First Novel by Nicholas Royle (Vintage)
by Patrick O'Connor
THE author picks an unusual protagonist in this clever, intriguing story – a creative writing lecturer at a Manchester university.
The added twist is that Royle also teaches the subject at Manchester Metropolitan University so the reader is constantly pondering over what is real and what is fantasy.
Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan (Vintage)
by Patrick O'Connor
ACCLAIMED British author Ian McEwan delves into the world of espionage with Sweet Tooth but this is not the world of James Bond but a more mundane, everyday spy story, set in 1970s England.
The central character is ex-Cambridge maths student and bishop's daughter Serena Frome, who is recruited to M15 after a relationship with her married, middle-aged lover Tony Canning, a don at the university.
A Question of Identity by Susan Hill (Vintage)
by Patrick O'Connor
SUSAN Hill is a renowned British author and one of her most popular works is the ghost story The Woman In Black but she is also an accomplished crime writer.
Ten years ago she began a series of novels featuring police detective Simon Serrailler but Hill is as much concerned with character as with a traditional crime-solving plot.
Rough Music by Patrick Gale (Fourth Estate)
THE dynamics of family relationships are put under acute examination in this expertly crafted tale.
Author Patrick Gale invites the reader along on two parallel journeys as we see a young married couple and their eight year old son embark on a two-week holiday at a picturesque beach cottage in Cornwall and then again witness the same family revisit the house some 30 odd years later.
Falling Glass by Adrian McKinty (Serpent's Tail)
by Patrick O'Connor
IF you like your crime thrillers fast and furious with a mean, tough anti-hero then look no further than this cracking read.
Although there are brief diversions to the United States and Hong Kong, most of the narrative is set in Northern Ireland as we follow Killian, who was born into an Irish tinker family but has forged a reasonably lucrative career as an 'enforcer', someone who gets a job done (quite often collecting debts) with no questions asked.
Stonemouth by Iain Banks (Little, Brown)
by Patrick O'Connor
YOU should never go back could be the morale of this novel.
Stewart Gilmour has a successful career in London as a lighting designer but revisits his home town, the fictitious Stonemouth, positioned somewhere 'north of Aberdeen', for a funeral.