, focusing on female vet who returns home to the village where she grew up and must reckon with her past. When the body of 69 year old Jimmy O’Reilly is found propped on a boulder, staring sightlessly out to sea, a cryptic message is spelled out next to the body. 69 polished black stones and a discarded vial of deadly veterinarian medication lies nearby. Jimmy was a wealthy racehorse owner, known as The Dancing Man. In a town like Dingle, everyone knows a little something about everyone else. But dig a bit deeper, and there’s always much more to find. When Detective Inspector Cormac O’Brien is dispatched out of Killarney to lead the murder inquiry, he’s determined to unearth every last buried secret. But what’s the real secret lurking in the depths of this town? Who killed Jimmy?
Release Date: 25th October 2022
A Heart Full Of Headstones – Ian Rankin
It wouldn’t be a month of thrillers without Ian Rankin on this list! And the man is back with his latest book, which promises to be a proper page-turner. John Rebus stands accused: on trial for a crime that could put him behind bars for the rest of his life. This might be the last time the legendary detective has taken the law into his own hands. But what drove him to cross the line? Detective Inspector Siobhan Clarke may well find out. Clarke is tasked with the city’s most explosive case in years, an infamous cop, at the center of decades of misconduct, has gone missing. Finding him will expose not only her superiors, but her mentor John Rebus. And Rebus himself may not have her own interests at heart, as the repayment of a past debt places him in the crosshairs of both crime lords and his police brethren. A reckoning is coming… who will come out on top?
Release Date: 13th October 2022
And there we have it, our picks for the top 20 books to check out in October 2022! What do you think of our list? Have we included your favourites? Or have we missed any books that you’re super excited to read? We love to hear from you so do feel free to let us know in the comments below!
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