A Little Hope

Ethan Joella                                                                                Muswell Press £12.99

New England is the backdrop to this first novel, in which the lives of interconnected characters are shaken by illness, heartbreak and betrayal. We meet Greg, a young executive whose future is imperilled, Darcy, a widow whose grown son has lost his way, and Ginger, who dreads her boyfriend proposing. 

It can feel more like a collection of linked short stories, but Joella’s voice is warm and persuasive.

Hephzibah Anderson

Bad Actors

Mick Herron                                                                                   John Murray £18.99

Spy novels based on the conflict between London and Moscow have seemed old hat in recent years. Not any more. Herron’s latest Slough House epic mixes his trademark black comedy with insights into the tangled moral universe we inhabit, full of oligarchs and KGB apparatchiks, sinister special advisers and bumbling spooks. 

New readers attracted by the TV version of Slow Horses will find Herron at his very best.

John Williams