Herald Checklist: This weekend's new books including Those We Left Behind by Stuart Neville

Those We Left Behind by Stuart Neville is published in hardback by Harvill Secker, priced £12.99 (ebook £8.54). Available now

Where does the human being end and the police officer begin? How can you keep your soul intact when you deal on a daily basis with the depravity you encounter in society? Can you balance the rights of the victim with the rights of the criminal? Can a police officer deal out compassion and justice in equal measure?

Those are the conflicts facing DCI Serena Flanagan. The emotional needs of a murder victim's family weighed against the young brothers whose childhoods were taken from them as punishment for a despicable crime. Not forgetting Flanagan's own husband and children, and her friends and colleagues. Most importantly her own feelings, the passions and needs which keep her heart beating. All of these weigh heavily upon a seasoned policewoman trying to steer a course between public expectations and private ambitions, hopes and fears, challenges and changes.

Stuart Neville's work has put his name on the bestseller lists around the world and earned him an armful of nominations for some of the top crime awards. His latest creation, Those We Left Behind, focuses on brothers Ciaran and Thomas Devine and their stuttering path back into normal society after seven years of incarceration and explores the questions: How can they function? Who can they trust? Can they even trust each other?

Neville's track record is proven, with testimonials from the likes of Lee Child and Val McDermid. Those We Left Behind speaks of the heart-rending choices facing Flanagan and the Devines, and their tortured journeys as they seek a purpose to their lives, battling to keep their heads above water.

To find out who sinks or swims, seek out a copy of this gripping tale of two brothers and one policewoman in a Northern Ireland fighting to come to terms with peacefully living in a land still torn by the divisions of religious intolerance, and the deep scars it has left on its people.

9/10

(Review by Roddy Brooks)

FICTION

Techbitch by Lucy Sykes and Jo Piazza is published in paperback by Penguin, priced £7.99 (ebook £2.99). Available now.

Do you know your Bit.ly from your Feedly? Periscope from your Flickr? Ever think you might need to be dragged into the world of Apps and technology silently kicking and screaming? Then you'll have something in common with Imogen Tate, the well-respected Editor-in-Chief of Glossy magazine who returns from a sabbatical, only to find her former assistant, Eve, sitting at her desk. Fresh out of Harvard Business School, cut-throat and manic, Eve plans to overhaul Glossy turning it into an App, where content is now about tweets, Instagram and 24-hour instant updates, rather than detailed editorial and fact-checking. Dubbed 'the Devil Wears Prada goes digital', Techbitch is fast-paced, wickedly funny and has plenty of insider knowledge about the catty world of magazines, high-end fashion and front row antics. This hilarious satire is the perfect beach accompaniment - you won't want to put it down!

9/10

(Review by Georgina Rodgers)

Killing Monica by Candace Bushnell is published in hardback by Little, Brown, priced £14.99 (ebook £5.29). Available now

Imagine how it would feel for your success to actually be part of your struggle. To feel so pigeonholed into all that made you popular that it is actually scary to consider making a change of direction. That is exactly how Pandy Wallis feels in Candace Bushnell's latest novel Killing Monica. After making her name and fortune in a series of books and films charting the life of New Yorker 'Monica', a change in mindset and divorce sparks the need to write a different style of novel that has nothing to do with the notorious Monica. (For Monica, it's hard not to read Bushnell's previous creation, Sex And The City's Carrie Bradshaw). However, her publishers, loved ones and fans don't want to hear or read a novel about her ancestors, and it leads Pandy to question all that she thought she knew about herself and those around her. Bushnell charts Pandy's search for identity as she meanders through the world of celebrity and fame, questioning what it means to be a woman and a writer, and what it means to succeed. A great addition to Bushnell's ever-popular novels, Killing Monica will make you look at relationships, success and identity in a whole new light.

7/10

(Review by Rebecca Flitton)

Fresh Hell by Rachel Johnson is published in paperback by Penguin, priced £7.99 (ebook £4.31). Available now

Back with her third instalment in the Notting Hell series, Fresh Hell, journalist Rachel Johnson takes aim at NHMs - that's Notting Hill Mummies to you and me - and the lives of the UHNWs - Ultra-High Net Worth individuals. And it's not all kitchen suppers and Caribbean holidays, as new troubles brew for the Notting Hill set. From iceberg houses to dangerous liaisons, art installations to fertility scandals, the residents of W11 have to negotiate it all, while keeping up appearances, literally. Johnson, herself familiar with the Notting Hill scene, brilliantly evokes the lives, obsessions and foibles of the super-rich and is never afraid to playfully lampoon her subjects. Full of humour and parody, the plot's slightly lacking in intricacy, with a fairly swift transition from crisis to resolution. But it's all NFNH - normal for Notting Hill, darling.

6/10

(Review by Jade Craddock)

NON-FICTION

The Story Of Science: From The Writings Of Aristotle To The Big Bang Theory by Susan Wise Bauer is published in hardback by WW Norton & Company, priced £16.99 (ebook £9.49). Available now

Science is everywhere. But the science most of us encounter in our everyday lives - in newspaper reports and political rhetoric, for instance - bears very little resemblance to the real thing, and says very little of the theory, meaning and importance (or lack thereof) behind it. That's where Susan Wise Bauer's The Story Of Science comes in - it's not a 'history of science', she points out, but major steps and milestones are plotted in their relative historical context, with extracts from the works of the science greats themselves, alongside Bauer's narrative in the same engaging and amusing style that made her bestselling History Of The World series so popular. Again, if her mission was to make an often out-of-reach subject accessible and - while science arguably is always relevant - feel more relevant, because you've gained an appreciation for the motivation, challenges and significance behind it, as well as its joys and quirks and brilliance, she's done a great job.

