Established in 2007 by the CODES section of RUSA, the Reading List Council, consisting of librarians who are experts in readers’ advisory and collection development, selects an annual list of outstanding genre fiction. This list is made up of one title in each of eight different categories: adrenaline (encompassing thrillers, suspense, and action/adventure); fantasy; historical fiction; horror; mystery; romance; science fiction; and women’s fiction. All titles were published in 2017.
ADRENALINE
Fierce Kingdom. By Gin Phillips. Viking, $25 (9780735224278).
Joan and her four-year-old son, Lincoln, are enjoying an afternoon outing at the zoo when the unthinkable happens—a mass shooting. Trapped and in tremendous danger, Joan must rely on her bravery and survival instincts to make it out alive. This terrifyingly plausible thriller unfolds in real time.
Shortlist: The Force, by Don Winslow (Morrow); Lola, by Melissa Scrivner Love (Crown); The Marsh King’s Daughter, by Karen Dionne (Putnam); She Rides Shotgun, by Jordan Harper (Ecco).
FANTASY
Down Among the Sticks and Bones. By Seanan McGuire. Tor, $17.99 (9780765392039).
Twin sisters Jack and Jill discover a portal that leads them to the Moors, a dark and unsettling world that reveals their true selves. But will their conflicting desires tear them apart?
Shortlist: A Gathering of Ravens, by Scott Oden (St. Martins/Thomas Dunne); Passing Strange, by Ellen Klages (Tor); Winter Tide, by Ruthanna Emrys (Tor); The Witches
HISTORICAL FICTION
The Half-Drowned King. By Linnea Hartsuyker. Harper, $27.99 (9780062563699).
Betrayed and left for dead, Viking raider Rangvald seeks revenge and his inheritance, while his sister Svanhild’s path to freedom lies with Rangvald’s mortal enemy. This epic tale of uneasy alliances, set in ninth-century Scandinavia, offers action, intrigue, and historical detail.
- Shortlist: The Confessions of Young Nero, by Margaret George (Berkley); Golden Hill of Old New York, by Francis Spufford (Scribner); Miss Kopp’s Midnight Confessions, by Amy Stewart (HMH); Pachinko, by Min Jin Lee (Grand Central).
HORROR 
Kill Creek. By Scott Thomas. Inkshares, $14.99 (9781942645825).
An homage to horror and the authors who write it, Kill Creek features four prominent authors who are lured into spending the night in a famous haunted house as a publicity stunt. The aftermath is both unexpected and terrifying.
- Shortlist: Ararat, by Christopher Golden (St. Martin’s); A God in the Shed, by J-F. Dubeau (Inkshares); In the Valley of the Sun, by Andy Davidson (Skyhorse); Little Heaven, by Nick Cutter (Gallery).
MYSTERY
The Dime. By Kathleen Kent. Little, Brown/Mulholland, $26 (9780316311038).
Dallas detective Betty Rhyzyk comes from a family of cops. She’s nearly six feet tall and has flaming red hair, a New Yorker’s sharp tongue, and a girlfriend. When her investigation into a Mexican drug lord goes sideways, she must salvage the operation while dealing with a highly disturbed stalker.
- Shortlist: Casualty of War, by Charles Todd (Morrow); The Dry, by Jane Harper (Flatiron); Magpie Murders, by Anthony Horowitz (Harper); Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore, by Matthew Sullivan (Scribner).
ROMANCE
An Extraordinary Union. By Alyssa Cole. Kensington, $15 (9781496707444).
Elle Burns, a free black woman, voluntarily leaves the North to work in the Confederacy as a slave and a spy. When she uncovers a possible plot, she also encounters Malcolm, a white Union spy. Their intense attraction places their lives in danger in this tale of forbidden love.
- Shortlist: Hate to Want You, by Alisha Rai (Avon); The Lawrence Browne Affair, by Cat Sebastian (Avon Impulse); The Sumage Solution, by G. L. Carriger (Gail Carriger LLC); Wild at Whiskey Creek, by Julie Anne Long (Avon).
SCIENCE FICTION
The Collapsing Empire. By John Scalzi. Tor, $25.99 (9780765388889).
In the Interdependency, each planet relies on its far-flung neighbors for survival. Now a galactic change is transforming the universal order, a new empress has been crowned, a rival is plotting a revolution, and a foul-mouthed captain is caught in the middle.
- Shortlist: A Closed and Common Orbit, by Becky Chambers (Harper Voyager); An Oath of Dogs, by Wendy N. Wagner (Angry Robot); Paradox Bound, by Peter Clines (Crown); The Power, by Naomi Alderman (Little, Brown).
WOMEN’S FICTION
The Almost Sisters. By Joshilyn Jackson. Morrow, $26.99 (9780062105714).
Geeky Leia is pregnant after an encounter with a sexy, anonymous Batman. Pondering when to tell her southern family she is expecting a biracial child, her life is upended by the implosion of her half-sister’s marriage, her grandmother’s dementia, and a skeleton in the attic in this humorous tale.
- Shortlist: Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman (Viking); The Garden of Small Beginnings, by Abbi Waxman (Berkley); Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk, by Kathleen Rooney (St. Martin’s); The Woman Next Door, by Yewande Omotoso (Picador).