General

by Joanne Harris (Doubleday) ISBN: 9780385619233 If you’ve read Blueeyedboy and Gentlemen and Players, you will be familiar with the setting in this book, St Oswald’s Grammar School for Boys, set in the fictional Yorkshire village of Malbry. As Joanne Harris says, ‘The books all stand alone. However, to put it into context, this book follows a

by Sharon Bolton (Bantam Press) ISBN: 9780593076323 It had to be done. I had to drop everything and read this book. I couldn’t wait, unless I could read while I waited. In lines, in reception areas, everywhere. It was gripping, intense. The hook in this case is the fact that there is a gorgeous serial

by Don DeLillo (Picador) ISBN: 9781509822850 Not since his Underworld, which I read in 1998, have I been so singularly occupied by the body of thought presented in a novel as by Zero K. To me it is a meditation on life and death in a time when life on earth seems apocalyptic and alternatives

by Gregg Hurwitz (Michael Joseph) ISBN: 9781405910712 Orphan X is a complex and clever novel that introduces us to the highly dangerous and well-trained, Evan Smoak. Part of an elite group of orphans who were trained by the US government in black operations, he is a lethal machine. However behind that hard facade lies a decent

by Fiona Barton (Bantam Press) ISBN: 9780593076217 Fiona Barton is an award-winning former journalist who reported on crime and trials. Jean Taylor is The Widow. Before she is widowed her husband, Glen, is accused of crimes of degeneracy and evil. Jean’s comfortable, ordinary existence with her apparent Prince Charming is shattered. The couple are hounded by

by Danielle Steel (Bantam Press) ISBN: 978-0-59306-909-7 The apartment, home to four talented and beautiful young women brought together by chance, is in Hell’s Kitchen, and the latest novel from America’s bestselling author pulses with the energy and excitement of New York City. It is a coming-of-age tale as the four women find their feet