The Twilight World by Werner Herzog review – a film-maker’s eerie debut
Herzog draws on the extraordinary story of a real-life Japanese soldier who fought on for decades, unaware that the second world war was over
Keep Her Sweet by Helen Fitzgerald review – a thriller packed with monsters and misery
This compelling page-turner follows a therapist who delights in her clients’ crises – but the tension breaks when plausibility is stretched too far
Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London novels are set for TV adaptation
All nine fantasy-detective books will be used to produce a new ‘ridiculously brilliant’ television series
Joan by Katherine J Chen review – a fresh portrait of Joan of Arc
A brilliant exploration of how an otherworldly peasant girl became a leader of violent men and a national icon
From Hitchhiker’s Paranoid Android to Wall-E: why are pop culture robots so sad?
‘Sentient’ AI seems to shoulder the weight of the world. Maybe we humans want it that way
A System So Magnificent It Is Blinding by Amanda Svensson review – a riddling epic
Triplets reckon with their puzzling dissimilarity in an enjoyable saga of family dysfunction
Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh review – a grim fairytale
Moshfegh’s fiction provides welcome respite from a culture submerged in positivity – but is there more than shock value to her catalogue of perversity in a medieval village?
Hello, Goodbye and Everything in Between review – charming Netflix romance
The streamer’s latest YA offering from the producers of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is a surprising romcom winner
Jackie Kay on Jamaica Kincaid: ‘I’ve never read anyone like her’
The Scottish poet’s tribute to the Antiguan-American author’s ‘fearless’ coming-of-age novel Annie John
The House of Fortune by Jessie Burton review – bold and thrilling sequel to The Miniaturist
This tale of a curious young woman in 18th-century Amsterdam finds the writer at the top of her game
Witty, poetic, beautifully written: the best Australian books out in July
Each month, Guardian Australia editors and critics pick out the upcoming titles they’ve already devoured – or can’t wait to get their hands on
Novelist and former Guardian journalist Susie Steiner dies at 51
Author of Manon Bradshaw detective series was diagnosed with a brain tumour three years ago
In brief: Hotbed; The Very Nice Box; In Love With Hell – review
Joanna Scutts’s fascinating secret US club of early 20th-century feminists, Laura Blackett and Eve Gleichman’s quirky romcom and William Palmer’s vivid study of authors and alcohol
Godmersham Park by Gill Hornby review – a page-turning Austen romp
This fictionalised life of the governess employed by Jane Austen’s brother wittily toys with the conventions of the genre
Robert Peston: ‘I wore my favourite Gaultier coat to a party conference and somebody nicked it’
ITV’s political editor on coping with obsessive-compulsive disorder, belatedly publishing his first novel, and why he longs for a lost England