How well do you know your son? It’s a question the parents of three teenage high-school football stars don’t want to face after a teen party sees the school outcast in hospital, and the three boys suspended for the rest of the season.
With their futures uncertain, the families get together to assess the damage to their boys’ prospects, the reputations, their futures … and to their own relationships. Set in Southern California, Our Beautiful Boys by Sameer Pandya centres around Vikram, an Indian American, Diego, of a Latin American descent, and the white and wealthy MJ … and is a story of class, race, gender, parenthood. Bloomsbury Publishing
• Being in limbo, 30,000 feet in the air, offers time to reflect and take stock, and for Aaron, it’s an opportunity to connect with his 14-year-old son as they travel halfway across the world. Unsettled by his past, and anxious for his future, Aaron is at a crossroads in life. The damage inflicted upon him during his youth threatens to widen the growing fissures between him and his only child. This trip could bind them closer together, or tear them further apart.
Action and consequence, fault and attribution, acceptance and resolution, John Boyne’s Air is a redemptive story of a father and a son on a moving journey to mend their troubled lives. Penguin
Wife. Writer. Murderer? Denise Morrow’s a famous true crime author, who knows how killers operate and how they get away with murder, is found standing over the body of her husband, a bloody knife between them. With all her knowledge, you’d think she’d have done better. But it’s an open and shut case according to Detective Declan Shaw. And then he discovers the subject of the author’s next book – the violent murder of girl called Maggie Marshall … a case that Declan worked on and one that’s haunted him for years. James Patterson and J.D Barker’s The Imperfect Murder … the perfect wife, the perfect motive. Century
In Sophie Stava’s Count My Lies, the liar is Sloane Caraway. Harmless lies, she tells herself, to make her life a little more interesting. One afternoon she sees a crying child who’s been stung by a bee and tells Jay, the girl’s father she’s a nurse, helping him pull out the sting. A small lie … one that sees her becoming the nanny for Jay and his wife, Violet. The couple appear to have everything, and Sloane wants their lives. And she’s prepared to lie about almost anything to get it. But … small twist … she might not be the only one who’s lying! Century
The Martini Club – a group of retired spies living in a quiet seaside town – are back in Tess Gerritsen’s The Summer Guests. This time Maggie Bird and her ex-spy pals get involved when a young teenager goes missing, the daughter of a woman who’s just married into one of the town’s most powerful families.
It’s down with the Martinis and books, and out with the binocs as they offer (unasked for and unwanted) help out to the local acting police chief. Loads of twists, red-herrings and mystery … a terrific read. As is the bonus Lee Child and Tess Gerritsen short story… Over Easy is a fabulous ten minute read with Maggie Bird meeting Jack Reacher. Penguin
Renowned for doing things differently, Fairview’s Regional Revival Range is a collection that reimagines the great wines of the Old World – Italy, Spain, and France – with an unmistakable Cape twist. And their first white wine in the range – the Fairview Altesse 2024, is a classic Bordeaux-style white blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon, with a Darling maritime zest.
Straw coloured with a touch of green in the glass, it’s a vibrant mix of white peach, orange blossom, green figs, herbs, zesty lime notes, and a touch of sea spray, and is an exceptional wine to serve with grilled West Coast fish and a zesty salsa verde, prawns with lemon butter, a creamy seafood risotto, slow-roasted chicken, or even a simple, well-aged cheese. R190
Alice Feeney’s Beautiful Ugly is a dark and disturbing thriller about marriage, and revenge. The story opens with an author phoning his wife to ask when she’ll be home … he’s excitedly waiting for a call from his editor to tell him whether he’s made the New York Times Best Seller list. But as he talks to her, he hears her slam on her brakes, get out the car, and then … nothing. A year later, he’s still grieving, and takes up an offer of a remote cabin on a tiny Scottish island where he hopes to break out his writer’s block. But he keeps seeing a woman who looks just like his wife. Something’s just not adding up. A little far-fetched, but that makes it no less of an enjoyable read. Macmillan
More new releases to look out for …
The World According To Merle by Merle Levin … the memoir of a deliciously daring granny, born in Vereeniging in the 50s, she’s a vibrant force of nature who’s lived a full, rich, fun-filled life on her own terms. Melinda Ferguson Books
A hidden love. An impossible dream … The Midnight Secret is the fourth in Karen Swan’s The Wild Isle series … this one about a woman who’s discovered that every blessing comes with a curse. Her handsome husband’s a bully. Her second sight inherited from her mother only allows her to see death. All secrets and passion and violence. Macmillan
