These are the books our books editor received recently. They may be reviewed later
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The Stranger
by Harlan Coben (Orion)
Adam Price has the perfect life – so he thinks.
He’s happily married, has two wonderful sons, has a good job and a lovely home.
But the Stranger appears. he appears out of nowhere. His motives are unclear.
But the information he imparts is irrefutable.
He whispers his knowledge about Corrine, Adam’s wife, into his ear and just like that Adam’s perfect world is shattered.
Soon Adam is embroiled in something far darker than his wife’s deception.
Lives are at stake if he doesn’t make the right moves.
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The Novel Habits of Happiness
by Alexander McCall Smith (Little, Brown)
The Isabel Dalhousie series has as its central character Edinburgh’s most generous philanthropist.
In this novel Isabel is beginning to appreciate the happiness she experiences in her personal life – and this is the subject of the next issue of the Review of Applied Ethics, a publication that Isabel edits.
For most, happiness is not quite what it seems.
As an editor, Isabel does not allow herself to have enemies.
But she certainly feels threatened by the two academics who arrive in Edinburgh from the city.
She believes their “destabilising influence” poses a threat to the status quo. Also troubling is the little boy who is convinced he had a previous life.
And this of course gets Isabel questioning her views on reincarnation, among other things.
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Last Night on Earth
by Kevin Maher (Little, Brown)
Jay adores his daughter, Bonnie. Nothing matters more than being a good dad.
But a traumatic birth puts strain on their marriage and eventually Jay and his wife Shauna separate.
Jay heads to London – where he slowly begins putting his life back together.
He shares a flat with two eccentric Kenyan businessmen, gets a job on a TV documentary about the Millennium Dome, and still spends as much time as he can with his precious Bonnie.
But just as things start looking up, The Clappers arrives to turn Jay’s world upside down.
The Clappers is a six-foot, all muscle woman with plenty of heart. She insists on making the world right for Jay, but instead makes it all wrong.
It is time for Jay to really take stock and find a way to be a good dad and husband.