New Zealand author Greg Scowen has come up with an interesting concept for his conspiracy thriller The Spanish Helmet: what if the officially accepted history of New Zealand is wrong? A mysterious Spanish helmet sitting in our national museum, a large pohutukawa tree in La Coruna, Spain, and a 16th-century Spanish expedition are the basis […]
Alternative history delivers Read Post »
Once again, author Simon Kernick promises and delivers a fast-paced thriller. Ex-cop Dennis Milne is a man with a past that involves murder. Milne has earned his living killing the bad guys who, in his opinion, deserve to die. Now he is in Manila, awaiting word on his next target. Detective Tina Boyd is also
Not Kernick’s best but still a good read Read Post »
Everyone knows about Virginia: about her stellar reputation as a gynaecologist; about her commitment to her women patients. But does anyone know about the knives? Everyone knows about Faisal too: about his gentle charm and his delight in his family; about his brilliance in the operating theatre. But does anyone know he’s a traitor? And
Noah Boyd is one of those rare authors who not only writes in the crime thriller genre, he also lived it. According to Boyd’s publisher, he is an ex- United States Marine and FBI agent and during the course of his career as a Fed he tracked serial killers, captured federal fugitives and broke a
A fast and furious series Read Post »
I’m always a little stunned by just how prolific author James Patterson is. Sure, he collaborates on a lot of his books but he still churns out an impressive number of novels that are impressively well- written. This one is the third in the Michael Bennett series, featuring the widowed New York detective with 10
Something for everyone Read Post »
This is the fourth book in the Detective Sam Shepherd murder mystery series and I’m pleased to report that they just get better and better. I have read two of the other three (Overkill, the very first book, is still on my “must-track-down-and-read” list) and each time the main character becomes more and more believable
A ripper of a series Read Post »
Homicide cops Franco Patrese and Mark Beradino are called to a double murder in a rough neighbourhood and while it initially seems they’ve got the killer things aren’t always as simple as they seem. In a much more wealthy part of town, another body lies charred, then a priest is set alight in a confessional.
Ex-con Phil Hunt has spent the past 20 years working on a ranch with his wife, making a living and just getting on with life. Every now and then he has supplemented his income with a spot of drug running, as you do. After 20 years, he has become comfortable with his life and the
Drug-running thriller a solid debut Read Post »
There seems to be a bit of a trend for kick-ass Scandinavian thrillers of late. Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy has pushed the Nordic murder-mystery genre into the spotlight and those books have made a whole lot of readers sit up and take notice, but there are lots of other authors waving the Nordic flag. Mercy,
Nordic authors come in from the cold Read Post »
Author Robert Goddard has been criticised in the past for being a little formulaic with his plot development, but he is back to his best with this latest novel in his quite prolific career. I suppose the fact that his past eight novels have all appeared on Britain’s Sunday Times bestseller list is also a
Goddard back to best Read Post »
