Resistance by Jacinta Halloran review – a perceptive novel about secrets and shame
Halloran’s fourth novel follows a therapist who becomes obsessed with her new clients, a family court-mandated to see her after a strange event
In Memoriam by Alice Winn review – an elegy for young love
Two young men journey from the classroom to the trenches in this tale of a forbidden relationship set against the first world war
Plotters by Lizzie Dearden review – the terrorists who failed
From malfunctioning satnavs to dud bombs, the stories behind botched attacks on the UK
To Battersea Park by Philip Hensher review – a pandemic masterclass
Hensher brilliantly explores the lockdown experience, and how to bear witness to it, in this fluid portrait of south London lives
Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond review – how the rich keep the poor down
A Pulitzer-winning sociologist argues that the United States’s gross inequality is no accident
Dr No by Percival Everett review – serious comedy
A maths professor meets a would-be Bond villain in a metaphysical caper through race and history from the author of The Trees
Travellers to Unimaginable Lands by Dasha Kiper review – how dementia changes lives
A clinical psychologist turns the spotlight on caregivers in this profoundly compassionate study
The best recent crime and thriller writing – review roundup
A teenager terrifies his uncle, Harlan Coben makes the implausible ring true – and the members of a running club have murder on their mind
The Art of the Straight Line review – how tai chi brought out Lou Reed’s mild side
The singer-songwriter transformed his later life practising the martial art, as this compilation of writing, edited by his widow Laurie Anderson, shows
To Battersea Park by Philip Hensher review – fever dreams and dystopias
This four-part journey through life under lockdown is filled with beautiful writing but the ubiquity of the pandemic experience proves hard to ignore
Paris: The Memoir review – how a celebrity nymph conquered the Earth
With its dizzying spirituality and devotion to ‘sacred’ skincare, Paris Hilton’s memoir exposes a culture in which the self only exists if validated by a selfie
In brief: The English Actor; Cursed Bread; The Restless Republic – reviews
A woolly history of stage acting; a sensuous tale of deadly obsession in a French town; and a seminal exploration of Oliver Cromwell’s Protectorate
Cuddy by Benjamin Myers review – a polyphonic hymn to the north-east
The novelist’s afterlife of St Cuthbert spans centuries and volumes, making for a vibrant alternative history of the region
The Patriarchs by Angela Saini review – why it’s still a man’s world
Saini’s stirring, all too timely study of patriarchy asks how such inequality took hold, and persists, even while some matrilineal societies flourish
Tomás Nevinson by Javier Marías review – seductive and inescapably poignant
The Spanish novelist’s final book is a twisting espionage tale shot through with slantwise humour