New Reviews: Cutler, Holt, Jordan, Kernick, Khan, Oswald

Here are six reviews which have been added to the Euro Crime website today, three have appeared on the blog since last time, and three are completely new.

NB. You can keep up to date with Euro Crime by following the blog and/or liking the Euro Crime Facebook page.

New Reviews

Geoff Jones reviews Judith Cutler's Green and Pleasant Land which is the sixth in the Fran Harman series and is set in the Midlands;

I review Anne Holt's Death of the Demon tr. Anne Bruce third book in the Hanne Wilhelmsen series;

Amanda Gillies reviews Will Jordan's Betrayal, the third in the Ryan Drake series;


Terry Halligan reviews The Final Minute by Simon Kernick, his latest thriller and which features regular protagonist, Tina Boyd;

Michelle Peckham reviews The Unquiet Dead, the impressive debut novel by Ausma Zehanat Khan

and Terry also reviews James Oswald's Prayer for the Dead the newest in the Inspector McLean series and the first to be released first in hardback.


Forthcoming titles can be found by author or date or by category, here along with releases by year.

Review: The Final Minute by Simon Kernick

The Final Minute by Simon Kernick, January 2015, 400 pages, Century, ISBN: 178089077X

Reviewed by Terry Halligan.
(Read more of Terry's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

Simon Kernick's new thriller is an absolutely spellbinding book that I just could not put down. The plot is breathtaking and was truly gripping and leaves you wanting to race to the end to discover if your suspicions are correct. Mine almost were but I was left fairly stunned at how everything turned out.

Matt Barron is being treated for a loss of memory after a terrible car accident. He is held convalescing, for some months, in an isolated detached house in Wales with a woman who says she is his sister and also with a male nurse. Every few days a hypnotherapist named Dr Bronson comes who is apparently trying to help him recover memories with hypnotism. He is also being given these psychotic drugs, which make him feel wretched and every-time he tries to stop taking them the nurse intervenes and forces him to take them.

His memory is recovering in a piecemeal fashion but it is fragmented and he is extremely confused, as he believes he is not the person who he is being told he is. He feels he must get away from this controlling environment that he is in, to pursue and discover his real "self". Once he is sure that he must abscond, he takes steps to do it and twenty-four hours later his "minders" are dead and he is on the run with two American contract killers in deadly pursuit. Barron has many adventures whilst on the run and all the time he is avoiding both the contract killers and the police and he has to live off the land as he has no money, or transport and doesn't know who to trust.

Tina Boyd, a police detective in previous Kernick books, is no longer with the force but working now as a private detective and she comes in contact with Barron and helps him recover his past and helps him to understand why people want to keep him quiet. DCI Mike Bolt, another character from this author's previous books is also featured and the actual number of people killed is difficult to keep up with.

Despite the length of this book, I just had to find out what happened next which makes Simon Kernick's writing similar to that of Stephen Leather or Frederick Forsyth. You know when you pick up a title by any of these authors that the quality of the background research is first rate and the "hook" to keep one reading is absolutely enthralling. The twists and turns in the plotting keep one guessing right up until the final page and it was nice to have some of the characters from previous books involved once again. I have had the pleasure of reading for review the author's exciting trilogy of books SIEGE, ULTIMATUM and STAY ALIVE which featured Boyd and Bolt.

THE FINAL MINUTE was an absolutely compelling read which once started started was almost impossible to put down. I look forward to reading more titles by this very gifted author. Extremely well recommended.

Terry Halligan, February 2015.

New Reviews: Ceder, Dunn, Frank, Johnston, Kasasian, Kelly, Kernick, Mogford, Radmann

Here are nine reviews which have been added to the Euro Crime website today, two have appeared on the blog over the last three weeks and seven are completely new.

The competition closes tonight at 11.59pm: win an iBook of Invisible by Christine Poulson (no geographical restrictions).


NB. You can keep up to date with Euro Crime by following the blog and/or liking the Euro Crime Facebook page.

