On the Radar — Every Thursday we bring you the latest crime fiction releases, and this week’s pile starts off with a book featuring a striking Vertigo-esque cover. Shane Kuhn’s latest is an action thriller just ripe for terrorism-obsessed readers. UK sensation Sarah Hilary is back with her fourth novel, and we’ve also got some historical crime fiction, unique podcast-based storytelling and a graphic novel too…
The Asset by Shane Kuhn
The author of Kill Your Boss returns with something less satirical and a bit straighter in The Asset. Assets, as you may know, are what organisations like the CIA call their people. The asset here is Kennedy, a man whose sister died in 9/11 and who has become America’s leading expert in airport/airline security. Recruited by the intelligence agencies, and then let loose not just to advise on security but to take action… because in 64 days time the mother of all terrorist plots is due to be unleashed. Out in the UK 9 March.
Pre-order now on Amazon
Quieter Than Killing by Sarah Hilary
We’re reached book four in the Marnie Rome series and the DI and her sidekick DS Noah Jake are on the trail of a serial attacker loose on the streets of London – his victims are all people who have been previously convicted of violent crimes and have recently been released from jail. Hilary fans will know this isn’t likely to be the only plot thread from an award-winning author who loves to mix things up a bit and keep us on our toes. Out 9 March.
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Let the Dead Speak by Jane Casey
Newly-promoted DS Maeve Kerrigan is keen to impress, and jumps at the chance of investigating a possible murder. Teenager Chloe Emery returns to her home in West London to find the place in disarray. There’s blood everywhere and her mother Kate is missing. Is Kate dead? And if so, who killed her? Kerrigan has to sift through a barrage of conflicting testimonies before she can unearth the truth in this police procedural that is published on 9 March.
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The Last Night at Tremore Beach by Mikel Santiago
This debut novel by Spanish writer and musician Santiago was a top 10 international best-seller when first published in his home country in 2014 – with El Pais comparing his work to that of Patricia Highsmith; praise indeed! A gifted musician thinks he has found peace when he rents a cottage on the windswept Irish coast. Then he is struck by lightning and he starts to have terrifying, bloody nightmares – or could these deadly visions turn out to be true? Out 9 March
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Dark Asylum by ES Thomson
Get ready for a heady dose of dark historical crime fiction set in 1851. Jem Flockhart is an apothecary and she is investigating the death of Dr Rutherford at Angel Meadow Asylum. It is a brutal death; his head caved in with the lips and eyes crudely stitched up. Flockhart delves into the sordid back rooms of London to investigate. Thomson explores the grisly early treatments of mental illness including lobotomies in this second book featuring Flockhart. Thomson has a PhD in the history of medicine; expect a macabre gothic mystery in the bleak heart of Victorian London. Released 2 March.
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Six Stories by Matt Wesolowski
Journalist Scott King is a cult internet figure with a hidden identity. He has an investigative podcast along the lines of the super-hit American podcast Serial. In 1997 the body of a teenager, Tom Jeffries, was found at an outdoor centre. No one quite knows what happened and it was recorded as misadventure. Don’t misinterpret the title – this is a single novel told in six podcast interviews as King explores the death. It is Newcastle-based writer Wesolowski debut and you can get your hands on the ebook now, while the print version is released 15 March.
Pre-order now on Amazon.
Down the Hume by Peter Polites
Textbook neo-noir – very new and very bleak. Set in the much-maligned and immigrant enclave of Western Sydney, this debut debut stars Bucky, a young gay Greek-Australian in a love triangle with Nice Arms Pete, a drug dealer and homme fatale on one side, and a doctor on the other. Interspersed with lines in Greek – which will be all Greek to most readers – this novel of addiction and violence is part of a new wave of Aussie noir. Out 28 February, and watch for our review.
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The Assignment by Walter Hill et al
Pills, sex, violence – this tale of revenge also features excellent artwork by the French penciller, Jef. In the gritty underbelly of a nameless city, hitman Frank Kitchen reawakens after gender reassignment surgery he did not expect or request. This time Kitchen has been the victim, of the sister of someone he killed. Now it’s his – or her – turn for revenge. Denis Hammill’s original story was picked up by Walter Hill, reworked and released as a French comic book. This has been translated to English by Titan Comics and Hard Case Crime. Meanwhile, a controversial Hollywood B-movie based on the same story came out last year with Michelle Rodriguez and Sigourney Weaver. It’s graphic stuff…
Pre-order now on Amazon
