The Revenge of Rita Marsh by Nilesha Chauvet
Faber & Faber, £16.99
Described as a “potent thriller for the post-Me Too age”, British-Indian novelist Nilesha Chauvet’s debut will make readers reassess the fine line between justice and revenge.
Rita is the manager of a care home, but by night she turns into someone else entirely. A self-appointed online vigilante, she entraps men who prey on young girls. All is going to plan until one day an old classmate arrives on the scene, threatening both her identities. Rita must now decide what direction her activities should now take.
Middletide by Sarah Crouch
Simon & Schuster, £11.99
A beautiful young doctor is found hanged from a tree in the garden of the novelist Elijah Leith. Leith is viewed by locals as something of an oddity, a prodigal returned after his career has failed. Initial police investigation points to suicide, but when the circumstances behind the doctor’s death are found to replicate events in one of Leith’s stories, the town assumes he is guilty and things turn darker. He, meanwhile, realises he has been framed.
Set in Puget Sound, with its vast stretches of deep estuarine waterways, Middletide is both a psychological thriller and a hymn to this beautiful but unsettling landscape. The debut novel of the professional American marathon runner Sarah Crouch, it carries echoes of Where the Crawdads Sing in its intense evocation of the wilds.
The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley
HarperCollins, £9.99
It is midsummer, and to launch a luxury retreat on the Dorset coast, a stellar line-up of guests has been invited. But, as a sumptuous solstice dinner is prepared, and they gather to celebrate, there is more on the menu than fine dining. A corpse is found before the evening has properly begun, and it looks as if the chef’s hard work will go to waste as terror grips the assembled group. Although Dorset is Thomas Hardy’s stamping ground, Lucy Foley’s whip-cracker pace and pitch owe nothing to him.
The Silence In Between by Josie Ferguson
Doubleday, £16.99
August 13, 1961: the border between east and west Berlin closes. In the east is Lisette, who has just given birth to a baby boy, who is now stranded in the west. What follows is a powerful tale of a distraught mother whose doughty teenage daughter is determined to find a way to rescue her little brother. Despite the danger of soldiers who will shoot anyone who tries to make the crossing, she sets off on her mission. Based on real stories of what happened when Berlin was divided in two, Josie Ferguson’s debut novel is a captivating, tense portrayal of desperation, fortitude and courage.
My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk
Faber & Faber, £9.99
The finest thriller you’ll read this year. Faber’s new edition of the Nobel prize-winning Pamuk’s 1998 novel is timely and welcome. Also about the divisions between east and west, albeit on a grander scale, it takes place across nine snow-bound days in Istanbul in 1591. At the Sultan’s command, an exquisitely illustrated book is being compiled to honour his life and empire. But these are tumultuous times, riven by religious fanaticism. When one of the illustrators is found dead, the Sultan demands the culprit is found within three days. Brilliantly evocative and filled with suspense, My Name is Red has been described by Pamuk as “my most colourful and optimistic novel”.
One Wrong Turn by C M Ewan
Pan Macmillan, £16.99
Abi and Ben have had to cut short their country weekend, and are squabbling as they drive home in the dark. Accidentally taking the wrong road, they are startled when suddenly a man flags them down: his family is stranded after their car has broken down. Abi does not want strangers in the back seat, but when she sees they have a baby, she relents. The title says it all. Will playing the good Samaritans be their last act?
Think Twice by Harlen Coben
Century, £22
The latest in Coben’s long series featuring New York sports agent Myron Bolitar and his sidekick Win. When the cops ask for Myron’s help in locating the basketball player Greg Downing, whose DNA is all over a double-murder, he can easily help: the man died three years ago. How, then, could he have been at the crime scene? Coben’s plotting is clever, his characters vivid and the tale rich in authentic colour.
The Bullet Garden by Stephen Hunter
Simon & Schuster, £12.99
Normandy, 1944, and German snipers are picking off the Allies with devastating ease. Eisenhower wants to know who is giving away their movements, and Gunner Sergeant Earl Swagger, the best shot in the Allied military, is ordered to find out. This punchy war story revolves around a marine with “cheekbones like howitzer shells”. He is the father of Bob Swagger, hero of many of Hunter’s novels. The Washington Post dubs Hunter “one of the best thriller writers around”. It would say that, of course, since before he retired he was the paper’s chief film critic, winning a Pulitzer for his reviews. His bestselling status, however, suggests its assessment is not blindly partisan.
A Talent for Murder by Peter Swanson
Faber & Faber, £18.99
How well do you really know your husband? Married for two years to the seemingly sweet Alan, Martha begins to worry that his regular trips to conferences are not all they seem. Enlisting the help of an old university friend, she uncovers a string of women’s murders; in so doing she learns that her friend is not all she seems. How well do you really know your friends?
Manner of Death by Robin Cook
Pan Macmillan, £9.99
Laurie Montgomery is New York’s chief medical examiner. Her husband Jack Stapleton, with whom she has appeared in several previous novels, is still recovering from a near fatal encounter. This leaves Laurie on her own to investigate the apparent suicide of a pathology resident, which has foul play written all over it. As she starts her own unorthodox inquiries, it becomes clear that she too might soon be facing a deadly situation.
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