New Reviews

Lynn Harvey reviews Camilla Ceder's Babylon tr. Marlaine Delargy, the sequel to Frozen Moment, set in Gothenburg;

Amanda Gillies reviews Slingshot by Matthew Dunn, the third in his "Spycatcher" series;

Geoff Jones reviews Matthew Frank's debut novel, If I Should Die which introduces ex-Army turned trainee police officer Joe Stark;

Terry Halligan reviews Paul Johnston's The White Sea, the seventh in the Greece-based Alex Mavros series;

I review The Curse of the House of Foskett by M R C Kasasian, the sequel to the excellent The Mangle Street Murders;


Michelle Peckham reviews Erin Kelly's The Ties That Bind;

Terry also reviews Simon Kernick's Stay Alive which is now out in paperback;

Rich Westwood reviews Thomas Mogford's Hollow Mountain, the latest in the Spike Sanguinetti series based on and around Gibraltar

and Lynn also reviews The Crack by Christopher Radmann set in 1970s South Africa.





Previous reviews can be found in the review archive.

Forthcoming titles can be found by author or date or by category, here along with releases by year.

New Reviews: Camilleri, Cleeves, Haynes, Kernick, Lipska, MacLean, Roberts, Sherriff, Templeton

Win Where the Devil Can't Go by Anya Lipska (UK only)






Nine new reviews have been added to Euro Crime today:


I review Andrea Camilleri's The Dance of the Seagull tr. Stephen Sartarelli, the fifteenth in this charming series;



Lynn Harvey reviews Dead Water by Ann Cleeves, the fifth in the (recently televised) Shetland series;


Amanda Gillies reviews Human Remains by Elizabeth Haynes, writing that her work "goes from strength to strength";
 

Terry Halligan reviews Simon Kernick's Ultimatum, the sequel to Siege;

Rich Westwood reviews this month's competition prize, Where the Devil Can't Go by Anya Lipska, and he's looking forward to the sequel;


Geoff Jones reviews S G MacLean's The Devil's Recruit, the fourth in her Alexander Seaton series set in seventeenth century Aberdeen;

Susan White reviews Mark Roberts's debut The Sixth Soul and found it "quite compelling";

Terry also reviews The Wells of St Mary's by R C Sherriff, now available as an ebook or POD, Terry says it was "much appreciated entertainment at the end of a hard day"

and Michelle Peckham reviews Evil for Evil by Aline Templeton, concluding that "Aline Templeton's books featuring Marjory Fleming keep improving with each new outing".




Previous reviews can be found in the review archive.

Forthcoming titles can be found by author or date or by category, here along with releases by year.

New Reviews: Brookmyre, Drake, Kent, Kernick, Larsson, Rhodes, Siger, Webster, Wilson

There won't be any new reviews next weekend but here are 9 excellent new reviews...

(NB. Don't forget to vote in the International Dagger Polls.)

Rich Westwood reviews Chris Brookmyre's, Where the Bones are Buried, set in Glasgow and now available in paperback;

Amanda Gillies goes back to Ancient Egypt for Nick Drake's third Rahotep mystery, Egypt: The Book of Chaos;

Lynn Harvey travels to the Solomon Islands for G W Kent's One Blood the sequel to Devil-Devil;

Terry Halligan reviews Siege by the UK's equivalent to Harlan Coben: Simon Kernick;

Laura Root reviews the long-awaited UK release of Asa Larsson's The Black Path, tr. Marlaine Delargy (NB. This title precedes Until Thy Wrath Be Past);

Susan White reviews Kate Rhodes's debut Crossbones Yard the first in the Alice Quentin, psychologist series;

Terry also reviews Jeffrey Siger's Target: Tinos the fourth in his Greek series;

Geoff Jones reviews Jason Webster's A Death in Valencia, the sequel to his acclaimed Or the Bull Kills You

and Maxine Clarke reviews the Ellis Peters Historical Dagger 2012 shortlisted A Willing Victim the fourth in Laura Wilson's Ted Stratton series.

