Something Happened- Joseph Heller

Thirteen years after Catch-22, Something Happened won critical acclaim but failed to capture the public imagination as its predecessor had. Read the original Times review

The Almost Moon- Alice Sebold

The Lovely Bones was 2002's must-read. Five years later the critics rounded on The Almost Moon. The New York Times called it “so morally, emotionally and intellectually incoherent that it's bound to become a bestseller”. Miaow. Read the Times review

Barbary Shore- Norman Mailer

A novel about a Brooklyn novelist, Mailer's return to America from the war setting of The Naked and the Dead was as abortive as Heller's.

The Little Friend- Donna Tartt

The Secret History, an overtly intellectual whodunnit and college coming-of-age story that drew much (murder apart) from Bennington, Tartt's alma mater. The Little Friend was another exhaustive murder mystery, but critics and readers were not beguiled. Read the Times review

Marabou Stork Nightmares - Irvine Welsh

How do you follow Trainspotting? With more of the same, not nearly as good.

Thirteen Moons - Charles Frazier

Frazier's Cold Mountain sold in bucketloads and he received an $8million advance for Thirteen Moons. It flopped. Read the Times review

Shirley- Charlotte Bronte

Published two years after Jane Eyre, Shirley's most enduring impact is that, until publication, Shirley was a rare name - and a boy's name at that. But Bronte's Shirley was female - and now most Shirleys are too.

Valperga- Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Shelley was 18 when she wrote Frankenstein, the most famous gothic novel in literature and, some say, the first science-fiction novel. Valperga, or The Life and Adventures of Castruccio, Prince of Lucca, a historical novel, received polite reviews and was never republished in her lifetime.

Walking on Glass- Iain Banks

The Wasp Factory was hailed as one of the 100th best books of the 20th century. Walking on Glass was dismissed as a confusing dog's dinner. Read the original Times review

Dead Babies by Martin Amis and That Uncertain Feeling by Kingsley Amis

The first novels from Amis Senior and Junior sent shock-waves through the literary establishments of their days. Their sophomore efforts sent feeble ripples.

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