Wednesday 14 November 2012

Books to look forward to from Penguin and Michael Joseph


 Two Evils is by P J Tracy and is due to be published in January 2013.  A missing teenage girl lies dead in a parking lot.  Two young immigrants are killed in their apartment.  Three men are found dead in the street nearby.  As the police struggle to establish what's happened, they realise that the deaths may not be as random as they first appear.  As the killings continue, homicide detectives Magozzi and Rolseath turn to maverick computer analyst Grace McBride for help, drawing her into an investigation that will threaten her life.  And as the evidence mounts, it reveals terrifying intent.  Ultimately, it forces the two detectives to make a dreadful choice: down which path does the lesser of two evils lie . . .

The one who got away - is the only one he wants.  It's been seven years since the Seattle Strangler terrorized the city.  His victims were all young, pretty, their lifeless bodies found wrapped in a white dress.  But there was one who miraculously escaped death. . .  Lara Church has only hazy memories of her long-ago attack.  What she does have is a home in Austin, a job, and a chance at a normal life at last.  Then Texas Ranger James Beck arrives on her doorstep with shattering news: The Strangler is back.  And this time, he's in Austin.  The 7th Victim is by Mary Burton and is due to be published in March 2013.
  
The Bone Prophet is by Ted Kosmataka and is due to be published in April 2013.  'Bone is a text.  It writes its history for those able to read it...'His was the only name on their list.  But for brilliant young anthropologist Paul Carlsson, asked to examine a cache of bones found on a remote island, fascination soon turns to fear.  Waiting for him is evidence of something that shouldn't exist; a revelation that could turn scientific and religious orthodoxy on its head.  If Carlsson discovers the truth, too many powerful interests have too much to lose.  But not every prophet is without honour.  Carlsson, alone and on the run, is determined to reveal the discovery to the world.  A world, which is only 5,800 years old... 

When Grace and her brother Andrew inherit their grandmother's house in Hampstead, they decide to move in together.  It seems the obvious thing to do: they've always got on well, the house is large enough to split down the middle, and neither of them likes partying or loud music.  There's one thing they've forgotten though: what if one of them wants to bring a lover into the house?  When Andrew's partner James moves in, it alters the balance – with almost fatal consequences.  Grace tries to concentrate on writing her thesis, on illegitimacy in English fiction.  During the day, she ponders the fate of Hardy's Tess and the unfortunate Hetty Sorrell.  So she's happy to oblige a friend when he asks her to read an unpublished manuscript about a young unmarried mother in Devon between the wars.  Except the book begins to seem remarkably, and uncomfortably, close to home.  The Child’s Child is by Barbara Vine and is due to be published in March 2013.
  
If a decade of diplomatic life had taught Toby Bell one thing, it was to treat every crisis as normal and soluble.  2008. A covert counter terror operation codenamed "Wildlife" to be mounted on the Rock of Gibraltar.  This one is right off the books.  The target codenamed "PUNTER".  Our boys on land, the American mercenaries by sea.  Kit Probyn, Foreign Office upright veteran with a safe pair of hands and no previous experience of the dark arts, to be the Minister's eyes and ears on the ground.  His "red telephone".  Toby Bell, rising Foreign Office star and the Minister's Personal Private Secretary, has been kept out of the loop.  Why?  Whispers of private armies, bounty, dicey intelligence, corporate wars.  2011. A disgraced Special Forces Soldier who took part in "Wildlife" delivers a message from the dead.  The worlds of Toby Bell and Kit Probyn collide.  If the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing, at what point do these two good men become guilty bystanders?  A Delicate Truth is a furiously paced story of moral dilemma, personal guilt, bold action and unexpected love.  A Delicate Truth is by John Le Carré and is due to be published in May 2013.

