Seems like the much discussed ‘marriage thriller’ is still going strong if Sarah Vaughan’s Anatomy of a Scandal — the first of this year’s hyped psychological thrillers — is anything to go by. After the hugely successful first flush, the genre quickly lost its edge, but Vaughan’s take on the classic formula is both meatier and timelier than previous incarnations.

The story begins with Kate, a young, ambitious QC who’s made her name prosecuting the very worst sexual assault cases. Kate, however, is single — a divorcee, the kind of woman people describe as married to her job — she’s not the ‘wife’ in this set-up. That role falls to Sophie, a West London-based stay-at-home mother of two and wife to James Whitehouse. James has always been the golden boy, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, educated at Eton and Oxford, he then made some money in the city and is now a junior Home Office minister and “confidant” of the PM, Tom Southern. James and Tom have kept each others’ confidences since they were teenagers — for much of the book we’re teased by mysterious mentions of an incident that occurred while both were members of the Libertines, an exclusive Oxford dining club — and the PM is known for his loyalty. Recent events are going to test this bond though. James had an ill-advised affair with his 28-year-old aide, Olivia, and the papers have got hold of the story. Sophie’s world comes crashing down around her, but she puts on a brave face and rallies. Then Olivia accuses James of rape.

In taking its subject as an assault that’s not perpetrated by a faceless stranger in a back alley holding his victim at knifepoint, but rather by someone the victim knows, it’s easy to call Anatomy of a Scandal the #MeToo marriage thriller. Ultimately though, the rape in and of itself — and whether, indeed, it was rape — isn’t the point. It’s a symptom of a certain type of toxic masculinity that’s bred by institutionalised male privilege, and in her critique of these societal structures, Vaughan’s novel is actually much more reminiscent of Elizabeth Day’s recent The Party. Though in as much as it’s a courtroom drama, there are also strong echoes of Louise Doughty’s Apple Tree Yard here too. If you liked either of these books, you’re sure to enjoy Anatomy of a Scandal, especially since it’s well written, pacy, and full of twists and turns.

When one thinks of Newport, Rhode Island, what comes to mind? Lifestyles of the rich and famous. Heirs and heiresses and high society, private clubs and mansions and yachts. Few would say that Newport symbolises America or American history. And yet The Maze at Windermere, Gregory Blake Smith’s ambitious fourth novel, examines race, class, gender, identity, war and love in America through the lens of Newport’s history. The novel’s titular maze not only makes a literal appearance but references the novel’s dizzying structure. The themes that resonate across the narratives in the book imbue the novel with grander meaning as a whole. Unfortunately, the novel’s conclusion is somewhat unsatisfactory, and a couple of the individual narratives would benefit from a little more attention during the book’s convoluted final act. Nonetheless, with The Maze at Windermere, Smith says far more than “the more things change, the more they stay the same;” he demonstrates that various forms of American prejudice and exclusion are so ingrained in America’s psyche that we will never find our way past them.