A look at the latest releases, plus what's new in paperback.

By Sophie Herdman


Book of the week

Cockroaches by Jo Nesbo is published in hardback by Harvill Secker, priced £18.99 (ebook £7.99). Available now.

Cockroaches is the second outing for Jo Nesbo's fractured Norwegian policeman, Harry Hole. His other outings have clearly showed he is a very flawed character, but for his most ardent fans, this - and his battle against the bottle - is what gives him his charm and fascination.

After making his reputation made in Australia (in Nesbo's first Hole case, The Bat), Hole is now called upon to investigate the murder of the Norwegian ambassador in Bangkok. But as he turns over a series of stones to see what crawls out from underneath, Hole finds more questions than answers. The harder he looks, the more creatures scuttle into the light - most are harmless but the occasional one is deadly, not only to Hole but also those drawn to him.

Cockroaches will thrill Harry Hole addicts. It's classic fast-paced, edge-of-the-seat style, as the detective battles against time to solve the crime, deflecting the attentions of his political masters at home as well as the murderous intent of Thailand's business community.

9/10

(Review by Roddy Brooks)


New fiction

The Language of Dying by Sarah Pinborough is published as a reprint in hardback by Jo Fletcher Books, priced £12.99 (ebook £6.02). Available December 5.

More well-known for her horror writing, acclaimed novelist Sarah Pinborough has returned with a dark and compelling novel about caring for a terminally-ill parent.

The Language of Dying reads as a letter to the narrator's father, who has lung cancer. Knowing his death is imminent, the woman contacts her four, somewhat estranged, siblings: the feckless elder brother, the all-too-perfect sister and the alcoholic twin brothers. Each arrive at their father's bedside with their own demons, their own memories and, most importantly, their own way of coping.

There is also a fantastical side to the story, with the narrator waiting for the arrival of a unicorn, which she desperately hopes can save her from her own darkness.

The harrowing storyline is remarkably simple and short. But through her perfect characterisation of the siblings, Pinborough effortlessly captures the complex emotions which can surface when families are thrown together in grief.

At times, the raw insight into the narrator's mind is so disturbingly honest it makes uncomfortable reading. But Pinborough's ability to write so beautifully, even about such a sensitive topic, means you cannot help but read on.

9/10

(Review by Stephanie Cockroft)


The Goddess and the Thief by Essie Fox is published in trade paperback by Orion Books, priced £12.99 (ebook £6.49). Available December 5.

Alice Willoughby is 14 when her widowed father sends her from her home in Lahore, India, to be brought up by her spinster Aunt Mercy in Victorian Windsor.

Coerced into taking part in Mercy's fake seances for bereaved clients, Alice meets the mysterious Lucian Tilsbury, a former associate of her father, who draws her into his dark plans involving the disposed Maharajah, Queen Victoria and a priceless diamond known as the Koh-i-Nor.

Fox's attempt at Victorian gothic in her third novel ticks all the boxes for a good novel: first person narration, the occult, social friction, plot twists, seductive, dangerous men and exotic gods; but the result is disappointing thanks to her clumsy delivery.

Constant foreboding and complicated, opiate-induced dream sequences work well for exposition, but these passages are interspersed with unexplained narratives from third characters that jar and could have been included more elegantly, if they had to be included at all.

6/10

(Review by Natalie Bowen)


Silent Night by Jack Sheffield is published in trade paperback by Bantam Press, priced £11.99 (ebook £7.99). Available December 5.

Silent Night is the eighth book in Jack Sheffield's Teacher series, following the lives of the villagers of Ragley-on-the Forest, focusing around the local primary school.

This year the school and children are preparing for a televised Christmas choir performance, while the teachers hold their first ever belly-dancing class, and head-teacher Jack fears the prospect of having to leave his beloved Ragley.

Though the story is knowingly innocent, Sheffield's characters are almost painfully unexciting. Too much detail is given to rudimentary events - like discourse over what flavour of soup a receptionist will have for lunch - and you are left wondering whether anyone would be as blissfully unconscious as this group of characters.

Overall, Silent Night was disappointing and uninspired, and filled me with none of the Christmas joys I was hoping for.

3/10

(Review by Holly McKenzie)


Non fiction

How To Change Your Life: Who Am I And What Should I Do With My Life by Benjamin Bonetti is published in paperback original by Capstone, priced £10.99 (ebook £6.27). Available now.

There are times in our lives when we might question our goals or our belief in ourselves may waver. As an experienced life coach to the stars, Benjamin Bonetti aims to guide us through these moments with his new book How To Change Your Life.

He likens creating a more fulfilled version of us to the parable of the two builders (one who built his house on sand and the other on solid rocks), setting the scene to help us visualise exactly how we can accomplish what we are capable of.

Each chapter contains tasks in which we are asked to examine how we would behave in a certain scenario or to take action by completing a plan for our ambitions.

This hands-on approach combined with the general positivity seeping through the book makes it an enjoyable and motivational read.

Not only does Bonetti show a deep understanding of the topic, he also delivers it in an accessible way has you champing at the bit to start on that journey to self-discovery.

7/10

(Review by Mary Ann Pickford)


Who is Who? The Philosophy of Doctor Who by Kevin S Decker is published in paperback original by I. B. Tauris, priced £15.99. Available now.

To mark 50 years since everyone's favourite time traveller first stepped into his Tardis, this is an in-depth investigation into what makes Doctor Who tick. Psychology professor Kevin Decker approaches the task from an academic point of view but the tone is light-hearted with a good dollop of humour.

Although it is half a century since the first Doctor Who episode, The Unearthly Child, was broadcast on TV in 1963, the time arc of the story spans a thousand years.

Regeneration means there have been 11 actors, each bringing their own interpretation to the role and Decker examines how and why they have connected with viewers.

