Tapes et the River Delta, by Peter Cunningham (Arrow, £5.99 in UK)

Peter Cunningham sets himself an ambitious agenda, in this wide ranging thriller which spans a century of Irish history and he delivers in some style. Incest, adolescent angst, political corruption, family feuds, all are filtered through the smudgy consciousness of Theo Shortcourse, the beleagured first person narrator, and seamlessly woven into a spanking plot whose pace never slackens for a second.