The Bookcase

How to Be Happy (Or At Least Less Sad): A Creative Workbook by Lee Crutchley is published in paperback by Ebury Press, priced £8.99. Available now

One in four of us will experience some sort of mental health problem during the year. That's quite the statistic isn't it? Although many people may only think of the extremes of mental health, it's clear from this figure that anxiety and depression can be closer to home than we allow ourselves to believe.

Author Lee Crutchley doesn't claim to offer a cure for mental health, nor does he claim to have a fool-proof method for recovery. While he claims How To Be Happy (Or At Least Less Sad) isn't a self-help book, it is exactly that in the literal sense of the words.

Throughout the pages, Crutchley offers self-assessment questions and space to write how you feel, along with punchy quotes and inspirational advice. He never makes anything difficult to understand, and offers snippets of his own experiences to change his role from author to friend, confidant and teacher. Simply put, this workbook doesn't tell you the answers, it simply offers you motivating ways of finding them for yourself.

He asks you to think about the simpler things in life, for example, by writing down good things that have happened to you that day, no matter how small it may be, and helps you to realise how things that seem, at times, like the end of the world in fact aren't, by writing down the possible outcomes.

It teaches you the important fact that we should accept all emotions, both happy and sad - remembering they are all essential in the balance of life. The main theme Crutchley is keen to stress is how we should change our mindsets to remember that happiness is not a destination, but a journey.

9/10

(Review by Rebecca Flitton)

FICTION

In A Dark Dark Wood by Ruth Ware is published in hardback by Harvill Secker, priced £12.99 (ebook £4.35). Available now

When an email invitation lands in Nora's inbox inviting her to Clare's hen party, she is confused. Nora, a crime fiction writer, hasn't seen or heard from Clare in 10 years since their school days. Against her better judgement, she decides to go, in agreement with another old school friend, Nina. Ware creates a classic whodunit murder mystery nightmare in an old, creaky house surrounded by deep dark forests, which become pivotal in the climax of the tale. The clashing personalities at the hen party heighten the tension as the real reason Nora has been invited starts to become clear. The novel is a thrilling ride and Ware keeps us guessing right up until the final pages. However, some of her characterisations are a little cartoonish and predictable. Nonetheless, the story will keep you hooked as Ware expertly drip feeds us crucial slices of information at critical moments in this dark and twisted tale.

7/10

(Review by Heather Doughty)

Blood, Salt, Water by Denise Mina is published in hardback by Orion, priced £14.99 (ebook £9.99). Available now

Roxanna Fuentecilla has recently moved from London to Glasgow. Detective Inspector Alex Morrow and her team have had her under surveillance, suspecting her of drug smuggling and money laundering. But then Roxanna disappears, without a word to her partner or her two children. A few days later, her car is found on a farm in Helensburgh and a woman's body is pulled out of Loch Lomond. It's not Roxanna. Convinced the murder and Roxanna's disappearance are linked, Morrow and her team head to Helensburgh and gradually untangle the town's complicated web of lies, deceit and rivalries. Blood, Salt, Water is set against the backdrop of last year's independence referendum, but it's hard to see what this adds to the story, short of dating it, and some of the characters are rather sketchily drawn. Nonetheless, this is a tightly written, pacy thriller that will keep you guessing until the last page.

7/10

(Review by Catherine Small)

R.I.P by Nigel Williams is published in hardback by Corsair, priced £18.99 (ebook £12.99). Available now

After a rather heavy session on the old parsnip wine, George Pearmain would very much like to be left in peace the next morning. His wife Esmeralda though is quick to bemoan his laziness and general uselessness as she sets about getting the house in order for the celebration of George's mother's 99th birthday. Unfortunately, Jessica's popped her clogs and when Esmeralda comes to cajole George once more, there's another startling discovery... George too is dead! Two deaths wouldn't necessarily seem the most apposite starting point for a comic novel, but author Nigel Williams manages to bring a very British sense of humour to the matter of death through his disconcerted middle-aged anti-hero George, not to mention a cast of colourful characters, including an overenthusiastic pathologist, a bumbling GP and an always camera-ready TV personality, who send the whole debacle further into farce. But though the laughs in this murder mystery are plentiful, there are also some touching realisations about what it means to be married and in love.

