The Longshoreman
Richard Shelton, Atlantic Books, £8.99
A love letter to the hunter-gatherer instinct, full of shootin' and fishin', from a clear-eyed scientist with a passion for the cycles of nature. His sharpness wavers when he’s off his specialist subjects -- there were times when I found myself waiting for the next lobster to appear -- but his gusto never flags, and could carry you through almost anything.