City of Traitors - Alex Gerlis

 

Third part of British spy series set amidst the end of WW2

Alex Gerlis is a prolific British spy thriller author, who has hit gold with this series he has christened the Double Agent series. 

As the end of the Second World War in Europe looms, a new conflict is in its early stages: who will control Europe when the war ends?

Soviet double-agent 'Archie' is now a British diplomat in the United States, feeding information on the Special Relationship back to Moscow Centre. Meanwhile, erstwhile Soviet agent 'Bertie' – Charles Cooper – is sent on a perilous mission to Italy before being drawn towards Berlin as the Allies draw near their goal.

Gerlis takes pride in his research and it pays off. As Archie travels to America's capital to obtain delicate information about the production of the nuclear bomb and the Manhattan project for his Soviet leaders; Bertie is up against it in the Italian Alps.

The zig-zag and whipcrack nature of the chase of both men is exhilarating and the book does culminate in quite a gripping finale. The pay off of all pay offs we hope will appear in the fourth book which takes place during the height of the Cold War in the 1950s when we discover true identities.

There is a real joy to imagine these places; as a well travelled reader I have travelled to America numerous times but never DC and a lot of Europe remains a mystery to me but this book along with a recent Simon Michael novel set in France has made me want to venture out to the continent and visit our neighbours by train or plane. Much like Charles Cooper did in the first book Every Spy A Traitor.

The moments for Charles/Bertie in Berlin are so gripping as he recovers culminating in a climatic showdown where he saves his own skin yet the pace of writing by Gerlis coupled with that attention to detail of period and place makes for a riveting read.

The credit that must be extended to Gerlis is that as the scope of his Double Agents has grown across the series with locations getting further away from the centre of London to Cambridge to Europe to North America, Gerlis has not been overawed by this expansion of horizons and his characters have reflected him in taking it all in his stride. 

City of Traitors is out from Canelo on Thursday 13th August on all formats.

What The Dying See - MJ Lee

Book Twelve in the DI Ridpath series by MJ Lee out 2nd July

I have read all the Ridpath books by the most esteemable MJ Lee. Each book is brisk, pacy and full of tension - he continually creates a pervading mood of doom amidst the Manchester gloom as Ridpath and his team strain to solve the cases. 

This one might well be one of his best - there is the mixture of personal struggle, corruption and politcking that Ridpath must overcome. Perhaps the ending is a little too neat, but it serves again as a reminder that this is one of the most consistent series of recent years and hardly anybody I know in my reading circles know about it. This remains a crime itself that this work has not garnered the wider audience it deserves.

Lee is a neat concise writer; he uses social history for context of the fictional crimes he creates, and yet he is also challenging the governmental structures in place that batter and marginalise the ageing and elderly population of our country. The notion or idea of a second Shipman imbues throughout the book, that fear of the vulnerable being attacked. At times, this reader got angry when reading and rightly so, the elderly should always have our respect and live with dignity.

Those who have given so much in their lives to live are getting forgotten by middle management. In this book, the criminal works for the Department of Work and Pensions, the DWP become this eerie complicit being in destroying people who through circumstance seek to continue working but either through ill will or bad luck they find themselves alone with no support structure, except the benefit cheque that someone behind a desk thinks they do not deserve. Lee has taken his agenda and made a constructive point of satirising or challenging the government to change the ways. 

As ever, the geography and painting of Manchester as this gothic and yet burgeoning metropolis is done effectively - set around late November/early December he evokes weather and mood, the harshness of the rain sheeting upon our characters. 

Lee balances Ridpath's bridging the dual roles he has between the Greater Manchester Polic (GMP) and reporting to the coroner. The coroner herself has her own problems, with people thinking she should step aside due to an injury sustained two books previously. Ridpath, a single parent following his wife's untimely passing, has a teenage daughter, Eve and while she is not as present as in previous books, Eve is paramount to Ridpath's stability and grounding. 

As mentioned previously, this is one of the better books in the series. Effective, gripping and written with such fluidity perhaps this may be the book to breakout for Lee in this instance. 

What The Dying See is published by Canelo on 2nd July on all formats.

What The Dark Whispers - MJ Lee

 

Book 11 in the DI Ridpath series released 3rd July from Canelo

Having had the pleasure to read the DI Ridpath series from its genesis in the years prior to the global pandemic, it is the first time in my long tenure of reading that this reader has followed such a new detective series and character from its inception to the present day. Following, enjoying and anticipating.

Lee returns along with Ridpath in a Halloween set tale that sees the maverick Ridpath again having to uncover the truth behind a series of recent murders in the Greater Manchester area which may or may not be connected. A man sets himself on fire at a petrol station, a family is brutally murdered in their home and a single mother is strangled by her daughter.

