A look at the latest releases, plus what's new in paperback.

By Sophie Herdman

Book of the week

Messi by Guillem Balague is published in hardback by Orion, priced £20 (ebook £6.99). Available now.

The extraordinary rise of Lionel Messi has been captured in a mammoth 628 pages by top Spanish football journalist, Guillem Balague.

Having previously written about Messi's former Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola, Balague is well placed to offer his take on arguably the greatest talent of the 21st century.

He begins, where it all started, with a shy, minuscule child showing off his skills at a trial by the behemoth club, despite being born and raised over 6,000 miles away near Rosario, Argentina.

Balague captures the atmosphere, the strangeness of the environment, and the moment the smallest kid on the pitch is transformed into a giant simply by placing a ball at his feet.

Natural autobiographical chronology explores Messi's happy childhood, where he grew up and the challenges faced when a 'barely' teen catapulted into an alien environment.

There's also a note of the controversial and expensive growth hormone treatment which was administered to Messi, and which saw him develop physically in a matter of months.

Of course, we also map his football career, for club and country, and the challenges he's faced as his reputation grew worldwide.

What impresses most about the writing here is the wealth of people Balague has been granted access to, and the varying styles he utilises with the interviewees - be it family, friend, famous footballer or personality.

This biography is a very worthy footnote to one of the game's undoubted greats.

9/10

(Review by James Cleary)

New fiction

Always Watching by Chevy Stevens is published in paperback original by Sphere, priced £6.99 (ebook £3.49). Available now.

Too many children in the world have awful upbringings, but there are some, like Nadine Lavoie, whose backgrounds are so bad, their mind shuts out the memory until someone or something comes along to trigger it.

This is a harrowing story about Dr. Nadine Lavoie, a doctor in a psychiatric unit who takes comfort in helping those in need. But as a patient's story starts to bring back memories of Lavoie's own past being brought up in a remote commune, the damage it caused takes over her life once more.

It is an interesting concept, digging deeper into the lives of children being brought up in a cult, and giving an insightful look into a world that many of us are not aware of. Even after leaving a cult, the life of the member is in huge danger, and Nadine Lavoie is no different.

Chevy Stevens pulls you in drawing on different emotional dimensions throughout the novel, as Dr Lavoie learns about her daughter's drug use and eventually fixes her relationship with her brother.

If you have not read much of Chevy Stevens's previous work, you'll be shopping for her back catalogue the moment you close the last page.

8/10

(Review by Emily Pawson)

Downfall by Jeff Abbott is published in paperback original by Sphere, priced £6.99 (ebook £3.49). Available now.

Sam Capra is hoping for a quiet life when he leaves the CIA and starts running a chain of bars.

Despite only being in his twenties, he has had a hard life and wants nothing more than to bring up his son in peace. But that new peaceful life is shattered when a desperate young woman comes into his San Francisco bar looking for help. The woman is being followed by two men who try to kill her, and so begins Sam's involvement in a criminal underworld that gets shadier with every plot twist.

He uncovers a gang of unlikely assassins, America's high-flying business people run by an ice-cool boss, and finds himself in a race against time to expose their dark secrets before his own also come to light.

At times the twists and turns can be predictable and Abbott often repeats himself which can jar a bit. Even in the realms of thriller-land, the premise of a criminal gang of this scope against a man who only spent a couple of years in the CIA seems a little outlandish too.

Having said that, fast-paced and easy reading, Abbott's combination of deftly described action scenes and unfolding mysteries keep the pages turning until the nail-biting conclusion.

6/10

(Review by Katie Archer)

Then We Take Berlin by John Lawton is published in hardback by GrovePress, priced £17.99 (ebook £11.99). Available now.

John Lawton's latest historical thriller flits between Blitz-hit London, post-war Berlin and 1960's New York as it follows the fortunes of thief-turned-spy-turned-smuggler Joe Wilderness.

He brilliantly brings the war-torn cities to life as Wilderness rubs shoulders with a cast of rogues, including real-life statesmen and scientists and fictional Nazis and Soviet spies.