At the core of the book, he discusses what it is about the Doctor, who always uses his brains instead of weapons, that makes him such an enduring and, at times, unlikely hero?

Hardcore Doctor Who fans will love it but casual droppers-in may struggle with the level of detail and intensity.

7/10

(Review by Gill Oliver)


Round About Earth: Circumnavigation From Magellan To Orbit by Joyce E Chaplin is published in trade paperback by Simon and Schuster, priced £12.99 (ebook £6.99). Available December 5.

Harvard historian Joyce Chaplin adds this beautifully written history of circumnavigation to her collection of early modern American history publications.

She has an ambitious task: to tell the story of five hundred years' worth of mankind's attempts to travel round the globe.

It would be impossible to honour every one, so Chaplin discerns from the historic, the tragic, the majestic, and the significant journeys - Magellan to Cook, and Phileas Fogg to USS Triton and Laika the space-dog.

She tells their tales with an infectious relish that gets under the skin of her subjects: from Spanish-Portuguese squabbles over lines of longitude to the regrets of the Soviet team behind the launch of Laika into orbit, personalities emerge from her pages to make the magnitude of their missions all the more poignant.

A gentle humour keeps the meticulously researched pages turning, while her historical lens makes the reader stop and think.

A good Christmas present for historians, travellers and environmentalists alike.

9/10

(Review by Kitty Wheater)


On The Road: Growing Up In Eight Journeys - My Early Years by Richard Hammond is published in hardback, priced £18.99 (ebook £8.55). Available now.

Richard 'Hamster' Hammond is a household name, mainly thanks to his role as presenter on the most popular motoring show ever, Top Gear, but also from other TV spots on the strangely addictive Total Wipeout, and, of course, from the terrible accident in 2009, where his car crashed at 341mph and very nearly killed him.

For these reasons, it'd be easy to assume everything about Hammond is focussed on energy and action. But in On The Road, he shifts over to the slower lane, with eight key car memories that marked his life.

It's a format that might sound simple, but it's one that's very effective. There are the family trips from Ripon to Harrogate, the long treks to Weston-Super-Mare to see his grandparents, the moment he is given his first bike and the moment he sits behind the wheel of his first car.

Each recollection is littered with those seemingly inconsequential sights and split-seconds that stand out in all our memories; using his grandparents' ashtray as a mock steering wheel, looking from the backseat at the fly-streaked windscreen. These heart-felt minutiae means Hammond easily draws the reader into his past, and what starts as his own wander down memory lane soon becomes everyone's.

On The Road is a sweet, funny, affectionate and easy-to-read memoir, not just for those interested in cars, but for anyone interested in families, growing up, and in the gentle memories of a life well-lived.

7/10

(Review by Nel Staveley)


Children's book of the week

The Christmas Tale of Peter Rabbit by Emma Thompson is published in hardback by Warne, priced £12.99 (ebook £7.99). Available now.

The most famous rabbit on the planet is up to his tricks again and this time it's a Christmas tale. Peter Rabbit was given a new lease of life last year, 110 years after Beatrix Potter's original book was published, when actress Emma Thompson wrote The Further Tale of Peter Rabbit which proved to be a big hit.

This time, mischievous Peter and his arguably brighter cousin Benjamin are trying once again to outwit the hapless Mr McGregor who has been diligently fattening up his turkey William in preparation for seasonal feast.

Mr McGregor, of course, has previous form for eating characters - lovers of the original will know he put Peter's father in a pie and ate him. So it doesn't take the bunnies long to work out that a similar fate awaits William unless they can rescue him.

Thompson, a gifted screenwriter, has skilfully captured the deceptively simple language of the original as well as the dry humour.

William is vain, dim, Mr and Mrs McGregor are the grumpy losers, while inside the burrow there's a true feast, each ingredient detailed Potter-style.

Eleanor Taylor's illustrations are a joy with their soft colours and detail, and this book will satisfy all generations of Peter fans.

8/10

(Review by Gabrielle Fagan)


Bestsellers for the week ending November 30

Hardbacks

1 Alex Ferguson: My Autobiography, Alex Ferguson

2 Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck, Jeff Kinney

3 Raising Steam, Terry Pratchett

4 Guinness World Records 2014

5 David Jason: My Life, David Jason

6 Eat - The Little Book of Fast Food, Nigel Slater

7 Minecraft: The Official Redstone Handbook

8 Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy, Helen Fielding

9 Demon Dentist, David Walliams

10 Private Eye Annual 2013, Ian Hislop

(Compiled by Waterstones)


Paperbacks

1 And the Mountains Echoed, Khaled Hosseini

2 Philomena: The True Story of a Mother and the Son She Had to Give Away, Martin Sixsmith

3 Autobiography, Morrissey

4 The Little Coffee Book of Kabul, Deborah Rodriguez

5 Gangsta Granny, David Walliams

6 A Possible Life, Sebastian Faulks

7 The Snowman and the Snowdog

8 The Fault In Our Stars, John Green

9 Dear Life, Alice Munroe

10 Wreck This Journal: To Create is to Destroy, Now with Even More Ways, Keri Smith

(Compiled by Waterstones)


Ebooks

1 Tangled Lives, Hilary Boyd

2 Broken Angels, Graham Masterton

3 The Husband's Secret, Liane Moriarty

4 Sleigh Bells in the Snow, Sarah Morgan

5 Meet Me Under the Mistletoe, Abby Clements

6 Take A Look At Me Now, Miranda Dickinson

7 Christmas at the Beach Cafe, Lucy Diamond

8 The Prince, Niccolo Machiavelli

9 Trouble, Samantha Towle

10 The Snow Child, Eowyn Ivey

(Compiled by the Kindle store at Amazon.co.uk)