The Candy House

Jennifer Egan                                                                                                  Corsair £20

Bix invents a way of uploading people’s memories. Chris catalogues movie tropes. Alfred begins a project of public screaming to provoke ‘authentic’ responses.

This ‘sibling novel’ to A Visit From The Goon Squad is set in the same world, with many of its characters. Egan is one of the few names that, when linked with the expression ‘novel of ideas’, makes the heart sing rather than sink.

Neil Armstrong

A Tidy Ending

Joanna Cannon                                                              The Borough Press £16.99

Lonely Linda Hammett has settled into a humdrum life on a housing estate with her boring husband Terry.

She longs for excitement and it soon arrives in all the wrong ways: there’s a serial killer in the neighbourhood, Terry’s behaving oddly and her new friend Rebecca has a raft of secrets.

Cannon’s shrewd characterisation, sparky observations and subtly menacing plot makes this a darkly funny and delightfully sinister read.

Eithne Farry

People Person

Candice Carty-Willliams                                                                   Trapeze £12.99

Carty-Williams follows her debut Queenie, about a black journalist, with a narrative that broadens her range to roam between the viewpoints of five half-siblings fathered by a Jamaican bus driver.

The action kicks off when they rally round in adulthood to help one of their number, Dimple, handle the aftermath of a toxic boyfriend.

Fast-paced and told in broad strokes, it’s a bittersweet comedy mixing pratfalls with caustic insights into sex, family life and social media.

Anthony Cummins