Other Women by Emma Flint review – a gripping dissection of an affair
A love triangle culminates in tragedy in this cleverly constructed thriller, based on real-life events
The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup
Death at the Sign of the Rook by Kate Atkinson; Guilty By Definition by Susie Dent; Sanctuary by Garry Disher; The Examiner by Janice Hallett; Sounds Like a Plan by Pamela Samuels Young and Dwayne Alexander Smith
The curious incident of the author who couldn’t read or write: Mark Haddon on long Covid and overcoming five years of brain fog
A heart bypass in 2019 followed by a Covid infection left the novelist unable to read a book, let alone write one. Five years on, he recalls the steps that have helped him back on the right path
The Life Impossible by Matt Haig review – a journey of rediscovery
A woman acquires supernatural abilities on Ibiza in this follow-up to The Midnight Library
Jill Robinson obituary
Writer who drew on her Hollywood childhood for her successful memoirs and novels
Wife by Charlotte Mendelson review – married to a monster
There are flashes of sharp wit in this furious tale of a toxic relationship between two women, but mostly it roils with raw pain
Joan Brady obituary
Author of Theory of War, inspired by her grandfather’s experience of slavery in the US, which won the Whitbread book of the year award in 1993
Phantom Limb by Chris Kohler review – an unusual debut
This tale of cynicism and miracles in remote Scotland offers a bleakly funny vision of life
Concerning the Future of Souls: 99 Stories of Azrael by Joy Williams review – brilliantly deadpan
A master of the short story explores mortality and beyond, through these funny, boundlessly intelligent visions of the angel of death
No Small Thing by Orlaine McDonald review – a poignant tale of mothers and daughters
This astute debut novel set on a south London estate charts the impact of trauma and poverty on three generations of Black women
Badenheim 1939; Katerina; The Story of a Life by Aharon Appelfeld review – survivors’ tales full of beauty and pain
Memory and trauma go hand in hand in these two novels and a memoir by the late Israeli writer, who shows that hope can be worse than despair
Rare Singles by Benjamin Myers review – lost souls at a Scarborough soul weekender
A forgotten Chicago singer strikes up an unlikely bond with a Yorkshire supermarket worker in this deceptively simple tale of human connection
The Rich People Have Gone Away by Regina Porter review – ambitious New York lockdown mystery
The playwright turned novelist’s second novel turns on the way that Covid restrictions altered the social order, but its central story gets bogged down with endless diversions
In brief: The Wedding People; Ingrained; On the Brink – review
Sparkling observations dot a sharp and funny tale of Rhode Island nuptials, a love letter to the craft of woodworking and compassionate reflections on mental health
Sarah Manguso: ‘I seem to have hit on a cultural sore spot’
The American author on her rage-filled new novel about the end of a marriage, the extraordinary response to it, and the authors she thinks are most underrated