The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell (Sceptre, £20) 4/5 stars 

AWARD-WINNING author David Mitchell returns at his mind-bending best with The Bone Clocks, his Booker Prize-nominated sixth novel. The English writer’s latest offering charts the life of protagonist Holly Sykes, from teenage runaway in 1980s Essex, to an elderly woman eking out a frugal existence in a not-too-distant future where Europe has run out of oil.

Unbeknownst to Holly, a fleeting promise she makes to a stranger as an adolescent leads her to become a pawn in the battle between two groups of “pseudo-immortals”, one good, one resoundingly evil.

We see Mitchell dipping his toe for the first time into the realms of fantasy, which bubbles tantalisingly under the surface of the normal world throughout most of the novel.

Fans of the Cloud Atlas author will be familiar with the novella structure of The Bone Clocks, which consists of six discrete but interconnected sections, each covering a decade of Holly’s life.

While the scope of The Bone Clocks may not be to everyone’s taste, it is a page-turner that sees David Mitchell firmly establishing himself as the most genre-defying fiction writer of our time.

Perfidia by James Ellroy (William Heinemann, £20) 4/5 stars 

THE return of James Ellroy to the LA Quartet novels is set on the cusp of America’s involvement in the Second World War, and sets the back stories for some of Ellroy’s already established characters Police Captain William H Parker, social starlet Kay Lake and corrupt cop Dudley Smith.

Tensions among the Japanese- American residents in LA are high as the war in Europe continues and Japan begins plotting. When the bodies of a Japanese family are found dead, Parker and Lake become involved in strong anticommunist propaganda at high levels and Hideo Ashida, the only Japanese person in the LAPD, is willing to break the law to protect his parents. This Noir thriller is a gritty page turner.

The Children Act by Ian McEwan (Jonathan Cape, £16.99) 3/5 stars

THE family courts are the focus for Ian McEwan’s latest novel.

Renowned judge Fiona Maye is disturbed after handling a case of conjoined twins, and then finds her husband is having an affair with a younger woman. Fiona is forced to continue with her work; handling the high-profile case of a teenage boy who is refusing life-saving cancer treatment on the grounds of his beliefs as a Jehovah’s Witness.

McEwan has clearly used the tale as an opportunity to explore themes that pique his interest, but in terms of an engaging read, this gifted writer can certainly do better.

Shark by Will Self (Viking, £18.99) 2/5 stars 

NOVELS by Will Self are often Marmite to readers, and his latest is no different. An erratic, tangled prequel – second in a trilogy – Shark revisits Dr Zack Busner, who, along with fellow psychiatrist Roger Gourevitch, engages in an acid trip with a troubled Second World War veteran, who witnessed a school of sharks devouring several hundred of his crewmates after his ship was sunk. Self constructs a narrative which is void of any form. It seems as though it was written, torn apart, then assembled in the dark. Little punctuation and no chapter or paragraph breaks appear like unedited thoughts.