Jake Kerridge

From fiction by Paula Hawkins to the return of Rev Richard Coles, our critics pick this season’s criminally good reads

With a new book out, Slavoj Žižek talks Corbyn, capitalism and the ‘stupid liberal notions’ that he believes play into Donald Trump’s hands

This year saw a bumper crop of flawed and villainous heroes, some more traditional cops and the thrilling advent of a new spy-writing talent

From warring academics to lapsed Catholics, nobody skewered society with such wit as the Booker-nominated author, who has died aged 89

‘Book packagers’ matchmake pre-prepared plots with the perfect writers. Is this the end of original thought?

The author-turned-podcaster on how he struck rich serving listeners turned off by the BBC

Sex, drugs and book launches... Renée Zellweger’s first film showed a ‘great, but mad’ literary world. When did it get so boring?

The exiled novelist on Russia’s ‘state terrorism’, whether he’ll ever return home – and the dark history behind his latest book

The standout titles of 2025 so far span inter-war espionage, gritty violence in modern Glasgow and the return of a cult writer

Richard Osman’s fifth addition to the series is full of charm – and elevates his finest character