LATEST TITLES

THE OTHER PASSENGER

by Louise Candlish, Simon and Schuster UK, £14.99 (ebook £4.99) HHHHH IF you’re a fan of Louise Candlish, you’ll soon be adding The Other Passenger to your favourites list – and if you’re not already a fan, you soon will be.

Set around an unusual commute, The Other Passenger explores the complexities of money and relationships, age and ambition. An unlikely foursome are drawn together in a little pocket of south-east London, and in doing so, fully realise the capital’s housing, wage, class and lifestyle divides.

Candlish’s first-person narrative plunges you into the story from the get-go and the realism of her characters makes this thriller feel more like a true-crime documentary than a work of fiction.

THE PHONE BOX AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD

by Laura Imai Messina, Manilla Press, £12.99 (ebook £6.02) HHHHH REELING after the 2011 tsunami in Japan, mourners journey to a disconnected phone box in a garden to speak to loved ones lost.

Inspired by the true story of the wind phone set up in Iwate Prefecture, Laura Imai Messina’s novel explores how grief and love are intertwined, and the slow journey towards healing after a tragedy.

TO TELL YOU THE TRUTH

by Gilly Macmillan, Century, priced £12.99 (ebook £7.99) HHHHH A CRIME novel narrated by a fictional crime writer, who suddenly finds herself living through the real-life murder of her husband; Gilly Macmillan’s latest novel is a surreal, multilayered thriller, interlacing dark secrets, missing children and guarded neighbours.

Lucy Harper is a relatable protagonist, haunted by her past and possessed by her alter ego/ imaginary friend, Eliza, the star character in Lucy’s novels, but the damp squib ending is a disappointing culmination.