It’s all dark and twisted and have-you-locked-the-front-door reading this month.
De Krans Cape Vintage Reserve 2021 is dramatically moody – dark black with a plum red rim, with an aromatic nose of ripe red berries and cherries, violets and dark chocolate, and a taste full of ripe dark fruit notes, plums, mulberry and blackcurrants with smooth dark chocolate undertones. Enjoy on it’s own or with some well-matured cheese. R385
Edinburgh. New Year’s Eve. Emily sees Nicky. Or she thinks she does. He looks, laughs and moves like Nicky. But Nicky died when they were teenagers, in an accident on a remote road. A week later, Emily sees him again … he says his name is Nicholas, and he knows things only Nicky would know. The encounters become more frequent, Emily’s fixation intensifies, and the truth becomes murkier. Either Emily is going mad, or something much darker is going on. Rose McDonagh thrills and chills with One Came Back. Trapeze
Exhilarating. Twisty. A stay-up-all-night read. The Summer Guests – the new Martini Club mystery from Tess Gerritsen sees members of the ‘book club’ – actually a group of retired spies – having to solve the case of a missing teenager. It’s personal … since one of their good friends is the prime suspect. Bantam
Two more twisty thrillers …
Rosie’s invited to meet her boyfriend’s family … his glam artist mum and stepdad, his older brother and his Italian model wife and their two children. They’re all on holiday at the family’s Tuscan holiday farmhouse. Idylic. But missing teens, hostile locals, secrets and lies turn things sour. So many twists in Kate Gray’s psychological thriller, Welcome to the Family. Welbeck Publishing • In James Patterson’s 26 Beauties, beautiful young women are disappearing by the dozen. DI Lindsay Boxer has been tracking this chilling pattern … someone’s hunting the city’s most vulnerable, and the count keeps rising. Interpol says the cases are nearly impossible to solve. But impossible never stopped the Women’s Murder Club before. Penguin
New on the bookshelves …
Being watched. Changed identities. Stalkers. Secrets. Bestselling author BA Paris’s When I Kill You is a blistering, chilling thriller. HQ • A mother accuses a therapist of brainwashing her daughter in order to gain access to her trust fund. The therapist claims she’s actually helped her. Don’t believe either of them. Obsession, money, part courtroom drama, part psychological love story … rave reviews for In Her Defence by Philippa Malicka. Hodder and Stoughton • Described as bold, vivid and heart-racingly intense, The Long Night by Christian White is all kidnapping, violence, devotion and courage. Affirm Press • When you’re the prime suspect in a murder case, it helps that your unshakable alibi is when the murder took place, you’re at the police station, confessing to a deadly obsession and a plan to kill. Innocent, or an ingenious, cold-blooded murderer. The Opposite of Murder by Sophie Hannah … a clever thriller. Hodder and Stoughton • Six struggling authors. One private island. 72 hours to write the killer ending to the unfinished book of a world-famous author. And to avoid a murder. The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clarke, will, says Stephen King, remind you, in the best way, of Agatha Christie. HQ • A suspected forgery of a multimillion-dollar masterpiece. A dedicated detective and murdered informant. A recluse genius with Mafia ties. A world where brilliance and madness collide, masterpieces mask psychosis, and death stalks. Lynda La Plante’s Sacrifice is her latest Jack Warr thriller … one where he has to decide which side of the law he’s on. Zaffre • In Rocket’s Red Glare by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann, a presidential candidate is assassinated, the country thrown into turmoil, and a manhunt by a covert unit so classified it doesn’t officially exist uncovers a terrifying global conspiracy. Century • James is different from the men Natalie’s loved before. For good reason … she prefers not to think about what they did to her. Or what she had to do to them. But now she’s thinking maybe she’s made another mistake. And while James sleeps in the bedroom next door, she realises she’s already holding the knife! Twists and shocks in Leodora Darlington’s debut novel, The Exes. Michael Josef