Ridpath under his guise as policeman and assistant to the Coroner, has to battle familiar office politics - those who have been promoted ahead of him - with his embatteled support staff who endeavour to do the right thing despite the best efforts of those to merely tick a box. 

This along with his daughter, Eve, going through the tumultuous period of hormones and school coupled with the conclusion of the last book - What The Dead Want - where she was attacked by a male teen; with the two navigating their life together without mother, Penny around. 

A familiar experience when reading Lee's series (and this can be said for his contemporary Marion Todd) is that the books start off sprightly with the problem laid out before our hero in the first act. Only when he starts investigating and is at loggerheads with a superior officer, does the narrative gain pace and reads at a clip that is enjoyable as this reader digests with aplomb.

The last act of the book as the answers become clear to Ridpath and his team - a credit and salute to the leg work and diligence of police work - before the murderer can kill again, is pulsating and heart racing. The last quarter of the book flies past with a mixture of thrill and enjoyment as the plot unravels

Written with flair, pace and tension, Lee again has written a thriller of exceptional quality that in time may well rank as one of the best in the series overall. Lee like Ridpath has done it again.

What The Dark Whispers is out from Canelo on all formats from 3rd July 

The Bones of Chester - MJ Lee

 

Third book in DI Emma Christie series by prolific MJ Lee

Returning for the third book in the series, MJ Lee again writes a pulsating book set in and around the historic city of Chester. 

DI Emma Chrisite, is again tasked with a troubling case after human remains are found near a landmark in the Cheshire city. After an autopsy and inspection by pathologists, it is determined that the remains are from three different female skeletons.

Christie, must contend with office politics and the police hierarchy who want her to fail and have the men pick up the pieces. With her diligent and devoted team, they set about trying to find out firstly who the women are who have been buried and who did the heinous acts of maceration - the removal of flesh from human bones. 

Based around the mythic folk tale of Santa Muerte, who speaks to our villain; the plot revolves around the disappearance of young girls on two specific dates every calendar year. This nugget of truth amidst a fictitious tale helps somewhat ground it in reality - this is helped by Lee writing the discombobulating effect of the politicking in her job. Not to mention, her ongoing care for her ailing father and ex-super cop who is battling Alzheimer's at home.

That facet of the narrative is dealt with delicately, as the father's back story is slowing growing along with the history of the original crime gang family - the Gilligan's from Liverpool - who are always sniffing about. Another thing sniffing, is that familiar rat Gavin Newton, the journalist with no morals and even less ethics. 

A familiar trait of Lee's books is that the first half of the book seems to tread water in narrative construction and obstacles for our protagonists as if it is going uphill to reach a summit. Then when it reaches that summit, the downhill portion is all-go, thrill seeking page turning of the highest order.

Highly recommended for fans old and new, a book to get your teeth into. The fourth book cannot come soon enough.

The Bones of Chester is a self-published book by Author MJ Lee and available on all formats now.

The Famous - Rachel Lynch

New novel by prolific Rachel Lynch set in the world of celebrity and television

Lynch returns with another standalone thriller set amidst the world of the rich and famous following her successful departure from Cheshire set crime series, with The Rich.

Lynch creatively exposes the darkness underneath the sheen of superficiality we see amongst Instagram reels and stories.

In this book, we meet Gloria White, the aging mid-morning television host who is being subjected to a series of vicious anonymous letters culminating in the kidnapping of her daughter; while dealing with the loss of her media mogul father-in-law Roger Wade and the stress this leads.

Hot on the heels of the highly acclaimed film 'The Substance', where the varnish vanishes from an ageing starlet as she seeks the elixir of youth; this shows a highly esteemed television personality's life slowly unravel when her integrity is questioned.

Unlike The Rich which was one of those Crash-like scenarios, when lives are entwinned unknowingly, this story focuses solely on a main matriarch and her behaviour impacts everyone, while her arc revolves around this eventual realisation of her actions before it is too late.

Truth is buried and lives are ruined by the acts of the rich and famous. Lynch who touched upon such things in her previous work, invents more fictional tales that focus upon cancel culture, celebrity and money buying power.

Thrilling and tantalising in equal measure, fans of Lynch's Kelly Porter books will know what to expect with the intricately plotted narrative, but the realisation of a character such as Gloria White, at her advanced age is a successful one.

The Famous is out from Canelo on 6th March in all formats

The Last Ride - Nick Louth

The fun of reading new thrillers from established and new writers, is that they welcome you into their world so to speak.