7/10

(Review by Jade Craddock)

The Hand That Feeds by AJ Rich is published in paperback by Simon & Schuster, priced £7.99 (ebook £5.99). Available now

Amy Hempel and Jill Ciment write under the name AJ Rich for this new novel The Hand That Feeds You. At first, this book seemed like it was going to be a slow burning crime tale, however, only a few pages in and the pace seriously accelerated. The story centres around victim psychology student Morgan Prager, a dog-loving 30-year-old engaged to Bennett, the man of her dreams... or is he? When returning home one evening, Morgan is confronted with Bennett's mauled body and her three dogs covered in blood. It's not until Morgan tries to find Bennett's next of kin that she stumbles across a web of lies and deceit, and Morgan's life is about to get complicated. Not only does the story focus on the animals, but also manages to keep the complex story of Bennett's life intriguing enough to keep me reading.

7/10

(Review by Phil Robinson)

NON-FICTION

Operation Thunderbolt by Saul David is published in hardback by Hodder & Stoughton, priced £20 (ebook £9.99). Available now

Operation Thunderbolt tells the story of one of the first, and still one of the most celebrated, modern military counter-terrorism operations. After an Air France flight carrying 258 passengers and crew from Tel Aviv to Paris was hijacked by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and flown to Uganda's Entebbe airport in 1976, Israeli commandos flew 2,000 miles undetected from the Middle East to east Africa to pull off a daring and highly successful rescue mission. The story of how they caught the terrorists and their supporter, the brutal Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, completely off-guard has been made into countless books, films and documentaries over the years, but nevertheless, military historian Saul David's book is a stylish addition to the canon. Combining the pacing of a thriller with the attention to detail of a scholarly work, it draws on first-hand accounts and interviews to tell the story from the point of view of the terrified hostages, the commandos who carried out the raid (the brother of current Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was the only soldier killed) and the Israeli politicians faced with the dilemma of caving in to terrorism and risking more hijackings, or approving the risky long-range mission. David also adds dimension to the terrorists, especially two German communists, looking at their background and motivation and how Thunderbolt's success has shaped, and sometimes haunted, Israeli thinking for decades.

8/10

(Review by David Wilcock)

CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE WEEK

Herman's Holiday by Tom Percival is published in paperback by Bloomsbury Childrens, priced £6.99 (ebook £6.98). Available now

Author-illustrator Tom Percival (Herman's Letter, Bubble Trouble) tackles the premise that 'everyone loves a camping trip' in his beautiful new book, which also plays on our love of postcards. Herman, a bear, and his raccoon friend Henry set off on an adventure, but only Herman finds it any fun (to begin with). While Herman's already roasting marshmallows within five minutes of arriving at the campsite, try as he may, Henry just can't get the hang of putting up a tent. The next day, they head into town to buy some postcards - and here's where the fun begins, as Percival's postcards are carefully crafted flaps children can lift to read their contents. Needless to say, Henry's first missive to Aunt Winifred is quite pessimistic: "Dear Aunt Winifred, Have you ever been camping? Well, if you haven't, DON'T, it's AWFUL. I'm cold, soaking wet and bored. Love Henry." Soon, though, mysterious packages start to arrive for Herman and the bear transforms the campsite into an adventure playground to keep his little friend entertained. Funny, warm and brilliantly entertaining for both children and grown-ups, Herman's Holiday will delight long after the campfire has gone out.

8/10

(Review by Kate Whiting)

BESTSELLERS FOR WEEK ENDING AUGUST 31

HARDBACKS

1. Go Set A Watchman, Harper Lee

2. Hello Life, Marcus Butler

3. The Girl On The Train, Paula Hawkins

4. Katy, Jacqueline Wilson

5. Yes! No (Maybe...): Tom Gates, Liz Pichon

6. Life With A Sprinkle Of Glitter, Louise Pentland

7. Self Help, Miranda Sings

8. Early One Morning, Virginia Baily

9. Dork Diaries: Drama Queen, Rachel Renee Russell

10. Claude: Lights! Camera! Action!, Alex T Smith

PAPERBACKS

1. The Girl Who Wasn't There, Ferdinand von Schirach

2. Runaway, Peter May

3. Being Mortal: Illness, Medicine And What Matters In The End, Atul Gawande

4. Edge Of Eternity: The Century Trilogy, Ken Follett

5. Paper Towns, John Green

6. Secret Garden: An Inky Treasure Hunt And Colouring Book, Johanna Basford

7. To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee

8. Us, David Nicholls

9. Enchanted Forest: An Inky Quest And Colouring Book, Johanna Basford

10. The Paying Guests, Sarah Waters

EBOOKS

1. A Good Neighbor by AJ Banner

2. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

3. How I Lost You by Jenny Blackhurst

4. Revenge by Martina Cole

5. Pretty Dead by Anne Frasier

6. The Lie by CL Taylor

7. Grey: Fifty Shades of Grey as told by Christian by E L James

8. Abducted by TR Ragan

9. The One That Got Away by Simon Wood

10. About That Fling by Tawna Fenske