The Best 10 Books Of 2026, According To Amazon Editors

“An extraordinary Trojan horse of a novel that will make your heart sing and make you want to talk to everybody you know about it. Utterly magnetic, American Hagwon will change the way you think about family, sacrifice, and education. Min Jin Lee has written (another) once-in-a-lifetime read.” —Al Woodworth, Amazon Editor

Devastated by a shocking betrayal, John and Helen Koh move their three children from Seoul to Southern California. New opportunity is everywhere for the children, while the elder Kohs find their education and experience in Korea does not translate to the States. As their friends, relatives, and enemies come and go, the family continues “nursing the almost all-consuming faith that education will lead the next generation to success and security.”

“A sparkling, genre-busting gift of a novel, Emily St. John Mandel’s latest is dystopian fiction that shook me to my core. Spanning continents, timelines, and perhaps even universes, Exit Party makes for a glorious puzzle, one with pieces that fit together seamlessly.” —Annabel Gutterman, Amazon Editor

Scary Mommy editor Katie Garrity called this novel “mind-bending.” Set in 2031, California has declared itself a republic apart from the U.S. The curfew in Los Angeles lifts for the first time in weeks, and citizens gravitate to a big party. What happens there will haunt Ari Waker, freshly out of prison after 18 years, for years to come.

“Robert Kolker’s enthralling medical mystery is both mesmerizing and heartbreaking — it asks big questions about chance and choice, what makes a full life, what we’re willing to run toward (or hide from), and how we care for each other. It’s a true story that will stick with you.” —Lindsay Powers, Amazon Editor

This is the heartbreaking true story of a family plagued by dementia as early as in their 40s due to a shared genetic mutation. In a family with nine siblings that all strike out as young adults, only the youngest child, Barb, is still home to see her mother become withdrawn and uncaring. Then, one by one, other members of the family begin losing jobs, destroying their marriages, and getting further and further away from their former selves. And it’s Barb who sets out to find answers — and a cure.”

“This was our pick for the best book of the year so far, and our love for this novel about two motherless friends coming of age in the Jim Crow South endures. A nuanced portrait of friendship, family, and race—Jones's sentences sing.” —Erin Kodicek, Amazon Editor

If you love Jones’ previous work, you will not be disappointed by Kin, said Scary Mommy editor Sarah Aswell after reading the book in July. It follows Annie and Vernice, who have been best friends and neighbors since they were kids in Honeysuckle, Louisiana. Then, at 18, Vernice heads for Spelman College where she is pulled into a world of aspiration and connection, while Annie sets out into the world to find love and adventure. Where will their journeys take them, and will they come back to each other?

“Walking the line between hysterical and horrifying, this electric psychological thriller ruthlessly takes on cultural appropriation through a delicious cat-and-mouse game like no other. If you’re in a reading slump, Fruit Fly is the cure.” —Abby Abell, Amazon Editor

Mallory Maddox is a washed-up author who hasn’t put out new work in nearly a decade. All the buzz she worked so hard to earn is fading, and fast. So when she meets Leo, an unhoused addict trading sex for the things he needs, she finds her inspiration. How far will she go to write the perfect, career-saving story?”

“Never before have a 19th-century mapmaker, a scruffy, loyal dog, and a mysterious copse of trees been more enchanting. O’Farrell delivers a soaring and bewitching tale of family, and how the remote Irish peninsula where they live defines and shapes them, generation after generation.” —Al Woodworth, Amazon Editor

Scary Mommy editor Sarah Aswell read Land in September and declared this story, about a family surviving Ireland’s Great Hunger who find a mysterious spring in the forest, may be O’Farrell’s best work yet.

“Illuminating and unforgettable, Patrick Radden Keefe’s latest delivers another knockout work of narrative nonfiction, this time telling the shocking story of how a young man got caught up in the dangerous and powerful world of Russian oligarchs and landed at the bottom of the Thames.” —Al Woodworth, Amazon Editor

If you love documentaries and true crime podcasts, this book is a must-read. In the wee hours of the morning of November 29, 2019, cameras outside MI6 headquarters captured footage of a young man pacing back and forth before throwing himself into the river Thames. What follows is a deeply reported account of his parents’ quest to get answers about what happened to their son, and how on earth he ended up deciding to jump.

“The many fans of Big Little Lies will love this follow-up, but you don’t need to have read that book or seen the show to enjoy Big Little Truths. I’ve been a fan of Liane Moriarty since her early books, and this is simply one of her very best. The dialogue is so clever, and the storytelling so engrossing, you won’t be able to put this book down.” —Sarah Gelman, Editorial Director

Here’s how Scary Mommy editor Katie Garrity summed up the book after reading it in August: “Big Little Truths picks up 10 years later with Madeline, Celeste, Jane, Renata, and Bonnie, whose kindergartners are now teenagers navigating drugs, sex, and alcohol, which honestly sounds just as chaotic and stressful as the original but make it high school. When a mysterious stranger starts lurking around the school and the principal receives a severed finger in the mail, old secrets resurface and new ones threaten to unravel everything.”

“This heart-pounding, reported memoir sucked me in from the first page; it’s a gripping account of resilience and perseverance that goes far beyond the headlines to reveal what really happened to Evan Gershkovich when he was snatched off the street and thrown into a Russian prison.” —Lindsay Powers, Amazon Editor

In March 2023, one year after Russia invaded Ukraine, journalist Evan Gershkovich met with a source roughly 900 miles east of Moscow. Out of nowhere, a group of masked agents bursts in, blindfolds him, and abducts him. They tell him he’s being charged as a spy before dumping him in Lefortovo prison. Instead of giving up, Evan kept reporting, all the way up until the prisoner swap that set him free.

“Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Colson Whitehead delivers another searing page-turner of heists, gangsters, criminals, and families in this mesmerizing portrait of 1980s New York City.” —Al Woodworth, Amazon Editor

If you love a good crime novel, don’t skip Cool Machine. It follows Ray Carney, his wife Elizabeth, and partner Pepper through years of heists, body guard gigs, and major transitions in New York’s history. At every turn he comes up against the most violent forces in the city, risking the safety of himself and his family for one more score.