The latest book reviews in one place

"an astute study of the dynamics of attraction and power, leaders and followers..."

"a smart and breezy debut..."

"It’s wonderful to hear the sound of Rooney’s voice on the page again..."

"the way that Houellebecq obsesses over and dissects the banalities of life that makes him so entertaining...."

"In this bravura performance, literary flair and cerebral sizzle winningly combine..."

"Barr has written a novel pleasurably rich with lines that would lose half their power if they lost just one of their words..."

"Hunter’s novel is a tour de force, providing one plot twist after another without losing sight of her characters’ vulnerable humanity...."

"a domestic drama and a disillusioned view of the American dream, all rooted in a wary post-9/11 world..."

"A brave, funny conclusion to an atypical trilogy..."

"An unflinching and haunting story that addresses the legacy of the slave trade..."

"A subtle debut foregrounds emotional intimacy in unconventional relationships..."

"Jill Dawson’s novel explores the often overlooked plight of a murdered nanny..."

"this exquisitely controlled love story is all in the detail..."

"Porter retains what was strong about its predecessor, and ditches most of the weaker parts..."

"[a] lyrical examination of identity..."

"ery, very funny – Gibbs doesn’t miss the chance for a bit of campus-novel preposterousness..."

"In this novel-cum-memoir-cum-grand finale, the centenarian US author and friend of the beats takes a wild journey through his lifetime in literature..."

"This powerful debut maroons the reader in a polluted future, on a rusting turbine in the middle of the North Se..."

"Gun Love never stops being a pleasure to read..."

"No partisanship is needed to enjoy these eclectic, rich dishes..."

"Fabulous elements are mixed with everyday life and references to Brexit in an intriguing mother-daughter story about origins..."

"A numb, sardonic thriller set in Seoul..."

"Beyond the butterfly effect..."

"Chocolat’s author revisits her heroine’s French village where a mysterious tattooist is getting under everyone’s skin..."

"extremely funny – peculiar as well as ha-ha – and highly addictive..."

"t's as if a woman wrestled the narrative from Almost Famous, drenched it in sunshine, sex and tequila, then left it for us to read on a rainy Sunday..."

"It's so much fun..."

"as a private, intimate reflection on what it was like to live through the worst years of the violence, this novel is unrivalled...."

"a chilling novel about people with dark secrets..."

"Hunter’s novel is a tour de force, providing one plot twist after another without losing sight of her characters’ vulnerable humanity...."

"marks a welcome return for Jane Casey..."

"Final entry in Nazi-era detective series makes for a bittersweet experience..."

"A gripping and thrilling read..."

"as moving as it is disturbing..."

"a proper page-turner..."

"Her descriptions of [London] ring rich and poetic, with seamless pockets of elegance..."

"A debut vividly depicts acts of cruelty in lawless 18th-century Stockholm..."

"written in vivid, at times hectic, prose..."

"confirms him as one of America’s finest living writers — wry, truthful and utterly original..."

"This is riveting and unusual crime fiction that has depth, heart and soul..."

"An elegant, atmospheric tale that twists and surprises at every turn..."

"a procedural that positively hums with authenticity..."

"one of the best historical crime writers today..."

"Few of Harlan Coben’s 30 or so thrillers are anything less than gripping..."

"The crime writer shows she is the heir to Patricia Highsmith in her anatomy of human motives..."

"Believable plots, and Celestin is hugely knowledgeable in portraying the atmosphere of New York... a delight...."

"absorbingly impressive..."

"gripping...exceeds his own high standards..."

"deliciously good – dry, intelligent, perfectly paced... Swanson’s best thriller yet..."

"Hunter’s novel is a tour de force, providing one plot twist after another without losing sight of her characters’ vulnerable humanity...."

"a chilling novel about people with dark secrets..."

"A gripping and thrilling read..."

"Mullin, a veteran diarist, has a knack of pithy description, adding touches of colour and wit..."

"A spine-chilling masterpiece..."

"An elegant, atmospheric tale that twists and surprises at every turn..."

"a procedural that positively hums with authenticity..."

"Few of Harlan Coben’s 30 or so thrillers are anything less than gripping..."

"The crime writer shows she is the heir to Patricia Highsmith in her anatomy of human motives..."

"Believable plots, and Celestin is hugely knowledgeable in portraying the atmosphere of New York... a delight...."

"absorbingly impressive..."

"gripping...exceeds his own high standards..."

"deliciously good – dry, intelligent, perfectly paced... Swanson’s best thriller yet..."

"McGrath has come up with some psychologically acute characterisations..."

"The main problem is that this story relies far too much on the first novel in the series..."

"gripping... the final page will make your jaw drop and your heart stop..."

"A beautifully observed, vivid picture of modern spying. ..."

" as multi-stranded as a novel by Victor Hugo..."

"Unto Us A Son Is Given raises the question that dogs every long-running series: when to pull the plug..."

"Tyce’s pacing is first-rate..."

"a powerful and compelling novel..."

"the book still has a distinctive and appealing flavour...."

"a spirited gothic adventure..."

"Barr has written a novel pleasurably rich with lines that would lose half their power if they lost just one of their words..."

"In this bravura performance, literary flair and cerebral sizzle winningly combine..."

"this exquisitely controlled love story is all in the detail..."

"In this novel-cum-memoir-cum-grand finale, the centenarian US author and friend of the beats takes a wild journey through his lifetime in literature..."

"Davies has produced something quite wonderful in West...."

"as moving as it is disturbing..."

"a remarkable achievement..."

"Her descriptions of [London] ring rich and poetic, with seamless pockets of elegance..."

