The Unicorn Road by Martin Davies

Hardback published by Hodder & Stoughton, £12.99, available now.

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Benedict is a small child when he is sent to work for the great scholar, Antioch. But while his father thinks he is giving his son the chance of a better life, filled with knowledge and discovery, the young boy soon becomes part of a dangerous adventure.

Antioch is sent on a new expedition by the ruler of his land, Lord Manfred. His task is to find rare species of beast, including unicorns and mermaids, which Lord Manfred can use as political bargaining tools.

Benedict is soon sailing to strange lands with Antioch, a renowned interpreter and the formidable warrior, general Decius.

Each member of the team has their own agenda, and it's not long before the group is in grave danger. Meanwhile, Benedict's father is sitting at home wondering what has become of his son.

This is an outstanding book in which each character is perceptively described. With plenty of adventure, danger and love, it is a pleasure to read from start to finish.

The Chalk Circle Man by Fred Vargas

Published in trade paperback by Harvill Secker, £12.99, available February 5.

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"Circles, always circles," mutters Commissaire Adamsberg as he embarks on the final unravelling of a murder mystery that is as orbital and oblique as its title suggests.

The Chalk Circle Man, French crime-writer Fred Vargas's fifth novel, charts a murder investigation launched after the appearance of blue chalked circles on the streets of Paris takes a sinister turn.

Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg, himself a compulsive doodler, is intrigued by the circles, which he fears 'ooze cruelty' — a statement typical of a detective who relies on intuition more than 'deductive reasoning'.

But while Adamsberg's meditative nature makes him a beguiling character, it also ensures he remains as mysterious as one of the chalk circles.

Vargas draws a mutable and perplexing outline of her detective, describing his face 'as if 60 faces had been mingled to make one', and leaving us to wonder what exactly lies beyond these contours.

And Adamsberg's reflections are so subtly and enigmatically wrought that the reader has to think outside of the circle, as it were, to understand just how he reaches his final — and mind-boggling — conclusion.

The Associate by John Grisham

Published in hardback by Century, £18.99, available Tuesday, January 27

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Kyle McAvoy is the cream of the crop at Yale University, with a glittering career ahead of him in the legal profession.

But he is harbouring a secret — and when the past comes back to haunt him, all of Kyle's hopes and dreams are shattered.

The men who catch up with Kyle one night in a dark alley have a video of the very incident that mars Kyle's otherwise perfect history — and they're willing to use it against him... to devastating effect.

So when they ask him to take the job that has been offered to him by the largest law firm in the world, Kyle has no option but to accept — and spy on the company for some unnamed competitor. He's got the brains, but can Kyle summon up enough guile and cunning to defeat such a formidable opponent? Reminiscent of The Firm, The Associate bears all the hallmarks of a Grisham classic, with a serpentine plot that will keep you on your toes to the final full-stop.

President Obama: The Path To The White House

Published in paperback by David & Charles/TIME, £9.99, available now

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Barack Obama's election as US president was undoubtedly a historic moment, and Time magazine have marked it with this commemorative volume, which includes ten articles on the campaign by its political reporters.

These are a mix of the gushing and the humdrum, but the photography by Callie Shell, the Obama campaign photographer, is stunning. Obama is photogenic, but what elevates Shell's pictures is the way they capture the captivating effect he has on ordinary Americans: a boy in a diner, a family in their front garden, a woman in a cafe, all rapt in his presence.