Granta Best of Young British Novelists 4
By . Published 03 May 2013
Once a decade, since 1983, Granta has compiled a list of the 20 best British novelists under the age of 40. Accompanying the announcement is a volume featuring a short...
Books > Reviews
Indian Nocturne by Antonio Tabucchi
By . Published 01 May 2013Indian Nocturne follows a nameless man as he searches for his lost friend Xavier among the squalid streets and luxury hotels of India. At just over a hundred pages it...
Hawthorn & Child by Keith Ridgway
By . Published 01 May 2013It begins with a shooting in North London, with detectives Hawthorn and Child trying to work out what’s happened. Early on, though, Ridgway derails the standard train of plot in...
The Humans by Matt Haig
By . Published 01 May 2013Any writer who can fuse maths and peanut butter in his opening paragraph is a certified genius in his own right. In his book, Matt Haig introduces us to a...
Drugs 2.0: The Web Revolution That's Changing How the World Gets High by Mike Power
By . Published 01 May 2013Like its subject matter - at least as self-confessed popper Mike Power would have us believe - Drugs 2.0 is a stimulating read, providing a timeline of chemical development from...
Dead Water by Ann Cleeves
By . Published 22 April 2013Ann Cleeves’ Vera Stanhope novels were dramatised for TV in 2011, and last year Detective Jimmy Perez, the patient, enigmatic investigator at the heart of her Shetland novels also made...
Laidlaw by William McIlvanney
By . Published 22 April 2013It has been said that there is not a single Scottish crime writer publishing today who does not owe William McIlvanney and his eponymous hero, Laidlaw, a stylistic debt –...
The Trade Secret by Robert Newman
By . Published 01 April 2013Rob Newman's fourth novel is both an investigation into the pervasive forces of corporations, class and capitalism, as well as a swash-buckling adventure of star-crossed lovers, treasure hunters and underdog...
Love Sex Travel Musik by Rodge Glass
By . Published 01 April 2013Sharing a theme of cheap air travel, these short stories reflect on a world lubricated by flights that cost less than lunch. Far from realising their dreams of far-flung countries,...
Book of the Month: The Iraqi Christ by Hassan Blasim
By . Published 25 March 2013Calling Hassan Blasim's second short story collection a ‘tour de force’ seems tactless – a tour by the Allied Western armies, involving deadly force, was what brought his native country...
Gone Again by Doug Johnstone
By . Published 25 February 2013Edinburgh-based Doug Johnstone has pared down the breadth of his subject matter – his last novel, Hit and Run used the setup indicated by its title in thrilling, unexpected ways, but...
Me and You by Niccolò Ammaniti
By . Published 23 February 2013The third Ammaniti novel to be translated from Italian into English, he moves away from the thriller format he experimented with in I'm Not Scared and Steal You Away to deliver...
Eustace by S.J. Harris
By . Published 21 February 2013The darkness in Eustace creeps up on you unexpectedly. It begins sadly, but innocently with the travails of a sick child, illustrated in a whimsical, pencil-drawn style. On the brink...
Elect Mr. Robinson for a Better World by Donald Antrim
By . Published 21 February 2013Donald Antrim's 1993 debut novel, Elect Mr. Robinson for a Better World is being published in the UK for the first time. Featuring a pagan-like shrouded figure, the attractively day-glo...
The Fields by Kevin Maher
By . Published 20 February 2013The Fields by Kevin Maher is a coming of age novel set in Ireland during the 1980s. Although the Troubles are present, the focus remains firmly on the adolescence of central...
Spinach Soup for the Walls by Lynn Harkes
By . Published 04 January 2013There is no doubt this book has good intentions: beautifully written and graciously told, Spinach Soup for the Walls is a memoir of one woman’s travels and personal growth which...
The Seven Wonders of Scotland, edited by Gerry Hassan
By . Published 18 December 2012The Seven Wonders of Scotland brings together seven authors’ imagined Scotlands of the future – examining fantastical worlds where Rannoch Moor houses a Pleasure Palace and we’ve fathomed a solution...
Gold Digger by Francis Fyfield
By . Published 04 December 2012An answer to the quiz question ‘crime novels with the same title as Kanye West songs,' but otherwise this is a solid but not very memorable story. Curious, because it...
Blood of Crows by Caro Ramsay
By . Published 04 December 2012This is now the fourth of Caro Ramsay’s series following DI Colin Anderson and his colleagues, most prominently DS Costello, whose first name isn’t often used (because it, and her...
Top Gear: The Cool 500 by Matt Master
By . Published 04 December 2012Subtitled ‘The Coolest Cars Ever Made’, this is a large format book about cars through history, glossy photos and all. Some people love Top Gear, and some people love to...