Having followed writers from up and down this land ranging from St. Andrews, Scotland to Manchester to the abundance of London set novels, this reader has now had the luxury of reading a new novel set in the vast countryside of Cornwall in the a new thriller by Nick Louth

The second in the Jan Talantire novel - this is a new sort of twist on the thriller. Having read female protagonists by female writers and male protagonists by male writers, here is a female protagonist by a male writer.

The story revolves around a joyriding incident that goes horribly wrong culminating in a chase and a crash that leads to a fatality and critical injuries to other youngsters in the car. Talantire comes in on the night shift and starts the investigation that much like the winding road on which the accident occurred, there are many twists you cannot see coming

As with other Canelo Crime strand releases, there is a plethora of obstacles for Talantire to overcome and most are the office politics at play culminating in decisions and repercussions for all. Another great addition is that you become quickly aware of the difficulty and vastness of the Cornwall landscape and how hard it is to police in that region

This was a thrilling read and one that has piqued my interest to this writer, with this reader looking forward to further releases

The Last Ride is out from Canelo now on all formats.

What The Dead Want - MJ Lee

 

Tenth book in thrilling Manchester based detective series by MJ Lee

Author Lee burst into this reader's viewpoint in 2019 when the second book of the series Where The Dead Fall was released on NetGalley. From there this reader has looked forward to each release with relish as to how DI Thomas Ridpath, but his friends just call him Ridpath is navigating the delicate balancing act of working for the coroner's office and being seconded to the police office with the melting of law enforcement and investigation of suspicious deaths meeting.

At the end of book nine, What The Shadows Hide, Ridpath was dealing with the tragic injury of his boss Coroner Challinor who was attacked by an assailant and left for dead. The book begins with her still in a coma some months later, with Ridpath working for a new boss who is nothing like his predecessor. 

A good mark of any crime detective series is that the hero detective is only as good as his opponent, and in this new novel What The Dead Want, we have the unlikely return of the evil pathologist Harold Lardner who has planned a series of murders despite being behind bars..

A mysterious disappearance of a young boy in Manchester during the Covid lockdown is investigated and leads to a care home which itself had a spike in suspicious deaths with organs removed from cadavers from being moved from care home to the mortuary slab.

As ever, Lee writes with such efficient fluency and swiftness that you are never left in doubt about the action taking place. Ridpath continues to have to deal with office politics and the new know-it-all detective Helen Shipton brings its own problems, with her being in direct conflict to Ridpath's loyal footsoldiers.

The other notable note of credit to Lee is that he loves writing Ridpath and his characters, and he can still get me with a surprise twist in terms of narrative pull. Something else he does well is elicit correctly the feel and atmosphere of being in February - cold, miserable and dire. 

This is another excellent entry into the Ridpath series; and his second excellent novel of this calender year.

What The Dead Want is out now from Canelo on all formats.

Shared Remains - Rachel Lynch

 

New thriller in DI Kelly Porter series out now from Canelo

Following on from last year's bestseller Silent Bones, Lynch returns to her ongoing series of DI Kelly Porter who surveys and polices the Cumbrian landscape with her team while balancing a new relationship when not on duty.

This story revolves around the discovery of a body in a quarry one morning and from there a can of worms very much gets opened involving a nearby elderly home. At the home, mysterious deaths are mounting up, and then the paper trail leads to the discovery that the funeral directors are the main beneficiaries of the recently deceased. The only snag is that the quarry body is the funeral director, Vince, and there-in lies a problem.

Falsifying death certificates, grave digging and fraud all come to head for Porter and her team. This macabre set of narrative junctions lead to a less than breezy feel to the reading of the story that stops and starts on occasion with some emphasis put upon the domestic situation for Kelly at home which at times is a bit distracting.

As ever with Canelo Crime reads, the final quarter of the book - when the evidence comes to the fore and exhumations begin - is when the book kicks into gear with a gratifying conclusion for this reader.

The atmosphere of the book with the greys and dismal weather of late summer becoming that unimpeachable autumn is evoked effectively by Lynch, with the old adage grim up north ringing true.

And yet through the gloom, there is a ray of sunshine coming to the surface for Kelly with the hopes of a new relationship ready to bloom as snow falls on the ground

SHARED REMAINS is out now from Canelo

My thanks to them for the pre-approval on NetGalley for my review 

On the Run - Max Luther

 

Second book of Alex Drayce released 14th March by Canelo

Set in Las Vegas, Alex Drayce is a private bodyguard looking after wealthy businessmen under threat of assassination.

He is given the opportunity for quick cash aiding Carlos Garcia with finding his daughter. Yet what is meant to be a simple task spirals out of control.

Soon Alex is on the run with a bloodthirsty gang and the Las Vegas police force after him.

