An Excerpt from THE MINDERS by John Marrs

THE MINDERS John Marrs (www.johnmarrsauthor.com) Del Rey (www.penguin.co.uk) £7.99 PART ONE ** CONFIDENTIAL ** TOP SECRET: UK EYES ONLY, CLASSIFIED ‘A’ THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT MINUTES OF JOINT CYBER-ESPIONAGE / INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE ASSESSMENT MEETING 11.6 ‘THE ALTERNATIVE APPROACH TO STORAGE OF CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS’ ** Please note […]

THE BOOK OF KOLI by M.R. Carey

THE BOOK OF KOLI (THE RAMPART TRILOGY BOOK 1) M.R. Carey Orbit Books (www.orbitbooks.net) £8.99 In the distant future, the world has been ravaged by climate change and generations of genetically modified flora and fauna have begun to fight back. The remainder of the human population survive in walled villages, cut off from each other […]

WE BEGIN AT THE END by Chris Whitaker

WE BEGIN AT THE END Chris Whitaker Zaffre Books (www.zaffrebooks.co.uk) £14.99 Walker has been Cape Haven’s Chief of Police for over twenty years. In the sleepy California coastal town, his job consists mainly of being nice to tourists, and keeping an eye on his old friend Star Radley and her two kids: thirteen-year-old Duchess and […]

IF IT BLEEDS by Stephen King

IF IT BLEEDS Stephen King (stephenking.com) Hodder & Stoughton (www.hodder.co.uk) £20 We are living through strange – nay, unprecedented – times, and it has been said more than once that 2020 feels like we’re living through a Stephen King novel. As fans of post-apocalyptic fiction, we’ve lived through this scenario, through the escapism provided by […]

THE BRAMBLE AND THE ROSE by Tom Bouman

THE BRAMBLE AND THE ROSE Tom Bouman (www.tomboumanbooks.com) Faber & Faber (www.faber.co.uk) £8.99 When a headless body, half-eaten by bears, is found in the woods outside the small town of Wild Thyme, Pennsylvania, local policeman Henry Farrell finds himself partnered with biologist and bear expert Dr Mary Weaver, hunting the bear before its new-found taste […]

THE BELL IN THE LAKE by Lars Mytting

THE BELL IN THE LAKE Lars Mytting (www.larsmytting.net) Translated by Deborah Dawkin MacLehose Press (www.maclehosepress.com) £16.99 Norway, 1880. Young, inquisitive Astrid is unlike the other girls in the secluded village at the end of the valley. She dreams of a life that consists of more than marrying, having children, and eventually dying from hard work […]

INFLUENCES: What Inspired WIDOW’S WELCOME by D.K. Fields

WIDOW’S WELCOME D.K. Fields (dkfields.blogspot.com) Head of Zeus (headofzeus.com) £8.99 What inspired Widow’s Welcome? In short: “Mi dispiace, il mio italiano non va bene”. This became a mantra for us when travelling in Italy – “I’m sorry, my Italian is not good”. Whether Kath was trying to order peach ice cream but kept saying ‘fish’, […]

THE TREADSTONE RESURRECTION by Joshua Hood

ROBERT LUDLUM’S THE TREADSTONE RESURRECTION Joshua Hood Head of Zeus (headofzeus.com) £18.99 Adam Hayes is living and working as a carpenter in the wilds of the Pacific Northwest, his life far from perfect, but a far cry from his time in Treadstone, the top-secret CIA Black Ops programme that trained him, and many like him, […]

An Excerpt from BORN SLIPPY by Tom Lutz

BORN SLIPPY Tom Lutz (www.tomlutzwriter.com) Repeater Books (repeaterbooks.com) £10.99 He left the bank and got in a cab. The cabbie turned and looked at him, waiting for an address. Frank pointed to the Bank of China bankbook; the driver looked confused, but then nodded and took him to a branch. Frank went in, waited briefly […]

THE BURNING MEN by Will Shindler

THE BURNING MEN Will Shindler Hodder & Stoughon (hodder.co.uk) £16.99 When an ex-fireman is doused in accelerant and set alight at his wedding, Detective Inspector Alex Finn finds himself leading the investigation despite the fact that he shouldn’t even be working. The deceased paid for the lavish party out of his own pocket, and when […]