Books to Look Forward to from Simon and Schuster

January 2019

She trusted them with her life.  When Anna arrives in the UK, she believes it's the start of a better life for her and her daughter. But what awaits her is more shocking than anything she could have ever imagined . . .She trusted them with her daughter.  DI Harry Powell is investigating a shooting, but the victim has been scared into silence. As Harry struggles to piece together what little information he has, he stumbles upon an operation that may put countless lives across the country at risk.  She was wrong.  As Anna's situation grows more dangerous by the day, Harry is forced to push his overstretched team to the limits to find answers. But for one of them, will it already be too late?  Lost Lives is by Lisa Cutts.

Winner Kills All is by R J Bailey.  Sam Wylde is hot on the heels of her ex-husband who has snatched her only daughter, Jess.  A former Personal Protection Officer, Sam was once the best in the business, and now those skills are about to be tested.  Because as she arrives in south east Asia, having tracked their movements to the seedy nightclub scene in Bali, Sam discovers that she too is being hunted.  When an enemy she thought long-dead appears, threatening to thwart her search for Jess, the stakes are raised and Sam must fight to stay one step ahead at all times.  Can she save the only person who truly matters to her before it’s too late?  Or will the vicious thug Sam thought that she’d killed finally take his revenge – and her daughter along with it?

March 2019

Brexit looms and Charles Thoroughgood, Chief of MI6, is forbidden for political reasons from spying on the EU. But when an EU official volunteers the EU's negotiating bottom lines to one of his officers, Charles has to report it.   Whitehall is eager for more but as the case develops Charles realises that it may not be quite what it appears. At the same time, he finds he has a family connection with a possible terrorist whom MI5 want checked out. In both cases, Charles is forced to become his own agent, seeking what he really does not want to find.  Accidental Agent is by Alan Judd.

April 2019

Wilbrook in Western Australia is a sleepy, remote town that sits on the edge of miles and miles of unexplored wilderness. It is home to Police Sergeant Chandler Jenkins, who is proud to run the town's small police station, a place used to dealing with domestic disputes and noise complaints.  All that changes on a scorching day when an injured man stumbles into Chandler's station. He's covered in dried blood. His name is Gabriel. He tells Chandler what he remembers.  He was drugged and driven to a cabin in the mountains and tied up in iron chains. The man who took him was called Heath. Heath told Gabriel he was going to be number 55. His 55th victim.   Heath is a serial killer.  As a manhunt is launched, a man who says he is Heath walks into the same station. He tells Chandler he was taken by a man named Gabriel. Gabriel told Heath he was going to be victim 55.  Gabriel is the serial killer.  Two suspects. Two identical stories. Which one is the truth?  55 is by James Delargy.

Kiss the Girls & Make Them Cry is by Mary Higgins Clark.  When talented journalist Penelope "Casey" Harrison starts to research a piece about the #MeToo movement that includes an incident in her own life that she has been trying to put out of her mind for years, she does not realise that the young man who drugged and assaulted her at a fraternity house party in college is now a wealthy, powerful industrialist on the eve of a merger which will make him a billionaire-and who will do anything, even murder, to cover his tracks.

May 2019

On the scorching February day in 2009 that became known as Black Saturday, a man lit two fires in Victoria's Latrobe Valley, then sat on the roof of his house to watch the inferno. In the Valley, where the rates of crime were the highest in the state, more than thirty people were known to police as firebugs. But the detectives soon found themselves on the trail of a man they didn't know.   The Arsonist is by Chloe Hooper and takes readers on the hunt for this man, and inside the strange puzzle of his mind. It is also the story of fire in Australia, and of a community that owed its existence to that very element. The command of fire has defined and sustained us as a species - understanding its abuse will define our future. 

Every story one day comes to an end.'  As roommates, they met for the first time in college. Two of the brightest minds ever to graduate from Stamford Psychology University.  As adversaries, they met again in Quantico, Virginia. Robert Hunter had become the head of the LAPD's Ultra Violent Crimes Unit. Lucien Folter had become the most prolific and dangerous serial killer the FBI had ever encountered.  Now, after spending three and a half years locked in solitary confinement, Lucien has finally managed to break free. And he's angry.  For the past three and a half years, Lucien has thought of nothing else but vengeance.  The person responsible for locking him away has to pay, he has to suffer.  That person ... is Robert Hunter.  And now it is finally time to execute the plan.  Hunting Evil is by Chris Carter.

Death in a Desert Land is by Andrew Wilson.  Baghdad, 1928. Agatha leaves England for the far-flung destination, determined to investigate an unresolved mystery: two year ago, the explorer and the writer Gertrude Bell died there from a drugs overdose. At the time, the authorities believed that Bell had taken her own life, but a letter now unearthed reveals she was afraid someone wants to kill her...  In her letter, Bell suggests that if she were to die the best place to look for her murderer would be Ur, the archaeological sit in ancient Mesopotamia famous for its Great Death Pit.  But as Agatha stealthily begins to look into the death of Gertrude Bell, she soon discovers the mission is not without its risks. And she has to use all her skills to try and outwit a killer who is determined to stay hidden among the desert sands...

June 2019

Could you hate your neighbour enough to plot to kill him?  Until Darren Booth moves in at number 1, Lowland Way, the neighbourhood is a suburban paradise. But soon after his arrival, disputes over issues like loud music and parking rights escalate all too quickly to public rows and threats of violence.  Then, early one Saturday, a horrific crime shocks the street. As the police go house-to-house, the residents close ranks and everyone’s story is the same: Booth did it.  But there’s a problem. The police don't agree with them.  Those People is by Louise Candlish.

A Dangerous Man is by Robert Crais.  Joe Pike didn't expect to rescue a woman that day. When Isabel Roland, the lonely young teller at his bank, steps out of work on her way to lunch, Joe Pike witnesses her attempted abduction. Thanks to his quick thinking, the two men are arrested.   But the men soon make bail... and not long after, they're found murdered. The police suspect Pike and Isabel had a hand in it, especially when Izzy disappears. Convinced that she has been abducted again, Pike realises it is time to call on Elvis Cole to discover the truth.  And then all hell breaks loose. 

A man, wearing his daughter's wedding ring, is found in front of his fireplace, a bullet hole in his chest. A funeral director searches desperately for his brother - a man who doesn't seem to be missed. A woman struggles to protect her children and her life as her husband turns ever more dangerous.  Fredrika Bergman and Alex Recht believe that these three cases are totally unrelated... until they uncover a connection between these three people that changes everything. Soon Bergman and Recht are pulled into an escalating series of events where old sins return to haunt all involved. And someone is leaving them taunting messages... but who, and why?  The Flood is by Kristina Ohlsson.