A rip-roaring thriller that does not ease up on pace and narrative. Graphic in detail and with a lot of language but necessary to the plot, not entirely to my liking personally speaking.

Read in a few sittings and easy to delve back into now and then.

Canelo granted me access to this book on NetGalley for my review.

Bridges to Burn - Marion Todd

 

Brand new thriller in continuing series by Scottish author Marion Todd

Todd has crafted a thrilling series of novels based around her hometown residency of St. Andrews, based around the central character of DI Clare Mackay, who with her trusted team of police officers solve the crimes that fall on their tranquil doorsteps month-to-month.

Embracing the ethos of write what you know by placing the action in her hometown, Todd mixes a wealth of local knowledge with meticulous police research and a smidgen of admiration for Midsomer Murders. After eight books surely people should stay away from this town yet we as a reader keep returning for more and more of the same.

This book revolves around quite sensitive content as it starts with the suicide of a young female teenager and then the murder of a former local councilman who may or may not have taken bribes when in the position of local authority to get planning permission approved. 

As always two inextricably linked cases are somehow entwinned and Mackay must navigate the two cases along with a DCI who she does not get along with and a very green Family Liaison Officer who she rubs up the wrong way.

This reader has been with Todd every step of the way and has thoroughly enjoyed the growth of not only Mackay as a character but Todd as an assured plotter of narrative. Her strength is remaining in control of the multiple plates she has spinning, at the start of the book the sensitive nature of the teenage suicide is linked to porn websites which is a bit unsettling but then the councilman's murder helps crank up the tension and narrative thrust. 

Any worries that was being endured where thrust asunder with the breakneck pace of the final quarter of the book being both rip-roaring and thoroughly enjoyable. 

Another pleasing aspect of this book was the matriarchal role Mackay has slowly grown into since her debut in See Them Run in 2019. In five years a lot can happen yet the responsibility you have to those you work with remains and the relationship Mackay has with Chris on the eve of his wedding is such a well-handled notion of friendship and respect.

She also has the confidence to bring up old cases and returning periphery characters such as the journalist from In Plain Sight  (2020) which feels neither nostalgic or ill-judged; this is a writer at the top of her powers.

For fans old and new, this is a book I shall be recommending to crime readers. As I have previously stated Ms. Todd deserves a wider audience for her books. 

BRIDGES TO BURN is out on 7th March from Canelo Crime, whom I thank for the approval on NetGalley for.

Exclusive Interview with Christina Sweeney-Bird, author of THE END OF MEN

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with Christina Sweeney-Bird, author of the brilliant new novel THE END OF MEN published by Borough Press

What was the genesis of The End of Men and when did you start writing the first draft? 

I read WORLD WAR Z by Max Brooks when I was 21 or 22 and found it hugely engaging. I completely believed that the zombie war it described was real and found the breadth of stories around the world in that book very compelling. Then I read THE POWER by Naomi Alderman in early 2018 and found myself thinking, what would the world look like if women weren’t more physically powerful than men but completely outnumbered them? I felt that telling that story through many viewpoints would be the most engaging way to do it. I started writing it on 1 September 2018

When the pandemic took hold in early 2020, what were your instant reactions? 

I remember first hearing about it and not quite knowing how to feel. It felt so bizarre that the kind of news that normally belongs in fiction was now on BBC News and being emailed around by friends and colleagues going, ‘Have you seen this?’ Then, as I read more about it,  I felt total horror. Having done a lot of research into pandemics in the course of researching THE END OF MEN, as soon as I saw that the virus was spreading I thought, ‘Oh God it’s going to go global’. 

What research did you incorporate into your novel to gain knowledge of the different countries your novel visits? 

I grew up in Glasgow and live in London so those two settings came very naturally to me. Other than that, I find films, TV and plenty of online research tend to help with getting a sense of a place.

When did you decide to go away from the Amanda Maclean narrative as a lone central protagonist story and instead a tale of all women in this story?  

Right from the beginning I knew I would have lots of narrators, it was just a question of how many. The first draft had over 40 points of view which I then reduced down in the course of a heavy rewrite with my agent. Amanda and Lisa are the two most consistent POVs - they didn’t change much in the rewrite, I just expanded their stories. 

You start the story in Scotland, Glasgow specifically with such affection is this where you are from originally? 

Yes, I grew up in Glasgow and my parents are both from Glasgow. It’s such a wonderful city and has such a no-nonsense, determined sensibility. It made perfect sense that Amanda would be in Glasgow as the pandemic began.

What is your background as this is your debut novel? 

