Sunrise with Sea Monster, by Neil Jordan (Vintage, £5.99 in UK).

War, the past, a man's embattled relationship with his widower father these are stock fiction devices and Jordan does nothing new with them in this jaggedly melodramatic novel. Donal Gore tells his story of a childhood dominated by the memory of the death of a mother he hardly knew and his father's silent grieving. Donal's life changes with the arrival of his music teacher, an event which later causes predictable domestic tensions. Disappointing on a first reading, the book proves even more so on a second. His earlier work is far superior.