On the Radar — There’s a definite surge going on with domestic noir thrillers this week as we bring you news of several books in which life seems to be so good for the protagonists, but with a little violence one or two dark secrets are thrust to the surface and then the tension really starts cranking up. So take a dip into our new books and discover the latest from big names like Jane Corry, Laura Marshall, Michael Robotham, Lynda La Plante and Louise Jensen. They’ll get your pulse racing…
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Jane Corry’s previous standalone, My Husband’s Wife, has proved a huge success with readers of Crime Fiction Lover, so what can we expect from The Dead Ex, out on 28 June? Vicki thinks she has found a keeper in Daniel, but when she is attacked and left with epilepsy he leaves her for his mistress. Then one day Vicki gets a call. Daniel is missing and, secretly, Vicki is a little bit glad about it. But when the police find evidence he is dead, she becomes their prime suspect. Can she prove her innocence – or did she do it?
Pre-order now on Amazon
Laura Marshall’s debut, Friend Request, tapped into the social media vibe last year with its story of shady dealings happening on Facebook. She’s back with another standalone, out 28 June. When Ellen meets Sasha, her life is transformed. She’s welcomed into Sasha’s family and feels welcomed and loved until a brutal attack changes everything. Ten years later, the friends are sharing a flat in London, still haunted by that night. Then Sasha goes missing and Ellen is forced to confront the past. But someone out there doesn’t want her to discover the truth…
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Clinical psychologist Joe O’Loughlin is back in a story that is about to rock his world and everything in it. Joe’s parents William and Mary have been married for 60 years, a happy and contented couple. But when William is attacked, Joe arrives at his father’s bedside to find a strange, bloodied woman crying. Who is she and what is she doing there? As Joe probes deeper, he is unprepared for what he discovers about the man he thought he knew so well. Out 26 June.
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It’s a grand week for fans of psychological thrillers – and here’s another one from an author who is making a name for herself in the genre. Newly separated from her husband, Alison nervously goes out on a date with a new man. The following morning she wakes up into a living nightmare. She’s at home alone, is hurt and has no memory of how she got there. Even stranger, when she looks in the mirror she doesn’t recognise the woman who is looking back, or the friends who come to her aid. So how on earth will she recognise the person who is trying to destroy her life? Out 21 June.
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When a security van heist goes wrong and three women are left widowed, they decide to try and finish the job their husbands started. It couldn’t go wrong twice, could it? But as the women rehearse the raid, working from plans left behind by one of the deceased, they realise that a fourth man must have been involved and whoever he is, he’s gone missing. Written by the creator of Prime Suspect, Widows is being produced as a film with Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave) as director.
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There is a great tradition of noir Italiano but unfortunately too few examples are translated into English. This latest offering from Valerio Varesi features Commissario Sonari, who faces three mysteries in the city of Parma. The smallest of these is a mystery mobile phone that keeps ringing but holds no data. In the middle, a patient with dementia has gone missing from a care home. And the biggest mystery of all is the mayor, who went away on a skiing holiday and has disappeared completely. In the wider picture, Soneri is depressed about the corruption and crime in his city… Out 28 June.
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Philip Hennessey is an army intelligence officer who finds himself back on civvy street when evidence is planted that he has breached security with official secrets. Greta Satchwell, a friend of his ex-wife turns up and asks him to investigate the death of her father. Inexplicably, he died after a routine operation in a private hospital and she suspects murder. Hennessey is soon uncovering the illegal trade in counterfeit pharmaceuticals and his investigations pull him across the globe. Fake vaccines could kill thousands in a thriller with a dose of conspiracy thrown in. Out now.
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Naji, codenamed Firefly by MI6, is a 13-year-old Syrian boy. He’s a migrant fleeing ISIS to get to Germany to secure a safe future for his family. Naji is also a tech whizz and on his phone he has copied crucial intelligence related to key ISIS terrorists. Naji washes up in Europe from a shipwreck on the shores of Greece. Luc Samson is a Lebanese-British ex-MI6 agent recruited to shepherd Firefly to safety. With the terrorists on Naji’s tail he heads across the Balkans and the chase is on… Released 28 June.
Pre-order now on Amazon