I studied Law at Cambridge University and work as a corporate litigation lawyer in the City. I always wanted to write and would start writing a novel every summer from the age of 15 (and inevitably fail to get past 10,000 words). As time went on, I read more and got better until when I was 25 I managed to finish my first novel which had taken two years. That novel was in a different genre and didn’t land me an agent but I had some encouraging responses from the agents I sent it to. I started writing THE END OF MEN as soon as I finished that novel, knowing it was an idea I wanted to explore, and here we are!

What is your personal Covid-19 history, how have you adapted much like your female characters?

 

I caught COVID in March 2020 which was challenging but also I’m very lucky to have only been ill for two weeks and now fully recovered. I think I have adapted pretty well to the changed world but I’m very aware that circumstances differ enormously and your circumstances have a huge influence on how affected you are. I read somewhere that we’re all in the same storm but we’re not in the same boat. That really resonated. I’m able to work from home (both as a lawyer and an author) and spent a lot of Spring with my family in Glasgow but not everyone is able to do that.

How do you feel the world will adjust/adapt (a central theme of the novel) post-pandemic? 

I have a fundamental belief in human resilience and optimism. I truly believe that people can adapt to almost anything. I think - no matter how the pandemic itself plays out - we will manage to adjust and hopefully keep our healthcare systems, the arts, workplaces and other industries going.

What are your hopes for the novel come April? And can you mention your relationship with Borough Press? 

I hope the book reaches as wide an audience as possible and I would love to be able to in person book events if it’s safe to do. Borough have been really brilliant. My editor, Carla, has been such a champion right from the first days after my agent sent the book out on submission and the publicity, marketing and other teams are so clever and innovative. I feel very lucky to be working with them.

What have you been reading lately as your twitter feed attests to, what can you recommend? 

I’ve been in an Ann Patchett phase; I read THE DUTCH HOUSE and COMMONWEALTH both of which I absolutely adored. I read a lot of romance and YA fantasy (my comfort genres) so I’ve read five Julia Quinn novels over the last few months. Her most popular series, the BRIDGERTONS, is now a Netflix show being aired in December and if you like the sound of witty, feminist, engaging historical romance you’ll love her. I’ve also become a huge Sarah J Maas fan over lockdown. Oh, and THE LAST ACT OF LOVE by Cathy Retzenbrink was gorgeously written and made me cry.

Any advice for freelancers or young writers out there? 

Keep going! So many authors take multiple books to get an agent and/or publishing deal so don’t be disheartened if it doesn’t happen straight away. Finish the manuscript; you can’t do anything with an unfinished book. And read, read, read. Both broadly across different genres and deeply in the genre you’re writing in. I think it’s Caitlin Moran who says that no one else will ever have read the exact mix of books you’ve read so make sure you’re reading lots of different things to make your voice as unique and interesting as possible. I find romance helps with writing compelling characters, thrillers make my writing more gripping, women’s fiction teaches how to pace well and literary fiction/memoir teaches you beautiful, illustrative turns of phrase. Different types of books help in different ways.

THE END OF MEN is published by Borough Press/Harper Collins on Thursday 29th April 

Blood Ties - Brian McGilloway

 

New book in Ben Devlin series by Brian McGilloway

Brian McGilloway won huge acclaim last year with the brilliant novel THE LAST CROSSING, before that he wrote a series of books featuring Ben Devlin a maverick of sorts in the police force near the borderlands of Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland with all the political ramifications that go with the character's proximity.

The Last Crossing was a standalone novel and a mediation on the coping of grief when one event can haunt you but also set you on a path in your life with no looking back.

On more familiar ground with a returning lead protagonist, Devlin is investigating a case that also looks back at the past and how it can have such a grip on people. 

'How can a dead woman avenge herself on her killer twenty years after her murder?'

That is the question posed to Devlin as he investigates a murdered body in a bedsit, a chill washes over him when the identity of the victim is Brooklyn Harris. Devlin knew of the case when Harris was convicted of murdering one Hannah Row on a night out which included sexual assault of the young victim on that occasion. As a minor, Harris was granted a new name when released from prison and yet his passing throws light on the question of how to grief for any victim, irrespective of the nefarious nature of the person involved.

As Devlin attempts to investigate he finds obstacles by people and colleagues who feel that particular victim - Harris - should be buried as quickly as possible in essence good riddance to bad criminals. 

McGilloway crafts a novel full of intrigue and compulsion, touching on religion, the pressure on the youth from peers, vigilant justice against sexual assaulters in the social media age and Devlin having to cope with the impending Covid-19 pandemic upon his loved ones especially his ailing father who he removes from a care home and takes in to be near him.

The swiftness with which McGilloway can go from one narrative thread to another so neatly and succinctly is a skill that familiar readers will be aware of but new readers will greatly appreciate.

