Paperbacks

CHANGEZ is a brilliant young Pakistani – educated at Princeton and a rising star at a ruthless New York financial firm. In Mohsin Hamid's Booker-shortlisted novel, Changez relates his story to a mysterious American in Lahore, where he's retreated after suffering an identity crisis in the wake of 9/11.

For the first half, this is a tense enough thriller, its truths and twists skilfully drip-fed, but one can't shake the feeling it's more allegory than flesh and blood story.

Even the names seem crass. The object of Changez's affection is gorgeous WASP Erica, who – like, er, America – has been "increasingly giving itself over to a dangerous nostalgia".

BLACK MASS

BY JOHN GRAY (Penguin, 8.99)

"WITH the death of Utopia," writes John Gray in his latest, "apocalyptic religion has re-emerged, naked and unadorned, as a force in world politics". As has the author – this follow-up to Straw Dogs, al-Qaeda and What it Means to be Modern and Heresies is a ferociously ambitious polemic that grabs the coat-tails of bestselling God-bashers Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, then wrestles them to the ground. Religion, says Gray, like sex and violence, is a vital part of human nature. It's the belief in utopias that is doomed and unnatural.

GRANTA 101

EDITED BY JASON COWLEY (10.99)

JASON Cowley's first Granta proper in the boss's chair (the centennial edition was guest edited by William Boyd) is a bit of a bumper issue. Bloody, too: there are some seriously grisly efforts here – Louise Dean's memories of a suicide, a story called "Videos of the Dead" by Rick Moody, an unflinching account of the murder of literary agent Rod Hall written by Tim Lott, one of his clients. On the lighter end there's a witty little fable from wunderkind, Joshua Ferris. A flying start.