The plot - which takes in small time crooks fighting over black market rackets and spies fighting the cold war - has twist after twist before eventually petering out after more than 400 pages.

The characters are so engaging, though, and the background written so convincingly, a lot of readers won't care about plot problems. Long-term Lawton fans will also be delighted to see the hero of so many of his books - posh policeman Inspector Troy - make a 'blink and you'll miss it' appearance.

7/10

(Review by Robert Dex)

Days in the History of Silence by Merethe Lindstrom is published in paperback by Other Press, priced £10.99 (ebook £4.52). Available now.

The latest offering from Norwegian author Merethe Lindstrom, is as darkly bleak as a Scandinavian winter's day.

Days in the History of Silence is a novel about Eva and Simon, an elderly couple who live a seemingly run of the mill, if somewhat lonely, middle class existence.

However, as the story progresses, we discover the sad secrets of the couple's respective pasts, which they have hidden even from their children. Are they the reason Simon has stopped speaking completely? And what prompted them to suddenly fire Marija, the Latvian cleaner who brought so much joy into their lives?

Lindstrom's novel has won her the Norwegian Critics' Prize for Literature, and it's not difficult to see why. Her minimalist, stripped-down prose is cutting and effective in creating an intense atmosphere, despite an often slow-moving plot. It also allows Lindstrom to reveal disturbing facts in an off-hand way that will leave the reader chilled to the bone.

7/10

(Review by Zahra Saeed)

The Echoes of Love by Hannah Fielding is published in hardback by London Wall Publishing, priced £17.99 (ebook £1.99). Available Now.

This is the second novel from the author of Burning Ember. It tells the love story of Venetia Aston-Montagu, a British ex-pat, and Paolo Barone, a stereotypically handsome and passionate Italian.

The story is not a simple boy meets girl though, because Venetia is reluctant to contemplate any form of relationship as a result of an incident that took place when she was much younger. Eventually though she overcomes this, as well as other obstacles.

The book makes the reader want to visit Italy, as the descriptions of the sights and sounds evoked such beautiful images. However, there was too much emphasis, at times, on the scenery rather than the protagonists. Consequently, the length of the book could have been shortened without losing any of the story of Venetia and Paolo.

The book offers romance and suspense, with a heavy dose of Italian culture.

5/10

(Review by Elaine Adu-Poku)

Non fiction

Lou Reed: The Life by Mick Wall is published in hardback by Orion, priced £14.99 (ebook £7.99). Available now.

That Lou Reed's death in October came as a surprise was itself surprising. Famous chiefly for some astounding records, but also for his time as a sixties and seventies poster boy for the perils of drug abuse, mere survival had somehow turned Reed into a sober elder statesman of rock.

Mick Wall has written biographies of rock legends before, but generally at greater length than this "sincere, speed-written, blood-spattered tribute".

The rush does show in the writing, but a slim volume suits a subject whose output was so profoundly patchy. If the oft-told tales are all here, some lesser known patches of Reed's life are also illuminated.

Wall is admiring, but never sycophantic, and doesn't try to obscure Reed's ingratitude, contrariness or violent tendencies.

This is not one of the great music biographies, but then all too often, Reed didn't make great music.

7/10

(Review by Alex Sarll)

Bosnia's Million Bones: Solving the World's Greatest Forensic Puzzle by Christian Jennings is published in hardback by Palgrave Macmillan, priced £16.99 (ebook £9.98). Available now.

During the Bosnian War of 1992-1995 Serb forces committed a range of atrocities, including genocide and ethnic cleansing. In July 1995 more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslims were massacred in and around the town of Srebrenica and buried in mass graves.

In 2000, a DNA laboratory run by the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) in Sarajevo set about the grisly task of exhuming and identifying the victims' remains. By 2010 it had identified more than 6,400 of them.