A writer of real intelligence has again created a work of fiction that is both real and emotive basing it within a very familiar world as the fear of a pandemic takes over, but a gripping and entertaining crime read of real nous and skill

Blood Ties is available now on all formats.

My thanks to DHH Literary Agency for the review opportunity.

Sirens

Debut novels are all the rage in this the early part of 2017, new crime voices are making big strides and in recent months I have reviewed thrilling bows from A. A. Dhand with Streets of Darkness and the impending arrival of Daniel Cole's Ragdoll.

Whilst Ragdoll is that mixture of genuine thriller writing, good plotting and the page turning abandon you find in Lee Child or Dan Brown novels; there is another new voice on the block. Joseph Knox is here to make himself heard and Lee Child himself, has been most praiseworthy of this debut novel.

Sirens tells the story about DI Aidan Watts, a disgraced policeman in the Manchester Police Force, who whilst on suspension is asked for a special undercover role in finding a politican's daughter's whereabouts; but when Watts gets further into the loyalties of a crime lord he the past becomes murkier and the present day darker.

Knox in an interview with Radio 5 Live's Phil Williams last week said it took him the best part of seven years to finish the novel which prompted a bidding war between 10 publishers, with Doubleday/Transworld Publishers coming out on top.

Knox writes with a real verve and creates a foreboding atmosphere of a darker side of Manchester, much like Dhand did with Leeds and Bradford in his work.  The author has a keen eye on little details which he shares with Watts from the politician not wearing his wedding ring when away from his wife to the way people share looks and talk too loudly at house parties.

In the radio interview, Knox promised another novel starring Watts is in the works.  Whilst the line between good and evil is tread with fear by our protagonists, Knox is not afraid to take you to these places and his admiration for Manchester is clear to see. Should he continue to write with this flair and character, it will not be the last we hear of him.

Sirens is out from on Thursday 12th January from Doubleday Press/Transworld Publishers

Streets of Darkness

Born and bred in Bradford, A. A. Dhand is a befitting example of write what you know. Dhand has written a gritty and gripping thriller for his first book entitled Streets of Darkness, featuring a new anti-hero Detective Harry Virdee. 

Harry (or Hardeep) is suspended when we meet him, yet enlisted to help with a murder enquiry off the books to save his career. Harry has a lot going on in his life, his Muslim wife is expecting their first child and his marriage is a question of contention as Harry is a Sikh and mixed faith marriages are frowned upon in general especially in such a sub-contential bastion as Bradford is. The mixing of faith, religion and politics is one of the key storylines running in the book.

A A Dhand, the author of Streets of Darkness

The book is being pitched as a mix of the questionable hero like Luther and the hard nose naturalism of The Wire, and in Dhand's prose he does not hold back writing very graphic descriptions of drug use and violence seemingly paramount within the day in the life narrative. 

Mixing many tropes of the thriller genre - race against time, rivals from different backgrounds having to work together and put differences aside, are you on the right side of the law - Dhand writes with a crispness and pace that is good to see in a new British writer following in the footsteps of Lee Child, who many think of as a naturalised American.

Dhand writes with intelligence about religion and respect to his home town yet never wavering from his zest for character and narrative.  He has a keen eye for observational detail in characters be they periphery or central, and can inject little details such as when Harry sneezes when he enters a disused boxing gym due to the swirling of dust, a small detail that is sometimes overlooked in bigger thrillers on page and screen.

The film rights have already been optioned, and if they can find the right actor of Muslim hertiage then perhaps they can have a great series or film on their hands. My call to play Harry would be Arsher Ali, while he plays socially awkward characters or insecure souls, he has a bit of recognition in terms of his appearances in Line of Duty and The Missing, and if he can beef up a bit then he has the range to do Harry justice.

Arsher Ali is Harry Virdee

Streets of Darkness is both page turning and can leave you wincing at the bleakness of human nature, but in this day and age it is good to see a book that is entrenched in reality and not sugar coating such matters as inter-racial marriage, race hate crimes and political corruption.

Streets of Darkness is released by Bantam Press on 16th June for £12.99 in Hardback and £7.99 on Kindle

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.co.uk/publishers/transworld/

Penthouse North

 

Out on DVD from 3rd February, Penthouse North is a slicker than usual B-movie film that tells the story of a blind woman who does not know the truth about her boyfriend and how they can afford such a great penthouse apartment in New York City.

The action takes place over one New Years Eve night and our heroine played with great finesse by he beautiful Michelle Monaghan (Mission Impossible 3 and Source Code) as Sara, a war photographer coming to terms with the loss of her vision.  On NYE in NYC she runs some errands, comes home and realises there is an intruder in her home, Chad (Barry Sloane).  Her ailment obviously makes her unaware until she comes across her dead boyfriend; this is a wonderful scene as she walks round the prone body and only comes aware of his fate when she slips in a pool of his blood.