"written in vivid, at times hectic, prose..."

"Sidebottom conjures up this landscape and its people brilliantly..."

"Superb..."

"one of the best historical crime writers today..."

" a novel which shows us that no matter how far removed we are from people living here more than 2,000 years ago, we can recognise ourselves in their stories..."

"Believable plots, and Celestin is hugely knowledgeable in portraying the atmosphere of New York... a delight...."

"beautifully evokes the mysterious atmosphere of blacked-out wartime London..."

"This is an ambitious book, and its prose is often entertaining and very readable..."

"In this bravura performance, literary flair and cerebral sizzle winningly combine..."

"This powerful debut maroons the reader in a polluted future, on a rusting turbine in the middle of the North Se..."

"awesome, awe-inspiring space opera..."

"a coruscating, propulsive tale of colonisation...."

"The novel gathers momentum as it goes, and few readers will stop until they reach its final page..."

"enjoyably nightmarish...compulsive reading..."

"an exuberant mash-up of an Agatha Christie-style murder mystery and time-travelling, body-swap science fiction..."

"Charlotte Mandell’s clear, fluid translation recounts the relationships and tensions that develop from here between Michelangelo, Mesihi and the stranger..."

"Raymond Chandler meets William Gibson..."

"Emma Newman’s ingenious mystery ..."

"brimful of its author’s trademark invention, charm and humanity..."

"a darkly inventive, intricate interplanetary venture..."

"an atmospheric noir thriller..."

"The relationship between art and our beleaguered ecosystem fires the Australian poet’s new collection..."

" may seem a slight book at first, but – like a rock pool – look closely and you’ll find a whole world...."

"The surreal and fiery debut from a striking new voice..."

" Kuhn and Constantine speak eloquently of the ways in which Brecht’s poems ‘are never just the servants of his politics"..."

"captivating bundle of spectral vignettes and wry half-anecdotes..."

"one of the more formidable literary undertakings of our time..."

"subtlety and an intellectual curiosity..."

"poems of lasting power..."

"a wonderful alternative history of modern poetry..."

"Tennant’s precise Englishness requires something bolder to offset its simplicity: you miss fellow Pet Shop Boy Chris Lowe’s neon-lit synthesiser..."

"A series of poems on the life of St Francis of Assisi is scarce on facts but rich in imagination..."

"What Reid’s sequel soft-pedals is the thing that Eliot, the American who took British citizenship, was fascinated by: class..."

"This is a reminder of the poet Kate Tempest is – able, whenever she chooses, to soar above the conversational...."

" 'a pioneering exercise in merging image and text'..."

"Some of his best poetry was in his journalism, and some of his best journalism is in this poem...."

"Intriguing and thought-provoking, the poems turn conventional thinking on its head with brilliant economy..."

"It always excites the poetry-lover to discover a new voice — and this first collection by a novelist and literary journalist is distinguished by a true lyrical gift...."

"If I had read only The Republic of Motherhood by Liz Berry, I’d still have been grateful for the annual Forward collection...."

"a masterly work of art, exciting, colourful (and) fast-paced..."

"a romance for Brexit Britain..."

"It’s wonderful to hear the sound of Rooney’s voice on the page again..."

"this exquisitely controlled love story is all in the detail..."

"t's as if a woman wrestled the narrative from Almost Famous, drenched it in sunshine, sex and tequila, then left it for us to read on a rainy Sunday..."

"[an] outstanding debut..."

"written in vivid, at times hectic, prose..."

"Nina Stibbe is one of the great comic writers of our time..."

"Bragg writes his version of this life-long love with ease and confidence. It is a pleasure to read..."

"a devastating debut..."

"nothing feels quite anchored or finished – and it's that stylish resistance to resolution, in the end, that impresses most...."

"an entertaining if ultimately insignificant read..."

"Fabulous elements are mixed with everyday life and references to Brexit in an intriguing mother-daughter story about origins..."

"reassert[ing] that black readers are as capable of having broad, varied, multifaceted interests as anyone else...."

"the narrative builds like a tidal wave ..."

"reading it can often be a bit of a slog, to be frank..."

"if you enjoyed JRR Tolkien’s The Silmarillion, you’ll like this...."

"This diary to an unborn child shows a world where the treachery of our genes has distorted society..."

"an intensely satisfying fairytale retelling..."

"but builds into a scorching, ultra-violent portrait of war’s horrors..."

"captures wonderfully how hard love can be in an unlovely world..."

"Fforde keeps the puns and neologisms coming thick and fast..."

"A spine-chilling masterpiece..."

"Zombies hunt for living flesh in an Ireland destroyed by ‘the Emergency’ … but does this debut bring anything new to the dystopian genre?..."

"this book is an artefact in itself – a tactile, mysterious and seductive one..."

"Kristen Roupenian’s sharp, powerful and uncomfortable debut collection of stories..."

"her command of her material is scintillating..."

"There is no sign of second-album syndrome: the mix of grotty provincial realism and amateur cold-case sleuthing works just as well here...."

"the master of horror gets cuddly..."

"In its crafty structure and unhurried layering of dread, this addition to the canon is a brilliantly entertaining read, and offers a chilling response...."

"Purcell has thrown explicit Gothic elements at this by the coachload..."

"a novel which few can rival for complexity, cunning and horror. ..."

"Absurdist morality fable meets horror fantasy as a victim of sectarian violence is brought back to life in Iraq..."

"devilishly good..."

"it certainly is a wild ride..."

"One admires Slimani's bravery in creating a deeply unsympathetic character ..."