Fiction
The Retirement Plan by Sue Hincenbergs is published by Sphere in hardback
If crazy, switcheroo mysteries with a dark comic edge are your thing, then The Retirement Plan is the summer read for you. Sue Hincenbergs’ story of disappointment, grief, deceit, murder and casinos is based around the friendship of a group of women. After the death of one of their husbands in a freak accident (or was it a hitman catching up with him for past misdeeds?), his widow is left a million-dollar life insurance payout, sparking a Golden Girls’ retirement dream for the other wives. But cleverly, this isn’t just their tale. The husbands also have a retirement plan, and a suspicion that someone is about to find out about it. The three remaining husbands reach out to their barber to help ‘fix’ the problem. A triumphant crime caper that is funny and exciting.
Never Flinch by Stephen King is published in hardback by Hodder & Stoughton
A brutal murderer seeks revenge for a wrongly convicted man, taunting police with a letter threatening to kill ’13 innocents and one guilty.’ Meanwhile, outspoken feminist activist Kate McKay launches a lecture tour, packing venues with her noisy fans, angry opponents and unwittingly, a stalker intent on killing her. Two dramatic storylines in one book by award-winning, master-crime writer Stephen King, Never Flinch is a double treat for his army of fans. Detective Izzy Jaynes leads the hunt for the letter writer, made urgent when the promised killings start. She asks for help from her friend, private investigator Holly Gibney, who is suddenly hired by McKay to be her bodyguard amid increasing threats to her safety. The hunt for the killer and the stalker merge into one as time runs out to avert a bloodbath. King says it was a difficult book to write as he had surgery on his hip, revealing it went through multiple rewrites and three title changes after his wife told him he could “do better.” The author of more than 70 books proves yet again he doesn’t flinch from writing best-sellers.
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid is published in hardback by Hutchinson Heinemann
Taylor Jenkins Reid – author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo – is back with Atmosphere. Set amid the 1980s space shuttle programme, it explores female empowerment, space and science, queer love and everything in between. From the beginning of the emotional rollercoaster that the novel takes you on, Jenkins Reid hits at every heart string imaginable. Astronomy professor Joan Goodwin leaps at a chance to work for NASA, embarking on a celestial and scientific dream that brings her into the orbit of fellow astronaut candidate Vanessa Ford. Atmosphere jumps from past to present, examining NASA culture, and readers are also given a great view of the kind of training needed to be part of the Space Shuttle program. Moving, pacey and a read that will stick with you.
Non-fiction
Year of the Rat: Undercover in the British Far Right by Harry Shukman is published in hardback by Chatto & Windus
Harry Shukman’s brave delve into the dark recesses of Britain’s Far Right feels especially timely. He spent a year undercover, infiltrating a series of extremist groups in the hope of understanding – and exposing – their dreams and ambitions. That Shukman’s book provides few surprises is less a slight on his quest than an admission of the extent to which the ideas he encounters have been allowed to infiltrate the mainstream. The people Shukman meets are not, for the most part, big-booted skinheads swathed in Nazi tattoos, or white-hooded American backwoodsmen. They are normal people – men, mostly – who espouse their beliefs in pubs and clubs, or on specially-arranged camping trips. Some members of the lower-ranked orders appear so gullible as to inspire a tinge of sympathy. But such moments of light relief – there’s an excruciatingly funny incident involving a notorious football hooligan being caught short – don’t mask the real power and threat posed by extremist groups. The strength of Year of the Rat is not so much the tales of low-level loudmouths, but the inferences to the shady puppet-masters who continue to shape world politics for the worse.
Children’s book of the week
Audre & Bash Are Just Friends by Tia Williams is published in paperback by Quercus
A super-summery YA rom com, Audre & Bash Are Just Friends is a spin-off from US writer Tia Williams’ page-turner of an adult romance, Seven Days In June. Audre is the highly motivated, thoroughly ambitious, incredibly well-behaved daughter of best-selling erotica novelist Eva Mercy (the heroine of Seven Days), and it’s the last day of school when Audre’s summer plans disintegrate. Sick of her mum doting on her new baby sister and sleeping on the sofa while their apartment gets a remodel, Audre decides to hire a ‘fun-consultant’ to help her let loose a bit and give her material for a project that could help her get into college – enter new kid, Croc-wearer and expert partier, Bash. While the trajectory of this pair’s relationship is to be expected (yes, sparks do fly), Williams’ characters are suffused with anxieties and family angst that feel wholly real. A flirty, entertaining read that should hit a nerve with lots of teens.
English