Nowhere Burning by Catriona Ward (Viper, £16.99)The latest from the horror/crime virtuoso combines supernatural, psychological and all-too-human terrors in a tale drawing on elements ranging from Peter Pan to historic serial abusers.... Read more »
Afterburn by Blake Morrison (Chatto & Windus, £12.99)Best known as a memoirist, Morrison returns to poetry after 11 years with a masterclass of lyric distillation and charged observation, demonstrating that nothing is... Read more »
The Good Deed Dogs by Emma Chichester Clark, Walker, £12.99Three very good dogs’ attempts to help others keep backfiring with chaotic consequences – until they pull off a successful kitten rescue in... Read more »
Godfall by Van Jensen (Bantam, £20)The debut novel by a popular comic-book writer is set in a small town in Nebraska, after the landing of a three-mile-long alien figure dubbed “the Giant”.... Read more »
The Bonfire Party by Sean O’Brien (Picador, £12.99)This sombre collection showcases O’Brien’s varied use of forms and subject matter, exploring themes of history, remembrance of war and political conflict, death, time, the... Read more »
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (Canongate, £9.99)The award-winning Australian writer’s third adult novel begins with a lone woman, Rowan, washed up on a remote island between Tasmania and Antarctica. Shearwater is... Read more »
The Great Christmas Tree Race by Naomi Jones, illustrated by James Jones, Ladybird, £7.99Star always goes on top of the Christmas tree – until new decoration Sparkle kicks off a race. Who... Read more »
Halcyon Years by Alastair Reynolds (Gollancz, £25)Yuri Gagarin, the Russian cosmonaut who was the first man in space, is reborn as a private eye on board the starship Halcyon as it draws... Read more »
The Ferryman and His Wife by Frode Grytten, translated by Alison McCullough (Serpent’s Tail, £12.99)On the last day of his life – how does he know? He just does – Norwegian ferryman... Read more »