Post-Bosnia, the ICMP now helps to identify the victims of human rights abuses and natural disasters worldwide - even soldiers from World War II. Bosnia's Million Bones is not always comfortable reading, but the story of how the ICMP has perfected its techniques and helped Libya, Iraq, Chile, and many more countries, identify their missing persons, including the victims of Hurricane Katrina and the Indian Ocean tsunami, is utterly compelling.

8/10

(Review by Catherine Small)

Inside Team Sky by David Walsh is published in hardback by Simon & Schuster, priced £18.99 (ebook £10.99). Available now.

Ever since Lance Armstrong admitted doping and was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles, professional cycling has struggled to convince a sceptical public that the sport is clean.

Which is why Team Sky principal Dave Brailsford invited David Walsh - who was key in exposing the systematic doping within cycling and one of the few journalists to question Armstrong's record - to embed with the team for eight months as they prepared for the 2013 Tour.

"Look wherever you want, ask whatever questions you want," said Brailsford.

Inside Team Sky is a comprehensive account of the dedication, preparations and sacrifices that go into winning one of cycling's grand tours.

Walsh is convinced that Sky's Chris Froome won the 2013 Tour de France clean, but this is no PR exercise. While he admires what Brailsford has achieved, he is critical of some of his decisions and never shies away from asking difficult questions.

7/10

(Review by Catherine Small)

Children's book of the week

The Invisible Kingdom by Rob Ryan is published in hardback by Hutchinson, priced £16.99. Available now.

Best known for his charming paper cut outs, artist Rob Ryan adds another string to his considerable bow with The Invisible Kingdom, the first in a trilogy of children's books.

Like his artworks, this beautiful book is full of his trademark gorgeous illustrations and sentimental messages and tells the story of a lonely young prince who becomes king when his father dies. His only friend in the palace is a kindly bootman who gives the young king a pen with invisible ink and a special torch so that he can draw his own world on his curtain at night time.

But soon he discovers a route into the real world, where he escapes every night, taking a special key given to him by his father on his deathbed, engraved with the words 'My child, do not fear. I will always be here'.

This is a stunning book, packed with thoughtful meditations on life and death and delightful illustrations. It is quite lengthy though, and takes a while for the story to develop, so it's one parents and older children might enjoy more than very little ones.

7/10

(Review by Keeley Bolger)

Bestsellers for the week ending December 7

Hardbacks

1 Alex Ferguson: My Autobiography, Alex Ferguson

2 Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck, Jeff Kinney

3 David Jason: My Life, David Jason

4 Eat - The Little Book of Fast Food, Nigel Slater

5 Raising Steam, Terry Pratchett

6 Guinness World Records 2014

7 Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy, Helen Fielding

8 Private Eye Annual 2013, Ian Hislop

9 Always Managing, Harry Redknapp

10 Minecraft: The Official Redstone Handbook

(Compiled by Waterstones)

Paperbacks

1 And the Mountains Echoed, Khaled Hosseini

2 Stoner,: A Novel, John Williams

3 Philomena: The True Story of a Mother and the Son She Had to Give Away, Martin Sixsmith

4 The Little Coffee Book of Kabul, Deborah Rodriguez

5 Autobiography, Morrissey

6 A Possible Life, Sebastian Faulks

7 The Best of Matt: 2013, Matthew Pritchett

8 Gangsta Granny, David Walliams

9 The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared, Jonas Jonasson

10 Wreck This Journal: To Create is to Destroy, Now with Even More Ways, Keri Smith

(Compiled by Waterstones)

Ebooks

1 Tangled Lives, Hilary Boyd

2 Broken Angels, Graham Masterton

3 Sleigh Bells in the Snow, Sarah Morgan

4 The Husband's Secret, Liane Moriarty

5 You Walked Back Into My Life, Hilary Boyd

6 Meet Me Under the Mistletoe, Abby Clements

7 9 Killer Thrillers, Russell Blake

8 Keeper of the Bride, Tess Gerritsen

9 Dead Man's Land, Robert Ryan

10 Accidents Waiting to Happen, Simon Wood

(Compiled by the Kindle store at Amazon.co.uk)