The Striker is the sixth book in the Isaac Bell series by Clive Cussler and is due to be published in March 2013.  Detective Isaac Bell returns in the remarkable new adventure.  It is 1902, and a bright, inexperience’s young man named Isaac Bell, only two years out of his apprenticeship at the Van Dorn Detective Agency, has an urgent message for his boss.  Hired to hunt for radical saboteurs in the coalmines, he is witness to a terrible accident that makes him think that something else is going on, that provocateurs are at work and bigger stakes are in play.  Little does he know just how big they are.  Given exactly one week to prove his case, Bell quickly finds himself pitted against two of the most ruthless opponents he has ever known, men of staggering ambition and cold-bloodedness...

When the brutally beaten dead body of health visitor Ruth Lennox is found at her home in Chalk Farm, her family as well as the police are desperately looking for clues as to who wanted to kill the young woman.  The initial conclusion that everyone makes, is that the murder was an average burglary gone terribly wrong.  But then Detective Chief Inspector Malcolm Karlsson and his team discover that the mother of three had secrets of her own which may have lead to her tragic death.  Desperate for all the answers, Karlsson asks psychotherapist Frieda Klein for help, who has barely recovered from the previous case the pair had teamed up on . . . Meanwhile, Frieda has to fight for survival on many other fronts – her own inner demons are haunting her, as well as work rival Hal Bradshaw is all set to destroy her reputation.  And just when she thinks things can't get any worse, the man of her darkest nightmares has got back in contact . . .  Waiting For Wednesday is the third book in the Frida Klein series by Nicci French.

The Tombs is the fourth book in the Fargo Adventures by Clive Cussler and Thomas Perry.  It is due to be published in January 2013.  It's a prize beyond imagination.  When an archaeologist excavating a top-secret historical site realizes the magnitude of his discovery, he requests help from treasure hunters Sam and Remi Fargo.  And in rushing to join him, the husband and wife team are thrown into their most daring quest to date.  The clues point to the hidden tomb of Attila the Hun, the High King who was reportedly buried with a vast fortune of gold and jewels and plunder, a bounty that has never been found.  But as Sam and Remi piece together the puzzle, the trail takes them through Hungary, Italy, France, Russia, and Kazakhstan and not to a single tomb, but five.  And into the path of deadly danger.  They are not the only ones hunting for the High King's riches.  The Fargos will find themselves pitted against a thieving group of amateur treasure hunters, a cunning Russian businessman, and a ruthless Hungarian who claims direct descent from Attila himself . . . and will stop at nothing to claim the tombs' riches as his own.

Redemption is the third book in the Department Q series by Jussi Adler-Olsen and is due to be published in April 2013.  Two boys, brothers, wake tied and bound in a boathouse by the sea.  Their kidnapper has gone, but soon he will return.  Their bonds are inescapable.  But there is a bottle and tar to seal it.  Paper and a splinter for writing; blood for ink.  A message begging for help.  In Copenhagen's cold cases division Carl Mørck has received a bottle.  It holds an old and decayed message, written in blood.  It is a cry for help from two boys.  Is it real?  Who are they and why weren't they reported missing?  Can they possibly still be alive?

Ten years ago, a serial killer went quiet - now he's back.  Dave Gurney, a retired NYPD homicide detective, agrees to meet a young woman making a documentary on The Good Shepherd.  A decade ago a series of roadside shootings made The Good Shepherd killer headline news.  But then the killings stopped, and nobody could say for sure why.  Finding himself drawn back into the case, Gurney soon discovers new facts the original investigation missed and literally stakes his life on finding The Good Shepherd.  He makes himself a target so that the killer will come for him.  Let The Devil Sleep is by John Verdon and is due to be published in January 2013.

The Hiding Place is by David Bell and is due to be published in February 2013.  Sometimes it's easier to believe a lie . . . Twenty-five-years ago, the disappearance of four-year-old Justin Manning rocked the small town of Dove Point, Ohio. When his body was found in the woods two months later, the repercussions were felt for years. Janet Manning has been haunted by the murder since the day she lost sight of her brother in the park. The twenty-fifth anniversary of Justin's death looming, a detective and a newspaper reporter have begun asking questions, opening old wounds and raising new suspicions. Could the man jailed for murder be innocent?  And then a stranger appears at Janet's door in the night, claiming to know the truth.

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