Irish Times writers review some of the latest releases in paperback.
Brown Morning. Franck Pavloff, O'Brien Press, €4.95
Initially written for a 1998 conference on fascism and published by a small publishing house, Brown Morning enjoyed respectable but modest sales until 2002, and the shock election success of Le Pen. Then it became a must-read in a France, which was facing a rise in far-right politics. It's the story of a state ruled by a totalitarian "brown" government, which starts off by eliminating non-brown animals and goes on to destroy non- "brown" newspapers, books, and finally people. Pavloff shows how ordinary people often turn a blind eye towards the slow but steady rise of fascist horror - until they themselves are affected, by which time it's too late for anyone to do anything. The point that evil flourishes when good people do nothing is one which has been made many times before, but it's always worth making, and Pavloff does so with great skill and a surreal pinch of black humour. - Anna Carey
Be Nice. Anabel Donald, Vintage, £6.99
A plane crashes in the South Pacific; 21 girls between 11 and 18 are marooned on a deserted island without any authority figures present. Sound familiar? No, not Treasure Island, although a couple of the girls figure there must be hidden cameras blinking somewhere amidst the palm trees. Donald takes a great risk in doing a sex change on William Golding's Lord of the Flies - too great, perhaps, because Be Nice pales in comparison with Golding's chilling classic. The girls, all winners of a competition sponsored by a tampon company, struggle for survival and with each other, as several typecast characters vie for leadership and control. One man survives as well; he keeps himself hidden but ends up as the lynch-pin in an ending that, sadly, simply doesn't carry enough power. Donald skims too many compositional ingredients that could have been put to dramatic use, and makes too much of other ineffective and contrived elements to the detriment of her narrative. It's a fun story, but let's do this again with the proper weight and depth. We girls deserve it - and let's face it, there's plenty of material out there! - Christine Madden
Monkey. Veronica Bennett, Walker, £4.99
Bored at home and bullied at school, Harry Pritchard is having a tough time. The girl he fancies doesn't know he's alive, he's being beaten up by the nastiest kid in the school, and his little sister won't stop annoying him. And when his mother, who's a nurse, makes him visit one of her severely disabled patients, he feels his life is getting even more depressing. But when he meets Simon, a former actor who was paralysed from the neck down after a motorbike accident, Harry realises that his own life isn't quite so bad. With Simon's help, Harry becomes the star of his school drama club, attracts the attentions of his dream girl, and even tackles his playground tormentor. Monkey is primarily driven by the issues of disability and bullying rather than by its characters, making it a little stodgy and over-earnest, but it's still a thought provoking, sensitively written novel. - Anna Carey
Last Seen Wearing Trainers. By Rosie Rushton, Andersen Press, £5.99
Rosie Rushton's new novel is a taut, atmospheric thriller with a shocking twist in the tail. When 14-year-old Katie meets the charismatic Joe at a country bus stop on her way to school, he seems to offer her a way out of her miserable life. Katie's dad has just died, leaving her and her autistic brother, Tom, to the mercies of their abusive, alcoholic mother, and she feels like she has to escape. And so as she and Joe grow closer, they decide to run away together. But Joe is hiding a disturbing secret, which will affect all of her family, including her troubled mother. Told through the very different voices of all the central characters, a narrative trick which Rushton pulls off magnificently, Last Seen Wearing Trainers is one of the most striking books for young adults in some time. - Anna Carey
Blue Moon. Julia Green, Puffin, £4.99
Mia has just entered every young girl's nightmare: she's 15, and she's pregnant. Her life wasn't particularly rosy before the shock: her mother had left the family when Mia was six, a loss from which she never recovered; her relationship with her dad is fractious; both her older sisters have left home. Green wanted to explore not only teenage pregnancy in this book but also a woman's relationship to the unborn baby she carries and nurtures within herself. Suddenly cognisant of the immense responsibility of the growing life she nurtures, Mia comes closer to the immediacy and importance of her own life and to those around her. Blue Moon shows that the worst can happen, and things can get even worse, but that you will somehow find the strength to struggle through - and that the best antidote to not feeling loved is to give love. - Christine Madden