From Manchester's 'Curry Mile' to sunny California, the Second World War to social media, here are four brilliant new books to keep you entertained this month.
Bad Influence by Will Carver
Paperback Original, £9.99. Alyssa comes from a poor background and fights to overcome this every day, dreaming of being truly seen. Less, on the other hand, struggles with the wealth and privilege he has grown up with and wants to become someone important on his own. Together they are inseparable. When Alyssa stumbles upon the world of 'phrogging' – living unnoticed inside other people's homes – she and Less slip into the lives of influencers, producers, and pop stars in Los Angeles, all too busy to notice the shadows in their lofts and the scratching in their walls. Alyssa and Less are thrilled by their social experiment until they choose the wrong house and are drawn into something more sinister. Carver is one of the UK's most inventive writers, and in Bad Influence, he skewers the vacuous narcissism of influencers and reality TV with his trademark acerbic wit. A darkly funny and twisty thrill ride. 9/10
A Hateful Decision: Churchill's Darkest Hour and the British Attack on the French Navy by Edward Abel Smith
Hardback, £22. Winston Churchill's reaction to the devastating bombardment of the French fleet at Mers-el-Kébir in Algeria on July 3, 1940, gives this stunning new account its title. Despite the enormity of the decision, the PM had no qualms about attacking our erstwhile ally if they would not scuttle their ships or surrender them to Britain. The risk that they would otherwise fall into the hands of Germany was just too great, hence Operation Catapult to neutralise or destroy them. It would be the first time we'd engaged the French in battle since Waterloo 125 years previously. The butcher's bill of 1,297 Frenchmen killed showed the US that Britain was deadly serious about continuing the war against Nazi oppression – no matter how high the cost. Narrative history at its finest. 8/10
No Way Out by Max Connor
Paperback Original, £9.99. Max Craigie creator Neil Lancaster's standalone espionage thriller No Mercy introduced Josie Chapman as she sought to avenge the killing of her ex-Royal Marine father in a home invasion. Now she's back, recruited as a newbie intelligence operative for a secretive British outfit and sent to California ostensibly on a training mission. But when she comes across a young man being assaulted outside a hotel, Josie has no choice but to step in and damn the consequences. After all, 'Do the right thing, even if it hurts' is her late dad's motto. Next thing she knows, she's neck deep in an organised crime conspiracy with murder, drugs, and blackmail, and she won't walk away. Now she's gonna burn them to the ground, with the help of her dad's old SBS mate Macca. Weapons-grade excitement from one of the best of a new generation of British thriller writers. 8/10
Wimmy Road Boyz by Sufiyaan Salam
Hardback, £16.99. Set over the course of a single, riotous night, Wimmy Road Boyz does for multicultural Manchester, and specifically Rusholme's Wilmslow Road, AKA the 'Curry Mile', what Irvine Welsh did for Edinburgh with Trainspotting. Three young Anglo-Pakistani men are up for a wild night out, and boy do they get one in this joyously funny and daring debut bursting with slang and street smarts. Best mates Immy, Haris, and Khan are hurtling towards their destiny in a rented BMW, but behind their bravado in a world of fleeting delights, some darker truths are waiting to be teased out. And as the night plays out in a whirlwind of shisha bars, restaurants, booze, women, drugs, and violence, they might even begin to share them with each other. Salam is a major new talent, and this absolutely banging book is near impossible to put down. 9/10
