Slaughterhouse Heart by Asfaneh Knight
Doubleday, £16.99 Buy the book

James Hallow is a retired boxer, dying of dementia. His son, Jamie, is a successful actor based in Los Angeles. Jamie reluctantly flies to the old man's hospice bedside - wondering how much he cares, and if he can ever forgive Dad for his violent childhood. The father and son are watched by a woman named Margaret, really the ghost of St Margaret of Scotland. What is she doing here? Passages about her past suggest that a rather naff historical novel got left in the photocopier by mistake. Knight should also note that the words “spectral” and “tendril” are not verbs. Otherwise, this is an interesting debut by a promising young writer.

Travel Writing by Peter Ferry
Chatto & Windus, £12.99 Buy the book

Pete is driving home one night when he sees a car swerving crazily. The driver is a beautiful, half-clad woman. Just as he wonders whether to stop her, she crashes into a tree and dies. This is the story Pete tells to his English class - but did it really happen? Here are a couple of clues. First, the mysterious woman is named “Lisa Kim”, and the novel is dedicated to a “Lisa Kim”. Second, this novel is endorsed by Dave Eggers. Now you know - it's another piece of whimsy from the McSweeney's stable, telling a story with all the brevity of Ronnie Corbett on one of his rambles. We gather that the line between truth and fiction is blurred. Snore.

Exit Lines by Joan Barfoot
Weidenfeld & Nicolson, £12.99 Buy the book

It should be depressing, but it's funny and uplifting. Four people find themselves at the Idyll Inn, a bland retirement home. There's posh, subversive Sylvia, angry stroke-victim George, his old girlfriend Greta, and frail Ruth. The four of them join forces and enjoy midnight feasts of smuggled wine and confessions, but Ruth has a special favour - the ultimate one - to ask of them. Barfoot writes brilliantly about the cruelty of old age and infirmity, and the toughness of people who choose not to surrender. The Third-Agers are fighting back.

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