Ripper by Isabel Allende (Fourth Estate, £12.99)
Ripper by Isabel Allende (Fourth Estate, £12.99)
There's a touch of Joyce Carol Oates in Allende's fantasy-cum-thriller epic, as San Franciscan teenager Amanda Martin investigates real-life murders with friends who usually play a virtual 'Ripper' investigation game. With sexually mutilated male victims, Allende turns the Ripper story slightly on its head, but though more intelligent and demanding, this is straightforward thriller territory.
Morphologies: Short Story Writers On Short Story Writers edited by Ra Page (Comma Press, £9.99)
The idea behind this collection is ingenious, although if you're expecting today's writers to compare their own work with that of the past masters they discuss, like Ali Smith on James Joyce, or Alison MacLeod on Katherine Mansfield, you will be disappointed. Rather we are left to trust that their own practice infuses their understanding of the greats.
Big Brother by Lionel Shriver (Borough Press, £7.99)
Although this often sophisticated and smart novel is ostensibly about siblings Pandora and Edison, and based partly on Shriver's own relationship with her brother and the latter's serious weight problem, it's also about our need to consume to validate ourselves, and it's about a marriage, and just how much a partnership can accommodate each partner's needs.
Son Of A Gun: A Memoir by Justin St Germain (Tuskar Rock Press, £12.99)
A direct yet also more subtle read than you might expect, this memoir about St Germain's mother's apparent murder by her fifth husband, Ray, the one man her son thinks might actually be good for her, is both compelling and revelatory, as he weaves his way through America's small-town, blue-collar, trailer-living landscape.
Lesley McDowell
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article