+ Previews

Twisted by Steve Cavanagh (Orion) Just how twisted is this, the latest thriller from best-seller Steve ( Thirteen) Cavanagh which comes with a rata-tat of warnings from its fictional author, JT LeBeau. Before you open the pages consider this: LeBeau is wanted on murder charges, no one knows who he is and if you think you’ve found him, then he’s coming for you next. One woman believes she has solved the mystery of the superstar writer and tracked him down but that is just the first piece in a deadly game of cat and mouse.

For the Good Times by David Keenan (Faber & Faber) Belfast of the Troubles, the literary city of the moment, is the backdrop for David Keenan’s latest novel which gives us a different spin on this not-so-merry-go-round. It’s the blitzed Seventies and Sammy and his three mates hang out in their home patch of the Ardoyne. They are into sharp clobber, the songs of Perry Como and achieving a United Ireland by whatever means necessary. Violent, visionary and vivid, this yarn presents a unique take on martyrdom, fatherhood and the raw reality of selfsacrifice.

The Six Loves of Billy Binns by Richard Lumsden (Tinder Press) When he turned 50 in 2015, the actor Richard Lumsden ( Sightseers, Sense & Sensibility) decided to finish the novel he started some 23 years earlier. The Six Loves of Billy Binns had previously appeared as a radio play, with Tom Courtenay in the title role, but this novel embraces the epic sweep of a century as the aged Binns, who is well past 100 birthdays, tries to remember what true love feels like one last time by recalling the hope and heartbreak of his life.