MUST READS  – Dec 27, 2019

BOLDER

by Carl Honore (S&S £9.99, 304 pp)

Carl Honore’s first book, In Praise Of Slow, was an international bestseller, with its message of resistance to the brutal pace of an ever-accelerating world.

In Bolder, he proposes a revolution in the way we think about growing older.

The idea for the book came when Honore scored the winning goal in a game of ice hockey. Afterwards, someone deflatingly pointed out that, at 48, he was the oldest player on the pitch.

While global life expectancy has more than doubled in the past century, not many of us regard the ageing process with optimism: ‘When was the last time you met someone looking forward to hitting 40 or 50, let alone 60 or 70?’

Roaming the world in search of inspiring elders, Honore argues for a new approach which sees us not retire, but embrace the rich opportunities offered by our longer lives.

THOSE PEOPLE

by Louise Candlish (S&S £8.99, 384 pp)

Our houses are part of our identity — the places where we live, love and create memories.

So an attack on our home feels very personal — but how far would we go to defend it? That is the question facing the inhabitants of Lowland Way, a pleasant, middle-class enclave in South London, in this nail-biting thriller.

Headed by Naomi Morgan, the local Queen Bee, the street is a harmonious community with an award-winning children’s outdoor play scheme, until Darren and Jodie Booth move in.

Playing thrash metal at all hours, dealing in dodgy second-hand cars and demolishing walls with maximum dust and noise, they lower the tone and wreck the atmosphere — and there seems to be no way to stop them.

This is a darkly comic and scarily convincing tale of how swiftly a peaceful suburban idyll can unravel into a nightmare.

BLOOD ORANGE

by Harriet Tyce (Wildfire £7.99, 336 pp)

Alison Wood is a successful barrister, poised to defend a big murder case. Her client is Madeleine, a wealthy woman accused of the frenzied stabbing of her husband.

But behind her professional facade, Alison is a hot mess with a growing drink problem. Her marriage to Carl, a psychotherapist, is crumbling, she neglects her beloved six-year-old daughter Matilda and she is having a humiliating affair with Patrick, a rakish solicitor with a taste for rough sex.

As the murky details of her murder case unfold, Alison’s private life takes a still more sinister turn, with abusive anonymous texts to her phone, disturbing rumours about Patrick and Carl’s subtle but relentless undermining of her relationship with Matilda.

Harriet Tyce is a former criminal barrister, and her intimate knowledge of the dark alleyways and steamy drinking-holes around the Inns of Court creates an authentically sinister atmosphere for her grippingly readable debut.