The Herald - The Herald Magazine
From nailbiting thrillers to eerie sci-fi mysteries
Pick of the best new fiction and non-fiction releases
FICTION
A TIDY ENDING Joanna Cannon
The Borough Press, £16.99 (ebook £7.99). Joanna Cannon is a master of twisty tales, and A Tidy Ending is a rollercoaster ride. Linda is a downtrodden wife – she cooks, cleans and runs around after husband Terry. She is taken for granted by her mother, her husband and her colleagues at the charity shop she works at. Looking for a bit of excitement, Linda starts searching for Rebecca – the woman who used to live in her home on Cavendish Avenue. She imagines what life could be like, picturing herself in the pages of the glossy magazines that fall through the letterbox. Then there is a murder, and things start to fall into place for Linda. Hats off to Cannon for piecing together a sinister story that could take place on any residential estate.
9/10
SEA OF TRANQUILITY
Emily St John Mandel
Picador, £14.99 (ebook £8.49).
Exploring survival in parallel worlds, Sea Of Tranquillity is a sci-fi mystery unfurling across time, through three very different people. Edwin St. Andrew is in newly-discovered Vancouver Island in 1912, novelist Olive Llewellyn visits Earth on a book tour in 2203, and GasperyJacques Roberts is a detective born hundreds of years later, yet intricately intertwined in the timeline. Existing centuries apart, they are united by a moment of metaphysical
disturbance – a feeling of suddenly being in several places at once. Emily St John Mandel is a master of pandemic apocalypse fiction, and her third novel is no exception. Weaving together a panorama of pandemics, moon colonisation and time travel, Sea Of Tranquillity is a poignant novel grounded by the humanity of life, death, love, loss, and family.
7/10
PEOPLE PERSON Candice Carty-Williams Trapeze, £12.99 (ebook £6.99).
Imagine growing up with a dad who loves his gold jeep more than you – this is the reality for the five halfsiblings we encounter in People Person. Yet, apart from their shared absent father, they have little else in common – until a life-altering and dramatic event kick-starts a bumpy relationship between the quintet. People Person is the next offering
from Candice CartyWilliams, author of the hugely successful Queenie – meaning you’ll likely approach it with high expectations. A fast-paced novel, it won’t take you long to lap up, but the drama, violence and blackmail can border on chaotic and slightly ridiculous. However, the relationships between the five leads keep you reading. Diverting away from the nuclear ideal of family, this modern take is refreshing and uplifting.
7/10
NON-FICTION MEN
Raven Smith
Fourth Estate, £14.99 (ebook £7.99). Known for his witty social media presence, funny Vogue columns and ability to capture the zeitgeist, it’s hard not to like Raven Smith. But, unfortunately, he perhaps is better suited to essays and small bites of content. In Raven Smith’s Men – an autobiography loosely based around the men in his life, from the important to the fleeting – it all feels a bit frenetic. There are too many similes and metaphors, and Smith jumps from topic to topic with blinding speed. Perhaps each chapter would be better suited as a solo piece, rather than a full book. Getting the balance between witty and insightful is tough – at times Smith nails it, such as the sections discussing his relationship with his stepfather, or the finale analysing the patriarchy and why he’s so obsessed with men – but at other times he misses the mark
(the part on eating disorders felt a bit off). Smith is still a delight (albeit a graphic one – prepare for some grossout sections) – but potentially not in a full book.
CHILDREN’S BOOK
THE OFFLINE DIARIES Yomi Adegoke and Elizabeth Uviebinene
HarperCollins Children’s Books,
£12.99 (ebook £7.99).
Twelve-year-old Ade is dreading starting a new school, until she meets Shanice, a shy girl with a pink journal just like her own. Despite their differences, confident Ade and introverted Shanice form a fast friendship, talking online through messaging app “ChatBack”, although they share most of their problems and worries offline with their diaries. But when Ade attracts the attention of the two most popular and mean girls in school, can the friendship survive? A fresh and original take on growing up, Yomi Adegoke and Elizabeth Uviebinene create two distinctive and believable Year 8 characters trying to navigate the social maze of school, and whether fitting in is the most important thing.