Fiction
The Paris Apartment
Lucy Foley
HarperCollins, £14.99 (ebook £8.99)
The setting could be from of a romance novel - a beautiful old building in the city of love - but Lucy Foley's The Paris Apartment is chilling from the start. Jess arrives in the French capital to visit her brother Ben, a journalist on the verge of a scoop, but when she gets to his home on the rue des Amants, he is nowhere to be seen. As she tries to find out where he has gone, she starts to suspect other residents in the block. Foley builds an atmosphere of unease from the very first page. Her writing and characters make the book hard to put down, and the twists keep on coming right until the end. An enjoyable whodunnit.
8/10
The Exhibitionist
Charlotte Mendelson
Mantle, £16.99 (ebook £7.99)
An unhappy family brought together for a special occasion isn't a new scenario for a novel, but Charlotte Mendelson uses it to hugely entertaining effect in The Exhibitionist. Central to the toxic Hanrahan clan is Ray, patriarch, failed artist and narcissistic monster. Stuck in his malign orbit is his chronically conflict-avoidant wife Lucia - the true artist of the family - his two neurotic daughters, and a mentally unstable stepson. It's Ray's first exhibition in years, and the family's job to make it run smoothly. But what secret is Lucia hiding? Will the kids ever be able to break away? And, more importantly, where are the pictures? Mendelson's sharply-observed take on bohemian north London squalor is more grimace-worthy than laugh out loud. But the will-they, won't-they confront Ray plot keeps you turning the pages, so what the book lacks in originality, it more than makes up for in readability.
8/10
Non-fiction
Who Are We Now?: Stories Of Modern England
Jason Cowley
Picador, £20 (ebook £9.99)
An urgent and timely historical review charting the years between the election of New Labour and the aftermath of the pandemic. Cowley explores the evolution of 'Englishness' through a series of highly politicised stories readers will recognise from the news, though perhaps never considered as having a lasting impact on their idea of English nationality and culture. Stories include the Chinese cockle-pickers who drowned in Morecombe Bay, the Bethnal Green girls who fled to the Islamic State, Gareth Southgate's transformative influence on British football, and the Lancashire woman who publicly challenged Gordon Brown on his supposedly people-centric policies. Cowley powerfully demonstrates how these vivid, half-forgotten stories have contributed to a fragmented England, and offers a vision for how we can embrace the lessons learned to build a bright new future.
9/10
Children's book of the week
Animal Sidekicks
Macken Murphy
Neon Squid, £12.99 (no ebook)
Have you ever wondered why sunbathing terrapin turtles like to hitch a ride on a hippo? Even if you haven't, there is no doubt your children will definitely want to find out. Welcome to Animal Sidekicks, a rollicking ride through the wonderful world of animal symbiosis. In this remarkable book, Macken Murphy brings us a science lesson wrapped up in lots of fun. With beautiful illustrations throughout, we encounter several guests, including the Colombian lesserback tarantula who guards the dotted humming frog against being eaten. Elsewhere, on a visit to the Galapagos Islands, we meet a vampire finch who drains blood from the booby seabird. As well as explaining the relationship between animals, the book is full of fun facts. Did you know, for example, that when coyotes and badgers work together, the coyotes catch a third more prey than when they go it alone?
10/10
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