Rick Moody – of The Ice Storm fame, a brilliant novel adapted into the equally stunning film directed by Ang Lee – delights with his ingenious new novel. The premise – a memoir in the form of a collection of hotel reviews that span 40-odd years in the reviewer’s life – is both original and entertaining. The work of one Reginald Edward Morse, a motivational speaker by trade and top reviewer at RateYourLodging.com, the collection constitutes the unexpected magnum opus of a middle-aged man whose life is marked by loneliness and disappointment – a broken marriage, an estranged daughter, affairs, money troubles. If you’ve seen Anomalisa it’ll be impossible not to draw comparisons, and Moody treads a similarly fine line between the comic and the tragic – never, for example, has hotel porn been discussed with such pathos. Capturing the essence of our virtual reality- and social media-obsessed age, it’s timely, moving and clever.

Hotels of North America is published by Serpent’s Tail (£12.99). Click here to order it for £10.39