Irish Times critics review some recently published paperbacks including Anita Brookner's The Next Big Thing and The One to Watch by Shane Watson.
True Enough. Stephen McCauley, Granta, £7.99
The latest novel from the author of The Object of My Affection is an object lesson in cynicism, delivered via a troupe of self-loathing fortysomething characters who are likely to make a snappy transition to a wry, witty screenplay before very long. In Boston, Jane Cody is a weary TV producer with a harmless husband and a handsome ex, while Desmond Sullivan is a fretful writer who leaves his boyfriend behind in New York to move to Boston in pursuit of the last piece in the jigsaw of one of his biographies of great American mediocrities. Cody needs material for a series of documentaries to boost her career, and the two set off to find their story, discovering, of course, far more about themselves along the way. McCauley has a faultless eye for set-pieces, and he depicts his main characters with humour and conviction. - Belinda McKeon
King of Torts. John Grisham, Random House, £10.99
It's not great literature, but like all John Grisham's gripping legal thrillers it opens your eyes about the way some US lawyers operate, and it's probably coming to a cinema near you soon. This time, Grisham recounts the tale of a struggling lawyer who is catapulted from the poverty of the Public Defender's Office to the corruption of mass torts, an area in which greedy lawyers can become multi-millionaires by representing thousands of clients at a time, as in cases against pharmaceutical companies. It is a damning indictment of a legal system which puts settlements before justice; enables lawyers to advertise for and represent thousands of clients without even meeting them, and to settle mass torts in their own favour, so dying claimants may never see their money. Pack it for the long wait after airport check-in or for lazing around on the beach. - Sarah Marriott
The Asquiths. Colin Clifford, John Murray, £9.99
This is a biography of a remarkable family who lived through remarkable times. I have always had a certain regard for H.H. Asquith, Liberal prime minister of Britain 1908-16, and this book reinforces that respect a hundredfold. He was a model husband and father. Much tragedy occurred in his life - the loss of both parents at an early age, the death of his first wife at 36, and the killing of his eldest son in the Battle of the Somme - but he bore it all with stoicism and faith. From the start of his political career he favoured Home Rule for Ireland, supported trade unions and the right to strike, and opposed the power of the unelected House of Lords, taking away that house's veto in his 1911 Parliament Act. The atmosphere of the time is superbly evoked in this immensely readable book, which juxtaposes the terrible suffering at the Front with the high-society socialising just across the Channel. - Brian Maye
The Next Big Thing. Anita Brookner, Penguin, £6.99
Anita Brookner's elegant 21st novel is a bittersweet story of old age and new dreams. Julius Herz, a German-born man who has lived in England for years, is 73 and facing a bewildering, uncertain future. The little problems of his life seem to be about to come to a head - his flat may not be his much longer, and his health is beginning to fail. Now he must decide what "the next big thing" in his life will be: should he go travelling, or maybe even propose marriage to the old friend he hasn't seen for years? Having spent his entire life trying to look after other people, Herz may now look after himself. The confusions of ordinary old age seem to constitute an untouchable area for many novelists, but Brookner writes about Herz's situation with sympathy and grace. - Anna Carey
Slipstream: A Memoir. Elizabeth Jane Howard, Pan, £7.99
From a childhood spent in rambling country houses, surrounded by eccentric grandparents and endless aunts, uncles and cousins, while her glamorous parents were generally absent, to adult years lived in the whirl of post-war England's bohemian and artistic circles, the novelist Elizabeth Jane Howard looks back on a life of constant excitement and encounter with honesty and humour. This memoir is delicious in its details - her circle of friends included some of the greatest writers and thinkers of the day, and she was married, turbulently, to Kingsley Amis - and sincere in its scope (Howard does not shy away from crisp analysis of her own nature). Every page brings a new surprise, another vignette with a famous name attached, but the book is also a sobering portrait of a woman's quest to find an artistic identity in the 20th century. - Belinda McKeon
The One to Watch. Shane Watson, Pan, £6.99
Amber Best - fashion icon, rock 'n' roll muse and social butterfly - has died suddenly, leaving a close-knit group of friends to untangle her legacy. But secrets, lies and paranoia begin to emerge . . . who was Amber Best? Did her friends ever really know her - or each other? The tale twists and turns admirably, coming to a somewhat predictable climax in the last chapter. Watson's début novel is full of tongue-in-cheek observations about the world of the rich and famous, and in parts it works, giving a few laugh-out-loud moments. However, at times we fail to connect with the characters, perhaps due to their carefully orchestrated superficiality; moreover, the ease with which they transform may irritate the reader. However, it is a relaxing and enjoyable read, and would make the perfect pool-side companion. - Sophie MacNeice