8/10

(Review by Abi Jackson)

The Forgotten Spy by Nick Barratt is published in hardback by Blink Publishing, priced £18.99 (ebook £6.47). Available now

History is littered with stories of famous spies - from Mata Hari to Philby, Maclean, Burgess and Blunt. But few people have heard of the treachery practised by Ernest Holloway Oldham. Before the Cambridge Five, as they were known (if you include Cairncross), rocked the British establishment, a deception just as damaging had come to light. In the 1930s Oldham was the first of Stalin's British moles, selling secrets to the Russians to feed a lavish lifestyle and a disastrous drinking habit. The temerity of Oldham's actions and the abject incompetence of the Foreign Office and the security services is laid bare in The Forgotten Spy. Genealogist Nick Barratt has made his name unearthing the family trees of numerous people, but for him, telling the tale of Oldham's treachery was a very personal project. The painstaking research for which Barratt has made his name through his work on numerous television series has resulted in a fascinating read as he tells the story of his Great Uncle. Barratt has spared none of the details, regardless of how painful they may be to the surviving relatives of Oldham or how embarrassing to the civil service.

8/10

(Review by Roddy Brooks)

At Night: A Journey Round Britain From Dusk Till Dawn by Dixe Wills is published in hardback by AA, priced £16.99 (ebook £9.96). Available now

In this quirky travelogue, eco-nomad Dixe Wills sets off to 'explore all the mystery, danger, myth and legend offered by the cover of darkness'. Wills, author of Tiny Islands and Tiny Stations, is an intrepid outdoorsman who would clearly be happier clinging to a mountainside in a sleeping bag in the teeth of a Force 10 gale than snuggling under a duvet in a boring old luxury hotel. So he sounds like the ideal companion for a series of nocturnal excursions around Britain. He sleeps out in a haunted wood on Dartmoor, gets bombarded by murderous seabirds on the isle of Skomer, camps out under unusually visible stars in the UK's first Dark Sky Park (where light pollution is banned) in Scotland, and tests out the theory that anyone who spends a night atop Cadair Idris in Snowdonia will awake either a poet or a madman. Unfortunately it just doesn't really work. It quickly becomes clear that Wills is absolutely unafraid of the dark, which robs his descriptions of much of their imaginative and expressive potential. Instead he resorts to a series of more-or-less interesting digressions - about the constellations, the habits of the Manx shearwater, local legends of demonic hounds. On the sleeper from Fort William to London, he is reduced to copying out all the advice and warning signs, and after Cadair Idris, he turns in several pages of typographical trickery which come across as neither mad nor poetic.

5/10

(Review by Dan Brotzel)

CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE WEEK

Grandad's Island by Benji Davies is published in paperback by Simon & Schuster, priced £6.99 (ebook £4.99). Available July 2

Quick disclaimer for parents and grandparents - well anyone really - reading this book to children: you might not be able to get through it without a stubborn lump forming in your throat making your voice go all high-pitched and strained. Benji Davies, who won the inaugural Oscar's First Book Prize for The Storm Whale last year, returns to write and illustrate this beautiful book about Syd and his Grandad. Syd goes to see Grandad every day after school, using a key under a flower pot to let himself in. But one day, Grandad's nowhere to be found. Just as Syd's about to go, Grandad calls down from the attic and Syd climbs up to find him there among a collection of treasures from around the world. A big metal door leads them out on the prow of a ship, looking over "an ocean of rooftops" and with the Boooop! of a horn, they set sail until they reach an island. After renovating a wooden hut, they explore the whole place together, complete with a friendly orangutan, exotic birds, beautiful flowers and a waterfall, until Grandad tells Syd he's decided to stay. So Syd hugs him goodbye and sails back home by himself. It's a magical tale of making the most of the time you have with people and learning that they're still in our hearts even when they're no longer with us.

8/10

(Review by Kate Whiting)

BESTSELLERS FOR WEEK ENDING JUNE 27

HARDBACKS

1. The Versions Of Us, Laura Barnett

2. The Girl On The Train, Paula Hawkins

3. Ardennes 1944: Hitler's Last Gamble, Anthony Beevor

4. You're Making Me Hate You, Corey Taylor

5. Yes! No (Maybe...): Tom Gates, Liz Pichon

6. Mary Berry's Absolute Favourites

7. The Long Utopia: Long Earth, Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter

8. Dork Diaries: Drama Queen, Rachel Renee Russell

9. Election Notebook: The Inside Story Of The Battle Over Britain's Future, Nick Robinson

10. Magna Carta: The True Story Behind the Charter, David Starkey

(Compiled by Waterstones)

PAPERBACKS

1. Grey: Fifty Shades Of Grey As Told By Christian, EL James

2. The Bone Clocks, David Mitchell

3. How Not To Be Wrong, Jordan Ellenberg

4. Waterloo: The History Of Four Days, Three Armies And Three Battles, Bernard Cornwell

5. The Sunrise, Victoria Hislop

6. The Mystery Of The Clockwork Sparrow, Katherine Woodfine

7. The Paying Guests, Sarah Waters

8. Us, David Nicholls

9. How To Be Both, Ali Smith

10. Personal: Jack Reacher, Lee Child

(Compiled by Waterstones)

EBOOKS

1. Grey: Fifty Shades Of Grey as told by Christian by E L James

2. The Lie by CL Taylor

3. Stranger Child by Rachel Abbott

4. Follow You Home by Mark Edwards

5. The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins

6. The Island Escape by Kerry Fisher

7. The Ballroom Cafe by Ann O'Loughlin

8. Evil Games by Angela Marsons

9. The Sunrise by Victoria Hislop

10. Silent Scream by Angela Marsons

(Compiled by amazon.co.uk)