STATE OF FEAR LAPSE BOOK CLUB PLOTS AND PRAYERS TURNING POINT

IN THIS WEEK’S FEATURED TITLES A CANBERRA INSIDER OFFERS A BACKSTAGE PASS TO POLITICS AND TIM AYLIFFE DELIVERS ANOTHER PAGE-TURNING THRILLER

Tim Ayliffe SIMON & SCHUSTER, $30

Trouble has a way of following John Bailey no matter where he goes. The battle-hardened, ageing war correspondent is in London to talk terrorism — after all he’s been kidnapped and tortured twice — when he witnesses a terrorist kill a woman right in front of him on a public bridge. So begins a global game of catch-me-ifyou-can between Bailey and the fanatical and calculated leader of Islamic Nation, who is on a revenge mission and wants Bailey’s head on his mantelpiece. This is Tim Ayliffe’s second book featuring the loveable curmudgeon Bailey, so the usual suspects are also back, including his buddy and CIA fixer Ronnie, his editor and bestie, the grounding Gerald, plus his lover and detective Sharon, who is now heading up counter terrorism nationally. Ayliffe keeps his foot on the accelerator but in perfect control as we follow our impatient and flawed hero yet again through hell and back. Another brilliantly crafted thriller from Ayliffe that fits perfectly in today’s worrying world. PAUL HUNTER VERDICT: Get this guy on TV Sarah Thornton TEXT, $30

Rural Australia yet again provides a wonderful backdrop to this debut novel about a woman who arrives in a small Victorian town to coach the football team, lift the players’ fitness levels and self-esteem, and inject some optimism that at long last they may win a premiership. But — and there is always a “but” in a mystery novel — Clementine Jones also brings with her a past she is unwilling to share. She’s able to hide in plain sight until her star player quits and it all starts to unravel. We have all the usual suspects here, from the lack of jobs for locals to the tensions that are provoked by a small cast of characters who know each other’s business and are not afraid to poke their noses into it. We have the gossips, drinkers and fighters and the few who manage to make money while those around struggle. Sarah Thornton joins authors such as Jane Harper, Sarah Bailey and Matt Dunn in harvesting rich pickings from an increasingly barren landscape. BARRY REYNOLDS VERDICT: Kicks goals and behinds Niki Savva SCRIBE, $35

Canberra insider Niki Savva’s new book burrows deep inside the ousting of former PM Malcolm Turnbull. She’s got great contacts and it shows, with first-hand accounts, on the record, of what went on in the days leading up to Turnbull’s decision to declare a leadership spill, the thwarted efforts to install Peter Dutton and the subsequent elevation of Scott Morrison to the top job. The book is billed as a sequel to her blockbuster The Road to Ruin, but unfortunately this isn’t as punchy. The chapter dealing with former deputy PM Barnaby Joyce’s affair with a young staffer is a bit faster paced, and sheds light on how the former Nats leader and his office obfuscated and tried desperately to bury the scandal. Savva brings new transparency to the strength and commitment of Morrison’s allies and prayer group friends, and their work behind the scenes to get Morrison on. Accurate and an important historical record, but this is probably one for the true Canberra obsessives. ELLEN WHINNETT VERDICT: Important but dense Michael Veitch HACHETTE, $33

Port Moresby, New Guinea, was strategically important to the Japanese in World War II. After failing to take it from the sea, Japanese soldiers stormed ashore along the coast of the island, while their air force was launching strikes from Rabaul. To establish a base from which to counter-attack the Japanese, the Australian Army, supported by American engineers, was given the almost impossible task of building an airfield at Milne Bay. Two RAAF squadrons eventually landed at the muddy airfield and flying their inferior Kittyhawks, tried to shoot Japanese Zeroes from the sky. On the ground, Japanese soldiers were swarming out of the jungle to capture the airfield. Michael Veitch recounts the events of the Battle of Milne Bay, showing how a mix of luck, dreadful conditions, fateful decisions and blind courage stopped the seemingly unstoppable Japanese in August 1942, all told with his trademark attention to detail. JEFF MAYNARD VERDICT: Gripping