Serial killers, bad marriages and best-selling cops

Short, sharp guidance and observations from a journalist with attitude. All books available from Exclusives

IF YOU READ ONE BOOK THIS WEEK

Ostland, by David Thomas (Quercus), R280

AN AMBITIOUS, provocative novel that examines the capacity for evil in even the most decent of men. Ostland is based on the true story of an idealistic Berlin detective, Georg Heuser, who tracks down a serial killer in 1941 - only to be later subsumed by the full horror of the Final Solution when the Nazis post him to the Eastern Front, where his actions eventually lead to his arrest in 1959 as a war criminal.

THE ISSUE

Interesting figures from BookStats, the annual survey of the US publishing industry. Last year, American e-book sales boomed, including a 42% rise in fiction sales, while publishers' net revenue rose by more than $1-billion, to $15-billion, for 2012.

The bad news, though, is that book retailers' fortunes continue to plummet, which, according to the New York Times, could adversely affect digital publishing. The newspaper pointed out that e-book sales fell immediately after the giant book chain Borders was liquidated in 2011, leading to suggestions that the reduced opportunity to browse the physical item resulted in less online buying.

Elsewhere, the digital format continues to breathe new life into long-form journalism, and The Guardian has reported on the growing trend for the "mini-memoir", with new titles by novelists Howard Jacobson (The Swag Man) and Mark Haddon (Swimming and Flying), among others. Of particular interest to local readers, though, is Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight author Alexandra Fuller's devastating 95-page account of her toxic marriage, Falling. Some critics are now comparing her to Joan Didion; high praise indeed, and not without foundation.

CRASH COURSE

Further to last week's news that JK Rowling has been unmasked as the author of The Cuckoo's Calling, a well-received but poorly selling crime novel supposedly written by retired military policeman "Robert Galbraith", it has now been established that the leak came from a senior partner at the law firm employed by the Harry Potter creator. Incredibly, the lawyer had let the secret slip to his wife's best friend, who then decided to let it all hang out on Twitter.

Rowling was apparently livid, and her agents have confirmed the leak was not part of any marketing plan. But they can take some comfort in the fact that the book is now a runaway bestseller. In the week since Rowling's cover was blown, The Cuckoo's Calling sold 507500 copies, and soared 5 076 places up the Amazon sales charts to claim top spot.

THE BOTTOM LINE

"It doesn't matter how many languages I speak because he doesn't understand me anyway."- Mezzofanti's Gift: The Search for the World's Most Extraordinary Language Learners, by Michael Erard (Duckworth Overlook)