REVIEWS

THE LOST MAN by Jane Harper,

Little, Brown, £12.99 (ebook £6.99). ★★★★★ JANE Harper’s smash hit first book, The Dry, was a mystery set in the Australian outback during a drought.

Harper has wisely returned to this scorched part of the world for her third novel. When Nathan Bright’s brother is found dead at the border between their two cattle farms, all signs point to suicide and Nathan has to return to his family home to try to make sense of it.

Unlike Harper’s previous works, The Lost Man doesn’t feature detective Aaron Falk. In fact, the police barely feature – it’s a detective novel without detectives.

Almost the entire thing is set on one ranch and there are no shortage of suspects.

The language Harper uses is occasionally repetitive but the pace is frenetic, the landscape epic and the red herrings so clever that your prime suspect changes by the chapter.

A LOVE STORY FOR BEWILDERED GIRLS by Emma Morgan,

Viking, £12.99 (ebook £7.99).

★★★★★

A SLOW-BURNING story about relationships, friendships and the mistakes we make along the way.

Therapist Grace falls for a woman she meets at a party, while lawyer Annie allows herself to trust a man with manners impeccable enough to impress even her fussy

mother. Violet is crippled by her fear of everything until she tries something new.

Morgan’s story flits between these characters – perhaps too quickly at first – and gradually her vivid creations come to life.

We really begin to care for Annie, Grace and Violet, sharing their sorrows and cheering them when they recover their strength.

Plot twists are subtly signposted but never predictable. Morgan’s touching and accurate portrayal of emotions makes it a gripping read.

■ NON-FICTION IT’S NOT ABOUT THE BURQA by Mariam Khan,

Picador, £14.99

(ebook £9.35). Available

February 21

★★★★★

“WHEN a woman travels from A to B, she will encounter mad dogs along the route who will bark at her... Never stop to reason with a mad dog,” writes novelist Sufiya Ahmed in this book of 18 essays by Muslim women. And the collection provides ample evidence that Muslim women have mad dogs barking at them from a multitude of directions, from ill-informed fundamentalists to “white feminists”. Writers, politicians, fashionistas, comedians, lawyers and journalists – they’re all here, and all speaking up for themselves.