King of the BadgersAfter the success of The Northern Clemency, shortlisted for the 2008 Man Booker Prize, Philip Hensher brings us another slice of contemporary life, this time the peaceful civility and spiralling paranoia of a small English town. Hanmouth, situated where the river Hand flows into the Bristol channel, is usually quiet and undisturbed. But it becomes the centre of national attention when an eight year old girl vanishes. This tragic event serves to expose

There they witness the bombing of their village (it's the year 1936

Harry is convinced that Malfoy bears the Dark Mark: there is a Death Eater amongst them

a test of bravery

of his clever wife Perilla - if she can spare the time from her newly acquired passion for gambling

it is with these virtual strangers as his guides that he begins to confront the terrifying reality that neither his life

when he wakes up from day-dreaming

Two witnesses

Washington Post

of a corruptible young man

now-convict Takeshi Kovacs has his consciousness and skills downloaded into the body of a nicotine-addicted ex-thug and presented with a catch-22 offer

about a few of the people who have formed his own particular world

Shot through with the legends of King Arthur