The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup
The Drowned by John Banville; The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins; Midnight and Blue by Ian Rankin; A Case of Matricide by Graeme Macrae Burnet; The Burning Stones by Antti Tuomainen
Karl Ove Knausgård: ‘The book that changed me as a teenager? The History of Bestiality’
The Norwegian author on the magic of Ursula K LeGuin, returning to Virginia Woolf, and the insight of Jorge Luis Borges
As a middle-aged man, I would’ve saved loads on therapy if I’d read Baby-Sitters Club books as a kid
Boys weren’t exposed to emotionally intelligent characters in the books marketed to us. I won’t let my son be a victim of the same social taboo
The Burrow by Melanie Cheng review – a tender, compelling story of family and grief
A small family tries to rebuild after an incomprehensible tragedy, in a pandemic-set novella that’s both skilful and restrained
Where to start with: Alan Garner
As the master of myth and fantasy turns 90 today it’s a good time to look at his wide ranging canon, from Booker-nominated novels to children’s fiction, poetry and essays
Colored Television by Danzy Senna review – race as performance
A novelist from Brooklyn tries to make it in LA in this artful tale of ambition and identity
Juice by Tim Winton review – life after the apocalypse
Set centuries from now, this gripping tale of retribution against the corporations who fuelled climate breakdown has echoes of Cormac McCarthy
Edith Holler by Edward Carey review – an unsettling fairytale
This story of a girl who has never left the theatre where she lives is an enjoyably atmospheric curiosity
Robert Coover obituary
One of the leading lights of US postmodern fiction best known for his 1969 short story The Babysitter and The Public Burning
‘It was a deflating experience’: the novelists who nearly gave up
With earnings having dropped by 60%, it is harder than ever to keep going as a writer – even if your work gets rave reviews
Dusk by Robbie Arnott review – big cat hunters become the hunted in beautiful Tasmanian western
Deeply felt book reimagines myths with fascinating results in story of twins Iris and Floyd
A Sunny Place for Shady People by Mariana Enriquez review – domestic goddess of grotesque tales
The Argentinian author confirms her gift for making addictive stories full of life from ugly subject matter in this distinctive collection
The Drowned by John Banville review – death and drizzle in 50s Ireland
Tight-lipped humour thrums through the latest in the Booker winner’s Strafford and Quirke crime series, which centres on a university professor and his missing wife
Fire Exit by Morgan Talty review – beautifully crafted debut set in a Native community in the US
Misfortune, guilt and loneliness collide as a man struggles to understand his past and the daughter he never knew in a moving story about identity
In brief: The Catchers; Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife; Every Man for Himself and God Against All – review
Xan Brooks’s second novel takes readers on a musical road trip through 1920s Appalachia; a story-packed history celebrates inspirational medieval women; and a characteristically unusual memoir from Werner Herzog