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|title=The Book of Idle Pleasures

|author=Tom Hodgkinson

|rating=4.5

|summary=A liberating reminder of the pleasure to be found in simple, free, natural acts - from morning sex to skimming stones.

}}

|title=The Rabbit Factory

|author=Marshall Karp

|rating=4

|summary=A theme park that's a lot like Disneyland has a nightmare when one of its key animal mascots is murdered off duty. But it's just the beginning, and it's up to a pair of hardened cops to get fluffy and solve the escalating crimes that threaten the whole entertainment corporation. A bright and engaging comedy thriller that comes recommended by the Bookbag.

}}

|title=Crime

|author=Irvine Welsh

|rating=4.5

|summary=A slick, foul-mouthed, violent crime thriller which charges headlong into paedophilia and some dodgy psychology, but still somehow succeeds on several levels.

}}

|title=On Chesil Beach

|author=Ian McEwan

|rating=4.5

|summary=In a short novella, McEwan manages to fit a record of changing sexual and social mores, an extremely convincing depiction of individuals' inner worlds and a psychological (if not to say physiological) insight so piercing that it gets, almost literally, visceral.

}}

|title=The Deceived

|author=Brett Battles

|rating=4

|summary=A reasonably fast and involved crime thriller moving from the corridors of power in Washington to the backstreet markets of Singapore. Good escapist entertainment.

}}

|title=The Lost Art

|author=Simon Morden

|rating=4.5

|summary=A roller coaster of a future action-adventure story, with well constructed, fast-paced plot, judicious use made of a host of science fiction devices and larger-than-life characters which may even inspire thought about more serious issues of the use that's made of knowledge and technology, role of religion and colonialism. Highly recommended summer read.

}}

|title=Breath

|author=Tim Winton

|rating=4.5

|summary=A young boy takes to the surf, faces his fears and slowly enters an adult world he is totally unprepared for. An elegant, powerful narrative takes a deep unexpectedly dark dive into murkier waters.

}}

|title=Armed Madhouse

|author=Greg Palast

|rating=4

|summary=Suiting a man who straddles the Atlantic, Greg Palast occupies a style ground somewhere between Michael Moore (fewer jokes) and John Pilger (more jokes) in this lucid, readable and convincing denouncement of a great deal that's wrong with the world, and in particular with George W Bush and the other movers and shakers among the world's super rich.

}}

|title=Death Wore White

|author=Jim Kelly

|rating=4.5

|summary=A surprisingly literary crime thriller. Well plotted, with strong characters, but let down by too many seemingly coincidental links between them which make it a touch less realistic than it could have been.

}}

|title=The Reapers

|author=John Connolly

|rating=4.5

|summary=Connolly's basic idea may be nothing especially new, but ''The Reapers'' is a gripping read and has enough fresh features to elevate it above the mundane.

}}

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[[Category:Lists|Beach Reads For Boys]]

[[Category:Crime|*Top Ten Beach Reads For Boys]]

[[Category:Literary Fiction|*Top Ten Beach Reads For Boys]]

[[Category:Reviewed by Kerry King]]