Sara overcomes Chad and escapes her building and when seeking help she encounters the charming Hollander played by Michael Keaton (who appears in Robocop out this Friday). However, after a brief period of calm we realise Chad and Hollander are in cahoots.

Exposition allows the criminals to explain they are after cash and diamonds, meaning they trash the place and hope the disposable boyfriend had told Sara where the money is situated in the flat.  The film then descends into a cat and mouse game between the blind girl and the two criminals.  We get the criminals descend into madness as they try to one-up each other.

The discovery of the diamonds is handled with great aplomb in one of the few original moments of the film.  That is he unfortunate nature of the screenplay, try as the capable actors do to elevate their one-dimensional characters.

However, due to the vulnerability of Sara you sense no harm will come onto her from Hollander.  The films conclusion harkens back to the days of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.. as the heroine gets the rewards and the spoils.

Whilst this is a B movie, it is a gripping serviceable affair and seeing Keaton on the screen is always a pleasure.

Penthouse North is out on DVD from Image Entertainment now for £12.99 on DVD and £15.99 Blu-Ray

Haywire Preview

As one film year comes to an end, there are more films to look forward to in the new year. Already 2012 promises blockbusters (The Avengers), fantasy (The Hobbit), scares (The Woman in Black), Oscar front runners (The Artist and The Descendants) and a usual breed of action movies and thrillers.

Steven Soderbergh who returned to big screen fare with his big screen friends with Contagion in September, has another star-studded film on the horizon in January 2012 - titled Haywire it sees him reunited with writer Lem Dobbs, who wrote The Limey, which starred Terence Stamp - a film about revenge and the journey to exact the revenge.

Mallory Kane (Gino Carano) is a highly trained operative who works for a government security contractor in the dirtiest, most dangerous corners of the world.  After successfully freeing a Chinese journalist held hostage, she is double crossed and left for dead by someone close to her in her own agency.  Suddenly the target of skilled assassins who knew her every move, Mallory must find the truth in order to stay alive.

Gino Carano is a former MMA fighter and this is her first starring role in a major film, which would be considered a risk unless you have seen the trailer and the numerous fights she is involved in one where she kicks Channing Tatum's butt in a roadside diner and then disposes of suave Michael Fassbender in a hotel room.  The Fassbender scene sets the wheels in motion for her betrayal, she is meant to be killed meaning she is on the run and in search of Ewan McGregor's point man who ordered the killing, along with CIA official by Michael Douglas.

The trailers show the film attempting to be as globe-trotting as Bourne; as hard-hitting as Craig's Bond, and as thrilling as any Michael Mann film - however, many people will be surprised at the action film being directed by Soderbergh, an auteur more adept at vast character pieces like Oceans 11 or Traffic and social comment pieces a la Erin Brockovich.  Haywire promises to be another feather in the cap for this versatile and always entertaining director.

The tagline is 'They Left Her No Choice', you can make the right one and go see this exhiliarating feature.

Haywire is released by Momentum Pictures on January 18th up and down and around the country.

www.facebook.com/haywireuk

James Patterson 'London Private'

In this ever decreasing global community, things seem to be moving at quite a pace. Nevermore so in evidence, than the work of James Patterson, celebrated creator of the Alex Cross character immortalised by Morgan Freeman in the films Kiss The Girls and Along Came A Spider.

Patterson, a long term advocate for literacy (especially in children) has used his muscle as a best-seller to collaborate with up and coming authors in dual efforts. This means Patterson can keep releasing books under his marquee name whilst maintaining his work to get children reading from an early age.

Private London  is a spin off of a new franchise Patterson created with Maxine Paetro, on this occasion his co-author is Mark Pearson - it tells the tale of a private detective agency in London, a spin-off of the Los Angeles agency set up by the erstwhile Jack Morgan. In London, the head of Private is former Royal Military Police Sergeant Dan Carter, imagine Jason Statham but with an ability to string a sentence together without a grunt or monosyllabic shrug

The book revolves around two kidnappings, involving the same family, the Shapiros from Los Angeles. We flashback initially to a date in 2003, when Hannah Shapiro's mother is kidnapped, held for ransom, raped in front of her and the ransom is never paid by her billionaire father, Harlan. Flash forward to 2010, and Hannah is about to start studying Psychiatry at Chancellors in London, Morgan contacts Carter to be Hannah's personal protection during her stay in our homeland.

Then to the relative present day, and another kidnapping takes place this time with Hannah the target. However, with this being a Patterson thriller, nothing or anyone is ever what they seem - with the threat of crosses, double crosses and triple crosses always in place.

