The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup
The Predicament by William Boyd; The Killer Question by Janice Hallett; The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman; 59 Minutes by Holly Seddon; Deadman’s Pool by Kate Rhodes
Night People by Mark Ronson review – a superstar DJ’s coming of age
Nerdery triumphs over gossip in this earnest but compelling memoir of the 90s New York club scene
The Lost Bus review – Matthew McConaughey and America Ferrera in dynamic real-life blaze-escape movie
McConaughey plays the unassuming real hero who drove a schoolbus full of children out of California’s deadliest wildfire
Fierceland by Omar Musa review – poet and rapper’s second novel pulses with life
Following two siblings who must grapple with their father’s legacy after his death, Fierceland is at its best when Musa plays with language
The Young Man by Annie Ernaux audiobook review – anatomy of an affair
The Nobel winner explores the dynamics of her relationship with a student 30 years her junior in an intimate, taboo-breaking memoir
Postures: Jean Rhys in the Modern World review – sex, squalor and jungle sweat for an eternal outsider
Artists as varied as Sarah Lucas, Gwen John and Georg Baselitz are called upon by critic-curator Hilton Als to chime with the writer of Wide Sargasso Sea
The Traitors Circle by Jonathan Freedland review – a propulsive story of German resistance
A thriller-like account of the influential men and women who opposed Hitler and paid a terrible price
Clown Town by Mick Herron review – more fun and games with the Slow Horses
The ninth novel in the Slough House series, this tale of IRA infiltration is a perfect mix of one-liners, plot twists and real-world-tinged intrigue
Dracula review – Mina Harker bites back but drama is deadened by tricksy retelling
A fixation on how to frame Bram Stoker’s story disrupts the flow of this feminist reboot, killing the fear factor
One Battle After Another review – Paul Thomas Anderson’s thrillingly helter-skelter counterculture caper
Anderson updates Thomas Pynchon for the era of Ice roundups, pitting shaggy revolutionary Leonardo DiCaprio against cartoonish forces of reaction
Everything Will Swallow You by Tom Cox review – a cosy state-of-the-nation yarn
This deeply comforting tale of record collecting, magical creatures and a lovingly knitted cardigan rambles across England
On Drugs by Justin Smith-Ruiu review – a philosopher’s guide to psychedelics
What if Descartes had melted his brain on acid? Find out in this mind-expanding exploration of thought and consciousness
The Big Payback by Lenny Henry and Marcus Ryder review – the case for reparations
The TV star and his co-author make a compelling argument for properly addressing the legacies of slavery
What We Can Know by Ian McEwan review – the limits of liberalism
A century from now, a literature scholar pieces together a picture of our times in a novel that quietly compels us to consider the moral consequences of global catastrophe
We Love You, Bunny by Mona Awad review – a delicious follow-up to Bunny
Scabrous satire drives this camp, goofy sequel about a cabal of writing students at an Ivy league university – its hot-boyfriend golems are adorable