Fiction

The Hallmarked Man by Robert Galbraith is published in hardback by Sphere

Investigating four murders should be enough to keep Cormoran Strike busy, but in the eighth Strike novel, written by JK Rowling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, the private detective also has to tackle his growing affection for business partner Robin Ellacott – who is planning to move in with her policeman boyfriend. Strike’s struggle to decide whether to express his love for her or not dominates the story just as much as the murder investigations, which are sparked when a corpse is discovered in the vault of a silver shop in the City of London. Police believe the body is that of armed robber Jason Knowles, but one woman is convinced the dead man is instead the father of her newborn baby, who has suddenly disappeared. It’s a classic, complicated and dangerous case for Strike and Robin to investigate as the murders mount and their own relationship careers towards a cliff edge. Strike fans will love another gripping case and even more gripping questions over the private lives of the two detectives in a book which is almost 900 pages long.

The Secret Of Secrets by Dan Brown is published in hardback by Bantam

Credits: PA;

The evenings are slowly closing in and autumn is the perfect time to sit with Dan Brown’s sixth Robert Langdon novel. Filled with the usual puzzles, conspiracies and religious iconography, The Secret Of Secrets brings back Katherine Solomon, a neurotic scientist we first meet in The Lost Symbol. Langdon accompanies Solomon to Prague where she is giving a lecture. When she goes missing, Langdon’s wits are pitted against underground factions in a city steeped with thousands of years worth of tales and superstition. Will Langdon drown in this every deepening mystery as he hunts for the woman he loves? A well-paced thriller that weaves known science and fiction into pages that practically turn themselves.

Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite is published in hardback by Atlantic Books

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Oyinkan Braithwaite’s second novel was always going to be a tall order, after her debut My Sister, The Serial Killer was released in 2018 to critical acclaim. Her eagerly anticipated follow-up Cursed Daughters again follows a family with an unusual dynamic. The Falodun women are cursed, so the story goes, to never hold on to a man. The story of the curse and its background gives a supernatural twist to a tale as old as time – of falling in love and having your heart broken. Braithwaite manoeuvres between decades and generations to tell the knots of the story well, but the jump between time periods limits a close attachment to any of the characters. An enjoyable read, but it doesn’t quite reach the high standard Braithwaite set for herself.

Non-fiction

Fly, Wild Swans by Jung Chang is published in hardback by William Collins

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In this sequel to her exceptional memoir Wild Swans, published in 1991, Jung Chang takes the story of her family and China from the death of Mao Zedong, founder of the People’s Republic of China, in 1976, up to the present day. It takes in the country’s opening up under Deng Xiaoping, increasingly tight control since Tiananmen Square and Chang’s struggles to see her mother in the last years of her life. But while Fly, Wild Swans does a good job of conveying the pressure the Chinese regime can bring to bear, the fact Chang spends most of the book living outside China and describing her work on previous books means it loses some of what made Wild Swans so interesting – namely the detail of daily life under the Chinese Communist Party.

Children’s book of the week

Impossible Creatures: The Poisoned King by Katherine Rundell is published in hardback by Bloomsbury Children’s Books

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I just finished reading The Poisoned King (the second in Katherine Rundell’s Impossible Creatures series), and I couldn’t put it down! It’s about a boy named Christopher who returns to a magical world full of mythical creatures, like griffins and dragons. He meets a brave girl named Anya, and together they go on a rescue mission to save the creatures from danger. I loved how exciting and magical the story was. The world Katherine Rundell created felt real. Some parts were a little confusing, especially when new characters were introduced quickly, but the action and creatures made up for it. It reminded me a bit of Harry Potter mixed with Percy Jackson. I think anyone who likes fantasy and adventure would really enjoy it.