The Omega Force by Rick Moody
Faber, £12.99; 222pp

Ellie Knight-Cameron is the office manager of the insurance brokers Kolodny & Kolodny. It's a small, suburban firm, and Ellie's life as a youngish single woman is conspicuously lacking in drama - until the day she finds a subversive anonymous note in the suggestion box: “If they're going to close lanes on the parkway, they ought to actually repair the goddamned road.” Who could have left it? Two more of the sinister notes arrive. As Ellie scrutinises her colleagues, you gradually become aware of her intense loneliness. K&K - the middle story in this trilogy - is a superb portrait of a woman slowly going out of her mind.

The Language of Others by Clare Morrall
Sceptre £12.99; 376pp

Clare Morrall, author of the Booker-shortlisted Astonishing Splashes of Colour, writes about people who feel they are out of step with the “normal” world. Jessica Fontaine has always known she is not quite normal. She grew up in an enormous, dilapidated country mansion, yet has spent her life battling for a space of her own. She can't seem to get on with the unsatisfactory people around her. Music is the only thing that makes perfect sense. When her ex-husband, Andrew, leaps back into her life, Jessica looks back over their relationship - and discovers that hindsight makes many things look different.

The Daughter Game by Kate Long
Picador £12.99; 401pp

Anna is a teacher, and the ordered world of school is a comfort when the rest of her life is in chaos. Her marriage to Jamie is floundering, and she is having an affair with his brother Russ. She wanted the consolation of sex, but the illicit relationship is turning into a burden, and it is possible that she is pregnant. Meanwhile, a troubled young girl has arrived at the school, and Anna wants to help. Only Kate Long (The Bad Mother's Handbook) could get a character into such a mess, and get her out of it, with such warmth, skill and assurance.

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