‘My book of the year’: The best Contemporary fiction of January: So Thrilled For You by

So Thrilled For You by Holly Bourne (Hodder & Stoughton £16.99, 432pp)

I’m pretty sure this is going to be my book of the year. I adored every minute I spent reading this brilliantly eviscerating take-down of the myriad pressures on women.

Set at the baby shower from hell, the narrative alternates between multiple points of view, police reports and newspaper articles about what happened.

Lauren, Nicki, Steffi and Charlotte are four best friends from university who are now in their 30s.

Charlotte, struggling with unexplained infertility, is determined to give Nicki, pregnant but ambivalent, the perfect day – the exact day she wanted herself.

Lauren has a baby and finds everything about motherhood impossible. Steffi’s career is taking off and she doesn’t want children but feels judged by the others. Fireworks ensue.

Friendship that’s the mother of all tales

The Book of George by Kate Greathead (Atlantic £16.99, 288pp)

This is a fantastic portrait of a character, George, whom we meet when he’s 12 and leave when he’s nearly 40. 

The more we learn about him, the more frustrating he becomes.

Our protagonist is privileged, intelligent and good looking, yet is incapable of seizing opportunities. 

He is selfish, inconsiderate and sarcastic. His mother and long-suffering girlfriend do everything for him and never receive thanks.

I couldn’t wait to find out what George would mess up next. Thought-provoking, funny and sad.

A Serial Killer’s Guide to Marriage by Asia Mackay (Wildfire £16.99, 400pp)

A Serial Killer’s Guide to Marriage is available now from the Mail Bookshop 

Fox and Hazel are soulmates but their marriage isn’t like that of other lovers. This romantic duo are also serial killers who worked alone before they met at a murder scene in Paris.

Their date nights involve killing people, but only bad guys who really deserve it. Things between them are fabulous until Hazel gets pregnant and they swap their globetrotting luxury lifestyle for a quieter existence in the suburbs.

Posing as affable neighbours, Fox initiates a murder ban and Hazel feels stifled. She finds the dinner parties and mums at the toddler groups boring.

That is, until she meets Jenny and finally makes a friend. Unfortunately, Jenny is a police officer with a special interest in the multiple murders. All Hazel thinks about is murder but she can’t tell Fox. Fox has problems of his own and isn’t sharing those either. Compelling.