THE WATCH
Bibi Berki
Salt, £9.99
At an English University in the 1980s, an undergraduate is asked to keep an overnight suicide watch on another student, Danielle. It’s a meaningful experience for her, but our narrator is young and arrogant, with her life planned out and nothing but excitement for the future, so she can’t identify with Danielle’s dread of living another day. The years go by, she marries, has children and becomes a journalist as part of her long-term strategy to become an MP and make a difference in the world – but she’s never forgotten her night with Danielle and what passed between them. Until finally, after three decades, she gets the chance to find out the truth about her, and why their outlooks were so diametrically opposed. Berki’s novel is an absorbing exploration of the responsibilities we have for other people, and what it means to do good, which tips expectations on their heads with a surprising conclusion.
A FATAL THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM
Emma Southon
Oneworld, £10.99
Life was cheap in Ancient Rome. From slaves dying in the arena to fathers killing their errant children, homicide was an ineradicable part of their culture. Ever since its foundation, milestones in Roman history tended to be accompanied by killing, and, for almost a century, Roman politics resembled “a knife crime epidemic”. However, killing wasn’t normally considered a crime, Romans having a very different idea of what constituted murder. As well as having a PhD in Ancient History, Southon hosts a podcast called History is Sexy, so this very approachable analysis of Classical homicide was never going to be a dry academic tract. Her examination of that violent culture, where murder was more often a domestic issue than something worth troubling the authorities about, is conversational and tongue-in-cheek without sacrificing any of her scholarly credibility. A good chance to learn a lot and have fun doing it.
THE KILLING HILLS
Chris Offutt
No Exit, £9.99
Iraq and Afghanistan veteran Mick Hardin is on leave in Kentucky, trying to sort things out with his pregnant estranged wife, when his sister, the local sheriff, calls on him for help. A woman’s body has been found in the hills, and she could use his expertise if she’s going to be allowed to stay on the case. With episodes of True Blood, Weeds and Treme on his CV, Chris Offutt is a native Kentuckian who knows the Appalachian landscape and understands how its people think. Having that same knowledge is the quick-thinking Hardin’s only hope of getting through a risky investigation, which sets him against a coal baron and some frightening characters from the drug trade, in one piece. More than just a murder case, it’s a voyage into rural backwoods Kentucky that doesn’t shirk from the darkness to be found there, and unfolds with drive, noir style and wry humour.
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