Carter and his team are on the case, but Carter has his own backstory with his ex-wife DI Kirsty Webb on the case from the legitimate standpoint for the Police; it is never made out that Private are secret just a private detective agency with unlimited financial resources that put the Metropolitan Police in the shade.

There is a common theory regarding the success of Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code - not that it was about the conspiracy theory, but because the chapters were short and punchy. Four to five pages that were of narrative significance and sustained a sense of purpose by including a moment of incidence or thrill. Private London puts Brown's books to shame, chapters of sometimes two pages in length means there is always something to keep you gripped. This novel was swallowed up in two days of page turning wonderment.

Whilst an American writer taking on London is not out of place, you need only look at Jeffrey Deaver's recent Bond novel, you can see why Mark Pearson was required. Pearson must have helped with the geographical element of locations from the difference of Metropolitan and Jubilee Line to identifying Amersham in Buckinghamshire.

The dialogue is the key to the page-turning, snappy and in combination with constant action and violence; however it never gets to the stage of parodying itself, although characters do refer to watching television programmes and it being nothing like the real thing. Characters are also self-knowing of what to say next,( 'Ready?' he asked. I nodded, resisting the impulse to say I was born ready.) straight talking guys who get to the point.

The only drawback was the other case revolving missing fingers in the book, whilst dealt with care and suggestion, that plotline gets kind of forgotten about once the kidnapping of an American princess takes centre stage. Patterson has that ability to render your full attention in what he exactly thinks you should pay attention to.

For fans of Patterson's novels, of which there are 1,698,671 on Facebook at last count, this is a definite positive addition to his back catalogue and the enticing anticipation of a sequel with a brilliantly constructed reunion at the end means Private London is open for business and it is booming

Private London is released on Thursday 9th June in Hardback by Century Publishing for £18.99 and is 368pages.

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Twenty8k - a bold future for British filmmaking

A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending in Newham the set of a new and exciting British production, Twenty8k. Co-directed by David Kew and Neil Thompson, produced by Martin Carr and starring Parminder Nagra, Stephen Dillane, Jonas Armstrong and Kierson Wareing; in a script written by Jimmy Dowdall and Paul Abbott. It tells the story of a young woman, Deeva, a fashion executive in Paris who returns home to East London to defend the name of her brother who has been arrested for murder, but as she seeks to uncover the truth, lies and conspiracy come to the fore with twists aplenty.

Firstly, upon my arrival on set I was allowed an in-depth sit down with Martin Carr, a passionate man who described the film as a 'woman in peril thriller', a rare beast for these times and one for which they always had the acclaimed Nagra in mind for. As we arrive on set, they are in the last week or so of major shooting, due to Parminder's busy schedule in line with her work on J.J.Abram's new TV pilot Alcatraz; this has been a busy five weeks and hectic for the still young actress - who is back in England for the first time in years.

Nagra, is the cornerstone of the film, and in some exclusive reel footage we were shown; we see a scene of her crying in her brother's bedroom as she sees the only contact with which she had with him; a postcard from her home in Paris where she was working as a fashion executive, she breaks down in tears as this postcard is the only link she had with her brother, the tears expressing guilt and regret over the greater distance she had withdrawn from family life.

Mr.Carr went on about the gruelling schedule of shooting, days shoots running from 7am to 5pm, and then sometimes a night shoots going from 5pm to 7am, sometimes straight after, which has been hard on the 40 strong crew, but the professionalism on display has been all apparent.

As the money man, he was not shy to state how the budget at £1.4m is very good for a British film of this stature - but with its presence as the marquee British release of the early spring after the Oscar rush of films, the film could be the first thing of London in 2012 before 'the big sporting event' appears on the horizon in late July. Yet Mr.Carr made the point, 'that filmgoers pay £8 or whatever it is, for a big Hollywood blockbuster and the same for a small British film, so why can we not offer the British film fan the same sort of sheen and look as a Hollywood film.'

Asking about the script, a first draft was written in 2008 but following a creative difference with the original author, mostly about the omnipresent c-word in British pictures; Carr approached Paul Abbott (Shameless, State of Play) who said no but came back and did a draft and the beauty of Abbott's work, 'is that in two lines he gets the audience to ask 30 questions'.

Carr hopes that along with such films like Enemy of the State and the Bourne franchise, 'there will be a sense of immediacy with the work and that the preparation will pay off. And that there will be an international reach for this film even though it has a low budget, but this has class and we are using London as an asset and character in proceedings. And in Deeva (Nagra), we have a character who is a strong yet vulnerable girl, using her skill set and intelligence - allowing us a greater demographic due to her everyman quality.'