Harvest review – Athina Rachel Tsangari’s folk non-horror is an exasperating experience
Dastardly deeds are afoot in an imagined medieval village with unscrupulous landowners in this directionless study of inauthenticity
Rebus: A Game Called Malice review – Rankin’s fine-dining detective faces corpses between courses
Rebus fans will relish Ian Rankin and Simon Reade’s play in which the spiky Scottish cop must solve a crime at a posh dinner party
Crime and thrillers of the month – review
Bella Mackie assembles a gloriously repugnant dysfunctional family, a murderous nurse hides in a library, and a female vigilante hunts down sexual predators in a skilful debut
Never Understood: The Jesus and Mary Chain review – if the Gallaghers were Scottish
This funny and moving oral history of the influential noise-rock band charts the rise – and the rows – of Jim and William Reid, whose versions of events may vary
Munichs by David Peace review – United in guilt and grief
In this dramatisation of the 1958 Munich air disaster, the author’s previous brushes with controversy seem to have stifled artistic licence
Truss at 10 by Anthony Seldon review – the leader who made history for all the wrong reasons
This brisk and readable study of our shortest-serving prime minister’s 49 days in office examines her catastrophic mini-budget and the role played by the Institute of Economic Affairs
I’m Still Here review – loving family negotiates the horror of Brazil’s military rule
Walter Salles’s first drama feature since 2012 tells the story of the Paivas, whose sunny 70s existence is wrecked by the arrest and disappearance of their father
Precipice by Robert Harris review – the PM and the socialite
In this nuanced and poignant retelling of the affair between HH Asquith and Venetia Stanley, the novelist blurs the line between fact and fiction, illuminating love and power
Chernobyl Roulette by Serhii Plokhy review – gripping account of wartime chaos at Ukraine’s nuclear plant
The Ukrainian historian compellingly chronicles the singular courage and selflessness of atomic power station employees held hostage by Russian troops in 2022
The Edge of the Alphabet by Janet Frame review – strikingly imagined voyage into delusion
Three characters each caught in their own mental turmoil sail from New Zealand to postwar England in this 1962 novel, reissued to mark Frame’s centenary
At War with Ourselves by HR McMaster review – ex-adviser vents spleen about Trump
Former US national security adviser writes ‘Trump lacked basic knowledge of how the government runs’ in tome that also critiques Obama and Biden
Medusa of the Roses by Navid Sinaki review – erotic Iranian noir
The Tehran-born film-maker’s powerful debut novel explores the burgeoning relationship between two friends that endangers their lives
In brief: Henry V; Midnight in Vienna; Clairmont – review
A lively new study of the warrior king by Dan Jones; a wartime espionage thriller from Jane Thynne; and an engaging novel about Byron’s spurned mistress
The Boy from Baghdad: From Waziriyah to Westminster by Nadhim Zahawi review – an unlikely journey
The disgraced ex-chancellor’s bullish memoir makes much of the obstacles he overcame to hold a number of ministerial posts, but how does he square his support for migrants with his presence in cabinets so hostile to refugees?
The Order review – Jude Law leads neo-Nazi-hunting thriller with confident authority
Law is commanding opposite an icy Nicholas Hoult in true-crime story about the takedown of a far right militia in the 1980s