LATEST TITLES

LAKE SUCCESS by Gary Shteyngart

Hamish Hamilton, £16.99 (ebook £9.99) ★★★★★ A BRILLIANT blend of pathos, satire, political insight and belly laughs, Lake Success tells the story of Barry, a top hedge-funder with a beautiful wife, Seema, a retinue of staff, a palatial condo in Manhattan (among other homes), and a watch collection worth seven figures.

But his fund is down hundreds of millions, he’s days from a misselling indictment, and at home he has an autistic son that neither he nor his wife know how to deal with.

Things kick off when Barry walks out. Chapters alternate between soon-to-be-ex-husband and wife, as Barry goes in search of a purer life (which he associates with his college sweetheart Layla).

Seema’s struggles raising a child with special needs are portrayed with great insight and compassion, while the arc of the story follows Trump’s unexpected ascendancy, which lends the book an acute social conscience.

In case that sounds a bit worthy, you should know this is also a very funny book; very hard not to love.

THE INCENDIARIES by R.O. Kwon

Virago, £14.99 (ebook £7.99) ★★★★★ THIS slim novel tells the story of an unusual love triangle in which obsession, faith and loss all play a part.

At an Ivy-clad American university, Phoebe – a beautiful, glamorous socialite who accidentally killed her own mother in a car crash – romances Will, a driven, out-of-place scholarship boy with family traumas of his own.

Will’s love for Phoebe is both watchful and ecstatic. Phoebe, as far as she can, seems to love Will too, but she’s drawn into a religious sect whose group confessions and alarming physical chastisements, appeal. Will must try to rescue Phoebe, then she disappears...

Brilliantly written, the prose is sparse yet expressive. The gradual filling in of layers of motivation build drama, and suspense keeps you guessing right to the end.