NEW FICTION

The Whisperers, by John Connolly, in hardback, by Hodder & Stoughton, £16.99

THE fictional former policeman Charlie Parker has forged a reputation for living on the edge, and that is exactly where Irish author John Connolly intends to keep him.

In pursuit of international smugglers, Parker trips across a much darker side to the criminal underworld in this latest book from the author of The Lovers.

Parker has to deal with disaffected Iraq War veterans, Mexican drug dealers and two lovers of all things ancient who will stop at nothing to get what they want.

Connolly keeps the reader's attention with fast-paced action and a detailed commentary on the seedier side of the business community of Maine.

A former winner of the US Shamus award, Connolly's reputation for hard-edged thrillers is enhanced by the latest exploits of private detective Parker and his unorthodox band of friends.

9/10

The Thousand Autumns Of Jacob De Zoet, by David Mitchell, in hardback by Sceptre, £18.99.

THE latest novel by David Mitchell, author of Cloud Atlas, will come under scrutiny from both broadsheet critics and Richard and Judy Book Club fans.

They will pick out his usual trademarks – the fascination with the edges where different cultures meet, and a plot that twists and turns but manages not to fall in on itself.

But, primarily, they will find a cracking tale. The novel takes place in the 18th century on the island of Dejima, the only part of an inward-looking Japan open to the west.

Dutch clerk De Zoet encounters enemies, friends and a potential lover, as Japan and Europe struggle to understand each other.

Mitchell fans will love it and people put off by some of his more experimental work will find this a more straightforward read.

8/10

In Office Hours, by Lucy Kellaway, is published as a trade paperback by Fig Tree, priced £12.99. Available now.

LUCY KELLAWAY'S second novel is a modern fable about highly-successful oil economist Stella Bradberry – who tries in vain to resist the young and dangerous graduate Rhys.

The tale also focuses on Bella – a PA-turned-researcher who falls in love with her abrupt and far-from-handsome boss, James.

This is a good yarn, despite a lack of love scenes, over-the-top descriptions of meeting places and endless catch ups with friends over a glass of Chardonnay.

Kellaway, who is the Financial Times's management columnist, has written a sensible, grown-up book, with believable characters and scenarios.

The author uses research to create an honest and realistic take on what drives office workers to have affairs and the professional implications they can have.

8/10

Kraken, by China Mieville, in hardback by Macmillan, £17.99

THIS latest book from China Mieville, two times winner of the Arthur C Clarke award, is his funniest work by far.

Recognised as part of the New Weird – a literary movement rooted in pulp fiction and horror – Mieville creates a baroque London adventure in his latest work.

The tale follows curator Billy Harrow as he attempts to track down a preserved giant squid stolen from the Natural History Museum.

The impromptu investigator soon becomes embroiled in a hidden world of heresy, magic and competing apocalypses.

Kraken's inventive stew of magic and metaphor is insightful into how all religions, however apparently bizarre, share an equal and dangerous mythic plausibility.

It's amazing how respectfully south London squid cultists can be depicted, or how plausibly terrifying Mieville can make the most innocuous urban detritus. Kraken is a remarkable achievement.

9/10

non-fiction

Young Romantics – The Shelleys, Byron And Other Tangled Lives, by Daisy Hay, in hardback by Bloomsbury, £20

HAY'S preface lays out her opposition to the idea of the Romantics as "isolated figures", but anyone acquainted with these poets is likely to know of their friendship and effect on each other's work.

However, this connection may only have stemmed from the ghost story competition at Lake Geneva which inspired films starring actors such as Hugh Grant.

Hay impresses on the composition of Frankenstein, presenting the text as Mary Shelley's work well-edited by her husband.

But, elsewhere, Hay's agenda unbalances her book. Social mainstay Leigh Hunt is fore-grounded without the case for his artistic merit being pressed.

Elsewhere, the less gregarious Keats is sidelined, his peerless odes un-mentioned.

This unromantic account of Romanticism presents great poets as at best self-obsessed and at worst monsters, mainly leaving one grateful for the trappings of modern life.

6/10

Spirit of Cricket, by Rob Smyth, in hardback, by Elliott & Thompson, £12.99

SPORTS journalist Rob Smyth takes us on a pleasant meander through some of the most celebrated games, teams and characters cricket has ever seen.

He takes in defining moments in cricketing history – the great West Indies sides, Ashes dramas from the 19th and early 20th century and the Indian Premier League of modern times.

Spanning the planet, one of the most pleasing aspects was that even cricket's biggest names – whatever their nationality – were happy to inspire others.

The work done by Australia pace legend Dennis Lillee since the late 1980s to inspire a generation of potential Indian fast bowlers was a particularly pleasing note.

The narrative is interspersed with historical tit-bits and cameos from some of the biggest names in the game.

Although not an essential purchase for Wisden students of cricket, to the casual reader and sporting enthusiast it acts as a nice flick-through title.

7/10