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive.

Forthcoming titles can be found by author or date or by category, here along with releases by year.

New Reviews: Hosp, Kernick, McDermid, Moffat, Vargas, Wilson

This month's competitions:

Win a copy of Tell-Tale by Sam Hayes (worldwide)
Win a copy of The Preacher & The Stonecutter by Camilla Lackberg (UK only)

check back later this week for an exciting Stieg Larsson competition.

Here are this week's new reviews:

Terry Halligan reviews Among Thieves by David Hosp; though written by an American author and set in the US there is a St Patrick's Day and Irish connection;

Maxine Clarke reviews Simon Kernick's new thriller The Last Ten Seconds;

Laura Root reviews the paperback release of the latest in the Tony Hill series from Val McDermid, Fever of the Bone;

Amanda Gillies reviews G J Moffat's debut, now out in paperback: Daisychain;

Michelle Peckham reviews the first Adamsberg novel from Fred Vargas, tr. Sian Reynolds, also now out in paperback - The Chalk Circle Man

and Maxine also reviews The Lying Tongue by Andrew Wilson

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive and forthcoming titles can be found here.

New Reviews: Badoe, Kernick, La Plante, O'Brien, Somer, Twining

a) Two competitions are currently running:

i)Win Beautiful Dead: Arizona by Eden Maguire (UK only)
ii)Win Sheer Folly by Carola Dunn (UK/Europe only)

Details on how to enter can be found on the Competition page

b) Here are the new reviews that have been added to the website today:

Maxine Clarke reviews Yaba Badoe's debut novel, True Murder which, Maxine suggests, should appeal to fans of Ruth Rendell and Morag Joss;

Michelle Peckham reviews the latest from Britain's answer to Harlan Coben, Simon Kenick's Target;

Geoff Jones reviews the new DI Anna Travis book from Lynda La Plante, Silent Scream;

Jacquot's back: Terry Halligan reviews the return of French detective Jacquot in Martin O'Brien's Confession;

I review the latest in one of the more unusual crime fiction series: The Gigolo Murder by Mehmet Murat Somer, tr. Kenneth Dakan

and Amanda Gillies reviews the most recent in James Twining's Tom Kirk Art Thief series: The Geneva Deception.

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive and forthcoming titles can be found here.

More cover themes

A vague similarity between the covers of these two forthcoming books. This is the US cover of Adrian McKinty's Fifty Grand which will be published in April (July in the UK). Simon Kernick's Target will be published in the UK in June.

Publishing Deal - Simon Kernick

From the Bookseller:

Transworld publisher Selina Walker has bought three new novels from crime writer Simon Kernick, whose Relentless was a “Richard & Judy” Summer Read last year.

Walker bought British Commonwealth rights (including Canada) from Amanda Preston at Luigi Bonomi Associates for a six-figure sum.

Thanks go to Petrona for the link.

Publishing Deals

From this week's Publishers Lunch:

Film
Film rights to John Burdett's BANGKOK 8 and his two subsequent police thrillers set in Bangkok, featuring Buddhist police detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep, in a new option to Millennium Films, with James McTeigue (V For Vendetta) directing, by Ron Bernstein, at auction, on behalf of Jane Gelfman at Gelfman Schneider. (Foreign book rights are represented by Betsy Robbins at Curtis Brown UK.)

UK
Two new thrillers by Simon Kernick, the first featuring a kidnap-attempt gone badly wrong, again to Selina Walker at Transworld, by Amanda Preston of LBA (UK/Commonwealth).

Michael Cordy's thriller THE SOURCE, about the surprise deciphering of the elusive Voynich manuscript at Yale's Beinecke Library by a young female professor, leading to the discovery of what seems to be a Garden of Eden deep in the jungles of Peru -- and a fight between the Vatican and various scholars for possession of the secrets which the garden contains, again to Bill Scott-Kerr at Bantam UK, by Patrick Walsh at Conville & Walsh. US rights will be submitted shortly.