Start a Harlan Coben and you know you’re going to be up all night. Un. Put. Downable! I Will Find You grips from the very first page, where David Burroughs explains how he’s in prison for his three-year-old son’s murder. A murder that has overwhelming evidence against him, but one he didn’t commit. But he does blame himself. As a father, it was his job to protect his family. And he failed. He hasn’t allowed visitors for years. But when his ex sister-in-law arrives five years into his imprisonment, she drops a bombshell. A photo taken at a theme park … one where David’s son is clearly in the background. He’s alive. All David needs do is break out of prison and prove it! So many twists and turns … an adrenalin rush from start to finish. Century
LV Matthews has outdone herself … Silent Waters is a one-sitting read. The story of police diver Jen, her brother Bill, who’s likeable but has got himself into all sorts of trouble, a missing woman, Claudia, and her husband, Mark – all of whom have shared history. Throw in murder and fame and Olympic dreams and secrets and more twists than you can count and you’ve a thriller that really is unputdownable. Brilliant! Welbeck
Winemaker Narina Cloete says the new Blaauwklippen’s Malbec 2021 is the ultimate Winter wine, saying she enjoys it on a cold wintry night with a seared beef fillet or Coq au Vin. “The aromas of dark chocolate as well as the hints of mineral and tobacco nuances support the full-bodied notes of mulberry, cassis, and berry flavours perfectly, while the plush chalky tannins with vibrant texture on the palate allows for a fine aromatic finish with a lingering length and creamy flinty text,” she says. And we’re not arguing. It is a really fine wine, one to show off to friends. And what better friends than the ones you see at Book Club every month! R250, you’ll find it at specialist wine stores or buy from the farm at blaauwklippen.com
In Robert Ludlum’s The Treadstone Rendition by Joshua Hood, Adam Hayes has stepped away from the field for the very last time. He’s promised his wife he won’t put his life on the line anymore, and nothing will make him break that promise. But as America withdraws from Afghanistan and the Taliban close in, Hayes receives a request from his old partner, Abdul Nassir. Ten years previously, Nassir saved Haye’s life, and the time has come for repayment. Nassir is desperate to get his family out of the country. He is scared of the Taliban, but he can’t trust the Americans either … his daughter witnessed a massacre committed by rogue CIA contractors. That only leaves one man who can get them out of the country. Adam Hayes. Head of Zeus
The Consultant is very good at his job. He creates simple, elegant, effective solutions for restructuring. Nothing obvious or messy. Certainly nothing anyone would ever suspect as murder. The ‘natural deaths’ he plans have always gone well: a medicine replaced here, a mechanism jammed there. His performance reviews are excellent. And it’s not as though he knows these people. Until the ‘customer’ turns out to be someone he not only knows but cares about, and for the first time, he begins to question the role he plays in the vast, anonymous Company. A thrilling, dark and satirical Korean thriller by Im Seong-sun, translated to English, with true events scattered throughout, making it all the more believable. Bloomsbury
Looking for killer twists and heroes to believe in. Well, Baldacci delivers in spades. In Simply Lies, a former New Jersey detective works for a global investigation company, tracking down assets of the wealthy who have tried to avoid their creditors. At the request of a work colleague she visits the home of a notorious arms dealer, where she discovers his body. But things get twisted when she discovers the body isn’t that of the drug dealer, and that the colleague who initially requsted the investigation actually doesn’t work for the company at all. Throw in a recluse who’s been in Witness Protection and secret agendas and you’ve another tremendous thriller from David Baldacci. Not that we’d expect anything less. Macmillan
It was supposed to be a simple delivery job for DI Victoria Montgomery-Porter and her sidekick, Edward Reekie. Pick up a prisoner from HMP Grampian and take them to their new state-funded home. But life’s never that straightforward. From the outside, Glenfarach looks like a quaint, sleepy, snow-dusted village, nestled in the heart of Cairngorms National Park. But things aren’t quite what they seem. The place is thick with security cameras, it doesn’t appear on any modern map, and there’s a strict nine-o’clock curfew. Because Glenfarach is the last resort for criminals who’ve served their sentences but can’t be safely released into the general population. Victoria’s just supposed to drop her ‘guest’ off and head back to Aberdeen, before the approaching blizzards shut everything down. But when an ex-cop-turned-gangster is discovered skinned alive in his bungalow, someone needs to take charge. The weather’s closing in. Tensions are mounting. Time is running out. Something nasty has come to Glenfarach, and Victoria is standing right in its way. Stuart Macbride’s The Dead of Winter is edge-of-your-seat stuff! Penguin
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