Pile by the Bed reviews Widowland by CJ Carey a thriller set in an alternative 1950s in which Germany rules Britain and women are second class citizens.

Pile by the Bed reviews Northern Spy by Flynn Berry, a thriller that explores the unresolved tensions in Ireland.

Pile by the Bed reviews Second Place by Rachel Cusk – an rish exploration of life, art, parenthood and gender.

Pile by the Bed reviews The Best Thing You Can Steal by Simon R Green – an urban fantasy that leans heavily on heist tropes.

Pile by the Bed reviews Hyde by Craig Russell a gothic police-procedural reimagining of the story behind Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde

Pile by the Bed reviews What Abigail Did That Summer by Ben Aaronovitch, the latest novella set in his Rivers of London universe featuring precocious teenager Abigail.

Pile by the Bed reviews The Long, Long Afternoon – debut historical crime fiction by Inga Vesper set in Los Angeles in the late 1950s.

Pile by the Bed reviews Light Perpetual by Francis Spufford an imagined history of five lives cut short by a German bombing in World War 2.

Pile by the Bed reviews and recommends The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex – an assured and absorbing debut based on the true story of the locked door disappearance of a group of lighthouse keepers.

Pile by the Bed reviews Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro, a story about what it means to be human that is thematically consistent with his broader body of work.

Pile by the Bed reviews City of Vengeance a debut crime novel by screenwriter DV Bishop set in and around historical events in 16th Century Florence

Pile by the Bed reviews The Fall of Koli – the final ominously named book in MR Carey’s post-apocalyptic Ramparts Trilogy and finds that the long journey was worth the effort

Pile by the Bed reviews The Last Thing to Burn by Will Dean, a grim survival thriller that is based on issues of people trafficking and slavery.

Pile by the Bed reviews The Last Good Man by Thomas McMullen a post-apocalyptic dystopia that considers the power of crowd-sourced justice.

Pile by the Bed reviews Gallowglass by Simon Morden, a space survival story set in a climate-change affected future.

Pile by the Bed reviews and recommends Open Water, the assured debut novel by British author Caleb Azuma Nelson.

Pile by the Bed Reviews Clair Whitfield’s debut crime novel People of Abandoned Character, a Jack the Ripper-adjacent novel centred around an abusive relationship.

Pile by the Bed reviews and recommends The Stranger Times a new comic urban fantasy set in Manchester by CK McDonnell

Pile by the Bed reviews The Trials of Koli (The Ramparts #2) by MR Koli – returning for more adventures in a verdant, but dangerous post-apocalyptic Britain.

Pile by the Bed reviews and recommends the long awaited new fantasy novel by Susanna Clarke, Piranesi and finds it to be a gem of modern fantasy that was well worth the wait.