Service by John Tottenham review – comic confessions of a grumpy bookseller
Working in a bookshop while failing to write a novel, the narrator admits to being a ‘living cliche’ in this bitter black comedy
Slow Poison by Mahmood Mamdani review – can you really rehabilitate Idi Amin?
The anthropologist and father of New York’s mayor-elect offers a revisionist view of modern Ugandan history
The School of Night by Karl Ove Knausgård review – can this sprawling epic deliver on its promise?
In the fourth volume of the occult Morning Star cycle, a Faustian pact haunts a misanthropic artist who finds miraculous success
Crick: A Mind in Motion by Matthew Cobb review – the charismatic philanderer who changed science
Genius and arrogance play leading roles in a new biography of the man who helped uncover the structure of DNA
The Firework-Maker’s Daughter review – Philip Pullman’s fairytale is explosive fun
This spellbinding adaptation uses a bulging dramatic toolbox of clever effects and manages to be both epic and intimate
Primitive War review – it’s Green Berets vs dinosaurs in cheerfully cheesy Vietnam war gorefest
Set to an on-the-nose soundtrack of Creedence Clearwater, an elite squad of soldiers are suitably unprepared for their large-toothed assailants in this jungle thriller
Holbein: Renaissance Master by Elizabeth Goldring review – a magnificent portrait of the artist
The first scholarly biography in more than 100 years of the man who immortalised the Tudor court does not disappoint
Children and teens roundup – the best new picture books and novels
The return of Charlie and Lola; the second lives of trees; the dangers of time travel; a YA Bluebeard retelling and more
Things That Disappear by Jenny Erpenbeck review – a kaleidoscopic study of transience
A collection of columns by the German Booker winner reveals a keen eye for the details that mark the passing of time
Liars by Sarah Manguso audiobook review – livid tale of marriage gone awry
Rebecca Lowman narrates a superb, claustrophobia-inducing plunge into a relationship descending from bad to worse
The Hiding Place by Kate Mildenhall review – an edge-of-your-seat thriller that skewers the middle class
A group of friends buy an abandoned mining town in this satisfying crime novel with a satirical twist
The Scouse Christmas Carol review – knockabout comedy with a potty mouth
Paul Duckworth’s sweary Scrooge has romantic history with Marley’s widow in a pun-heavy festive show
The Thing With Feathers review – well-intentioned adaptation of Max Porter novella about grief
Benedict Cumberbatch gives an honest performance, but this is too self-conscious to challenge or work through loss with same power as the book
Jeeves Again review – new Jeeves and Wooster stories by celebrity fans
This collection of new short stories about Bertie and his valet pays homage to the genius of PG Wodehouse – just in time for Christmas
The Dinner Party by Viola van de Sandt review – a formidable debut
An intimate soiree builds to a horrific climax in this visceral novel about a young woman tasked with hosting a meal for her fiance