Blind-Spot Politics by Paul Lendvai (Hurst, £18.99)
Why have European leaders, over decades, exacerbated their vulnerability to Russia, prolonged instability in the western Balkans and allowed autocracy to flourish within the EU? In veteran Austrian journalist and Holocaust survivor Paul Lendvai’s idiosyncratic, acid-tongued account, the answer is hypocrisy and self-interest. To make the case, he draws on a startling array of “personal, random and highly symbolic encounters” with key players from Viktor Orbán to ill-fated Russian dissidents to the former head of Soviet intelligence. This focus on the room where it happens is a weakness as well as a strength, with the perspective of ordinary Europeans left out completely. Ultimately, Blind-Spot Politics reads less like an in-depth analysis than a sharp, conversational indictment of European complacency. – Harry Higgins
None of Us Will Be Okay by Liza Costello (Broken Sleep Books, £13.99)
Here’s a book about people separated from partners, friends, mothers, children. A psychological distance pervades, mirrored in the dark times experienced in supposedly sunlit holiday destinations. She captures the frightening sense of the outsider spinning away from the perceived community of the group. As story follows story, the sense of dread increases – it’s like watching a horror movie, but the horror is all the greater because it is rooted in real human feelings and experience. A holiday brochure from human hell. There is a strong narrative drive carrying you through this dark and unsettling terrain that has been expertly mapped: “I would be drawing some vast attention upon myself, and then only to be alone again, but still somehow in that vast attention.” Excellent. – Kevin Gildea
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Something Might Fall by David Flusfeder (Salt, £10.99)
This novel is divided into two halves. The first is an insightful study of the marriage of Emma Hoffman, a successful writer who “sees it all ...” and her Park Avenue doctor husband. It’s 1970 and on the surface they are a perfect, successful couple but all’s not well: “... he pretends not to notice the glittery bright darkness that surrounds them.” It’s a morality tale in living a lie. The beginning employs an enjoyable, concise prose that condenses information. The second part follows their son as he wanders on his 11th birthday, grappling with the difficult relationship with his dad. Also ... but let’s not spoil it. The second half perks up with the introduction of a homeless guy. This short book is sporadically moving and insightful. – Kevin Gildea
