Today I thought I’d look at some of the books with the lowest amount of ratings on my ‘Read’ shelf on Goodreads. I’ve decided I wouldn’t include books that were online freebies or short stories. It turns out that all of these books are actually from Netgalley!
The Cyclist by Neil Anthony Smith – ⭐⭐⭐
39 ratings on Goodreads
This was a quick throwaway thriller read which I ended up enjoying and reading in under 24 hours. Like I said in my original review, it’s quite forgettable (point made as I can’t remember exactly what this story was about) but it was fun! From what I remember, it was well written but there were some classic thriller clichés. My original review wasn’t the shiniest ever but the author got in touch on Twitter and was very friendly about my (sometimes quite harsh) words which I really appreciate!
Savage Reckoning by C. Hoyt Caldwell – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
43 ratings on Goodreads
This was another quick thriller read. I love crime books set in the south and this was exactly that. It was gritty and sometimes funny and definitely exciting. I didn’t expect to like this one as much as I did, but it was such an easy and fun read, it made for an enjoyable reading experience, and that’s all I want really!
A Margin of Lust by Greta Boris – ⭐⭐⭐
57 ratings on Goodreads
Another throwaway thriller! This is my least favourite read of the three books so far. Like with the others, it was a super easy read but there was nothing unique or clever about it. This is one of those books where the bad guy is meant to remain a secret until near the end, however, there is a moment, at around 40%, where you’re given the killer’s name outright, and then the book continues like you still don’t know who it is. That’s the one thing I remember that annoyed me about this book.
Fickle by Peter Manus – ⭐⭐⭐
64 ratings on Goodreads
I had to look at my review to remind me what this one was about. This one wasn’t actually a throwaway thriller! It was a very complex story and that’s where the book let me down. What was really cool about this book is that it’s laid out like a blog, so it ended up being a quick and quite informal read – I like when something is a bit different!
Mammoth by Douglas Perry – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
72 ratings on Goodreads
This has a 3.1 average rating on GR but I actually really enjoyed it and this is definitely my favourite read out of all the book mentioned in this blog! There are a million characters and subplots in this one but I enjoyed them all, despite being confused on more than one occasion. I also didn’t see the conclusion coming, even though I was disappointed by it in the end.
So there you have it, those are the 5 books with the lowest number of ratings on my Goodreads “read” shelf. Have you read any of these yourself?
BookBum 
Interesting idea for a post. Given my interest in my vintage crime fiction 72 ratings seems quite a high number, compared to some of my reads! There are a number of books I’ve read, which I’m the only one to have rated on good reads! Equally got a surprising number of books on the list where there is less than 5 ratings.
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Thanks! I only have several short stories and independently published books with that low amount of ratings! But my lowest starts at 5, so you must be reading some really obscure stuff!
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Hi zuky,
Long time no see! Mostly because I haven’t posted anything in 9 months and have been completely off the radar. Oops. Glad to see your blog is still going strong! I think it’s interesting that you gave all of these a fairly good to good rating, I would have expected the ratings to be lower. I guess a book having a low number of ratings doesn’t say much 🙂
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Hey! I fell off the radar a little bit too, I post far less often than I used to but I’m still chugging along. Glad to see you back! ❤
Yes, still enjoyable books despite the fact they're little known 🙂
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You’re still posting that’s really all that matters. I love the new design by the way!
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Thank you so much 🙂
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I haven’t read any of these (not my go-to genre) but I find it interesting that they all have under 75 ratings each! That got me curious… so I looked at my Read shelf, and I have quite a few books (not including online freebies or short stories) with under 75 ratings, too. In some cases, it’s just me. That feels a bit weird.
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I know what you mean! It makes your review really noticeable – it’s a strange thing! I guess I now know why the author for the first book on this list got in contact!
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Man … give me some of your creative juice for book discussion ideas lol! I want to get more into stuff like this but I just NEVER think of anything ha-ha! I’m actually going to check mine out … super curious.
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My creativity for blogs comes and goes majorly! I now won’t post anything fun for months hahaha!
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LMFAO!!! I HIGHLY doubt that … you’ll end up thinking of some cool thing and I’ll be like, “WHY DIDN’T I THINK OF THAT?!?” 😛
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Ooh such an interesting post & good to see some less popular books in the blogosphere! I haven’t read any of these as thrillers aren’t my favourite genre but I’m curious to see which books I’ve read would have the lowest rating numbers.
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Thank you!! Yes I think it would be interesting seeing your own books. I’m thinking of doing the next 5 books on my shelf too 🙂 It was a fun post to do!
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Interesting idea for a post! I haven’t read any of these myself, but you’ve definitely made me curious what my own would be.
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Thank you 🙂 You should check them out!!
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