GOOD READS.(Features)

LITERARY THE ILLUMINATION Kevin Brockmeier (Jonathan Cape, pounds 16.99) A BIZARRE phenomenon, known as The Illumination, is happening around the world. Pain manifests itself as light so the secrets of suffering are exposed - bruises and scratches blaze, injuries glow and illnesses shine from within.

But that's not the main premise of the story. A random encounter in hospital sees Carol Ann in possession of a journal filled with handwritten love memos by a dedicated husband. Every day, he gives his wife another reason why he loves her, from the way she leaves pasta patterns on the walls to her terrible puns.

The journal then moves into the hands of five other people, with its strong message of unwavering love changing each of their lives, if only briefly.

This is an inspiring take on suffering and grief.

ROMANCE SPRING David Szalay (Jonathan Cape, pounds 16.99) IT is unsettling the way David Szalay seems to utterly inhabit his characters in Spring, told through multiple points of view, with the same events seen anew by different sets of eyes.

James was someone in the internet boom, but after the bust he fears he is no-one, turning to everything from being an estate agent to a racehorse owner.

Meeting Katherine at a wedding, the two begin the awkward dance of a new relationship. The nuances of their emotions, or at times lack of emotion, are handled with an expert, but light, touch.

THRILLER ANATOMY OF A DISAPPEARANCE Hisham Matar (Viking, pounds 16.99) MATAR'S first novel, In The Country Of Men, was about childhood in Gaddafi's Libya. This time it's the semi-autobiographical story of Nuri, whose father is abducted by Egyptian secret agents.

Nuri lives in Cairo in the 1970s with his father, a former Libyan government minister. His mother died when he was eight and six years later both father and son fall in love with Mona, a beautiful 24-year-old English girl.

Nuri's obsession grows, even when Mona marries his father and the couple send him to boarding school in England. The family is about to spend Christmas in Switzerland when Nuri's father is kidnapped.

CRIME BODY WORK Sara Paretsky (Hodder & Stoughton, pounds 16.99) CRIME writer Sara Paretsky returns with her 14th VI Warshawski novel, which opens in an edgy nightclub where an act called Body Artist sits naked onstage, inviting the audience to paint on her.

The show attracts Iraq war veterans, a thug who paints numerical codes, crude Ukrainian "businessmen" and a young tormented girl, Nadia Guaman, whose paintings drive one of the soldiers into a violent rage.

One evening Nadia is shot outside the club. When soldier Chad Vishneski is arrested for her murder, Warshawski is hired by his parents to clear his name. This book is gripping, right from the start.