IN BRIEF

All The Beautiful Lies By Peter Swanson Faber & Faber, 304pp, £12.99

Part crime novel, part psychological thriller, All The Beautiful Lies rests on a clever narrative trick. As he is about to graduate, Harry is called home to Maine by his step-mother, Alice, following the death of his father on a clifftop walk. A sad but simple domestic set-up so far, yet from this, Peter Swanson loops skeins of deceit and trickery. By dividing his story into “then” and “now” narratives, he creates great tension and springs a few good surprises. As Harry slowly begins to suspect Alice, who, being so much younger than his father, may not be all she seems, her story strand shows the deadly lies woven through her life. A fantastic read – and so much more rewarding for Swanson’s decision not to follow an A-B narrative line.

Julian Cole

Two Steps Forward By Graeme Simsion and Anne Buist Two Roads, 368pp, £12.99

This charming novel by husband and wife team Graeme Simsion and Anne Buist concerns two very different people who keep bumping into each other on the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage trail. Newly widowed American artist Zoe and divorced Yorkshire engineer Martin can’t stand each other when they first meet at the start of their walk in France, but over the course of 2,000 kilometres and various romantic entanglements, they discover new sides to themselves – and each other. There may be a few too many predictable epiphanies here for some readers’ liking, but Simsion and Buist’s detailed knowledge of the Camino (they have walked it twice) and the large cast of quirky characters, make this an authentic and diverting read. ■

Verena Vogt