Paperbacks to get the year off to a cracking start

In the library of one of Her Majesty’s Prisons, someone appears who wasn’t there before, and he has a story to tell. This is the testament of Alistair Kingdom, a ghost who became a man by sheer force of will. Coming to his senses in a derelict house with no memory of his former existence, he describes how he learned to see, hear and smell again while remaining an unnoticed, incorporeal presence. He is drawn to the mystery of his own past, and the gradual realisation that he was an alcoholic who killed himself with drink in a shabby den is hard to come to terms with. But other things Kingdom witnesses motivate him to break out of the spectral realm and take on a physical existence. It’s a fascinating premise that Litten, in his third novel, handles exceptionally, taking us through every stage in Kingdom’s rebirth while setting up a mystery which doesn’t pan out in the way you might expect.

THE LITTLE PARIS BOOKSHOP

Nina George (Little, Brown, £8.99)

M. Perdu is more than just a bookseller. He considers himself a “literary apothecary”. At his bookshop, based on a barge on the Seine, he tries to match each customer with just the right novel for their emotional and spiritual needs. Would that he could heal himself. One room of his apartment has been closed off ever since the love of his life walked out on him. The arrival of a tearful new resident on his stair prompts him to finally open the room up, and for all the difficult memories inside to cascade out. But still he can’t be persuaded to open the letter she sent him 21 years ago explaining why she left. Nina George spins a gentle, charming tale in which Mr Perdu is inspired to unmoor the barge and set off for Provence, with his new friend Max, to come to terms with the past. It would take a cold heart not to be warmed.

NOTHING IS TRUE AND EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE

Peter Pomerantsev (Faber, £8.99)

Being able to say that he was from a London-based TV company opened many doors for Peter Pomerantsev in Moscow, and he got a good look at how Russia has changed since the post-Glasnost era, when organised crime seized the reins. He finds a country in a state of “delirium”, where, like some vast reality TV project, the influx of money has persuaded people that they can be whoever they want. He meets professional gold-diggers in the highly-organised business of matching rich men up with mistresses, and a former mobster who decided to make his own, more authentic, gangster drama. Throughout, Pomerantsev is fascinated by Putin’s role in this shifting montage of TV images, and how deeply the ideology of the state reaches into broadcasting. His angle of approaching the political culture of Russia through the lens of its media pays dividends, picking up on aspects of the country that have slipped under the radar until how.

DESCENT

Tim Johnston (Algonquin, £10.99)

The Courtland family are taking a holiday in the Rockies before their daughter, Caitlin, leaves to start college. But Caitlin disappears on a morning run after accepting a lift into town to fetch a doctor for her injured brother, Sean. Months on, her abduction has had a profound and terrible effect on the other members of her family. Caitlin’s father has stayed behind in Colorado to keep up the search, drinking too much and embarking on an affair. Her mother is back in Wisconsin, and both she and Sean are sinking under the weight of her loss. This awful situation is Sean’s unenviable rite of passage into manhood. As with Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, Tim Johnston’s elegant prose and emphasis on character development make Descent a psychological thriller with substance, exploring the consequences of the crisis on Caitlin’s family while maintaining the suspense over her fate. A satisfying novel for both crime buffs and those seeking a richer, more literary experience.

ALASTAIR MABBOTT