Wife or mistress? An age old problem but amoral Henry (think Ripley, but less competent) makes a disastrous choice. A perfect life, based on lies, spins out of control; there are deaths; the police are involved. Can Henry regain control and wriggle out of his predicament? As I read this book with an intriguing cast of characters, full of suspense but with a sly undertone of humour, I had to stop myself skipping to the end to find out.
View The Truth and Other Lies
Serial killer? Mad scientist? Capitalist espionage? Every time I thought I'd worked out what was happening in this excellent thriller my theory was thrown up in the air again! All this, plus a great duo in cop Columba and her expert adviser Dante, made for a fantastic read. Thank goodness the next in the series is just out.
View Kill the Father
On one level an excellent 'missing teenager' police procedural. On the next a subtle examination of how the most careful investigation can be skewed by obsessions or preconceptions by witnesses and police alike. And on the third? There are tantalising suggestions that the author may be intending to get further under the skin of 'typical' Israeli families. I can't wait for the next book in the series.
View The Missing File
If Jenny Aaron is the Sherlock Holmes of the German security services, then who is her Moriarty? Does she have a Watson to depend on? And can the ends ever justify the means? A nail-biting thriller that also looks deeper than most into both possible reasons for sociopathic behaviour and the age-old question 'Who will watch the watchers'.
View In the Dark
Crime is the genre, but Maggie Gee gives you so much more than whodunit. Yes there are two violent deaths, but not in an order you expect. To be inside Monica's mind is to experience depths of emotional abuse, disregard for PC niceties, raw creativity, and all that you want of a teacher at your bog-standard estate school. You'll have your light on at 2am, and then wish you'd read it slower for the hits on Brexit Britain and the black humour.
View Blood
An authentic thriller of multiple layers which reveal unexpected connections in a very satisfying way. But what makes this debut novel leap from the genre shelves is the central lead Karla, or is it Charlotte? Karla is a superb creation - written so convincingly that you can't get her out of your head and will gladly follow her anywhere. The whole is a terrifying, tension-fuelled race against time that will grip you by the throat.
View The Distance
The authority of a firsthand chronicle of the repression and inhumanity of Saddam's regime is raised to heartbreaking levels by the lives and fates of these lovable characters. Even the horrors of the Gulf Wars fade in comparison with the megalomaniac, psychopathic character of the President himself. Easy to read; harder than hard to cope with.
View The President's Gardens
Fast and deadly like an automatic gun! The Alligator, a private eye with a past, fights against the authorities to ensure justice is done in a drugs case. But what is just? Who decides? And is violence ever justified? You won't find easy answers here ...
View The Columbian Mule
A gripping thriller set in modern Cuba, this book gives a wonderful glimpse into the life of modern day Cubans, and how they cope without the things we in the West take for granted. Their phlegmatic approach to life is contrasted with the lives of supposedly better off Americans as the story unfolds towards its conclusion. It keeps you guessing right to the end.
View Havana Best Friends
Politics, race and class converge in this portrait of a black middle-class community in Houston, from the Civil Rights era to 1996. A set-piece trial is the climax to a tale of electoral corruption, systematic social inequalities, and murder investigations. Of particular relevance in the current USA election year – and as good a recommendation as any to read it now.
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