South Africans may not have been as deeply affected by the terror of 11 September 2001 as Americans were, but you don’t have to be American to appreciate the full impact of Don DeLillo’s Falling Man. You just have to be human.

While few novelists can tackle the subject of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre without overdoing it on the sentimental star-spangled patriotism, DeLillo writes with a living vocabulary and an insightful style that hurries along with the plot.

This book follows the story of an ordinary American family struggling to live in the aftermath of September 11, and includes unexpected glimpses of one of the terrorists’ lives as the attacks are carefully planned. The author is adept at capturing the small, seemingly insignificant details of daily life and throwing them into stark contrast against the horror and humanity of “9/11”.

Admittedly, a few parts of the novel can tend to lose the reader a bit in humdrum descriptions of the characters’ lives or fictional conversations that aim too high and leave too much unsaid. That said, the characters are mostly believable and the final section of the book (“In the Hudson Corridor”) is heart-wrenching and breathtaking.

(Price R115, Picador, ISBN 978-0-330-45224-3)

What an eerie book. McCarthy weaves a gripping tale of intrigue that moves forward rapidly, at times more rapidly than you’d like it to. Set in the modern-day “Wild West”, the novel leaves no time for suspense as Llewlyn Moss is hunted down after taking a briefcase full of cash from the bloody scene of a botched drug deal. A violent chase of cat-and-mouse between Moss and the sinister, soulless Anton Chigurgh ensues. In between this, McCarthy shares the rambling, poignant thoughts of Sheriff Bell, the man in whose county all these crimes are occurring.

Despite the high-voltage action and shocking twists in the plot, towards the end of the novel readers will realise that this is a book unlike any other. By the time you’ve reached the last page you’ll see that No Country For Old Men is not so much a story about whether the good guy or the bad guy wins in the end, as it is a comment on the sad and rapid decline of American society, morals and culture. A brilliant, haunting read.

(Price R115, Picador, ISBN 978-0-330-45453-7)

During the height of the power crisis in early 2008, Alan Knott-Craig, MD of iBurst, sent his co-workers an upbeat email encouraging them to keep going strong. That email spawned responses from South Africans all over the world as it made the rounds and struck a chord in patriotic souls everywhere. This book is a simple collection of some of those emails, expressing sentiments from a wide variety of South Africans: black and white, rich and poor, famous and unknown, immigrants and emigrants, spiritual and practical.

Each of the contributors finds some reason to love this country – and most move beyond the standard “we love the sunshine” line. The conclusion that most of the writers reach is that South Africa is better than many countries they’ve visited and that our problems can all be overcome with willpower, positive thoughts and hard work as a nation.

This is a quick, feel-good read and it certainly makes for a bright change on South African bookshelves when Joe Public seems to be full of gloom. Buy it, but lock your doors and stock up on candles anyway, because it will take far more than this little book to radically alter this country’s reality.

(Price R50.00, Penguin, ISBN 978-0-143-02579-5)

“A life can change in an instant.” Elizabeth Diamond shapes her debut novel around the moment policeman Jack Philips accidentally knocks over and kills young Laura Jenkins while driving. It was impossible to avoid, and yet in a way it was also meant to be. The death opens old wounds and sheds new light as those involved grapple with grief and guilt. In the aftermath, those affected by the accident come to re-evaluate their entire lives and make decisions they would never have made, had it not been for that dusky evening in November…

Told from the alternating perspectives of Jack Philips and Laura’s mother Lisa, this skilfully-woven story reaches back into the characters’ pasts and propels them forward into a future that is both healing and surprising. Hauntingly, Laura herself plays an integral role in the novel, linking the lives of her ‘murderer’ and her mother. There are times when a debut novel gives the reader a vivid idea of the gems yet to come from that author’s pen, and An Accidental Light is just such a book. Diamond’s gripping first-person style and twisting plot compel the reader to join the characters on their journey through the human heart.

(R206, Picador, ISBN 978-0-330-45351-6)

Jeffrey Archer fans will be delighted with his latest offering. Reminiscent of Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less, Archer’s most recent novel is a whirlwind of intrigue, retribution and masterful plotting, keeping you hooked from the first page. Meet Danny Cartwright, who is wrongfully accused of murdering his best friend, the brother of his fiancée, in a knife attack. Then meet the men who help incarcerate him – a barrister, an aristocrat, a popular soapie heartthrob and a successful partner in a well-known firm. Sentenced to twenty-two years in prison, Danny has not much else but time on his hands to plot his revenge – that and the friends he makes behind bars who believe in his innocence. As Danny’s fiancée fights for justice outside of Belmarsh prison, little does she know how far he has dared to go to settle the scores with the men who put him away. While A Prisoner of Birth may be a little formulaic, Archer’s formula is still one that works. And with his own experiences both inside and outside Her Majesty’s Prisons, Archer offers touches of realism that keep you gripped to the novel’s unexpected conclusion.  

(R229, Macmillan, ISBN 978-0-230-53142-0)