Audible’s Prescient Crime Thriller of the Month

 

Book reviewers when congregated [even online in these weird days of Covid-19], often mutter “same old, same old” when discussing some of the latest crime thriller releases. A common wish from the literary community is the desire for something new, something fresh, something unexpected. This reminded me of an intriguing comment legendary Publisher Christopher MacLehose once said, introducing a book back in 2008 at the London Press Club, a debut novel that would breakout into the mainstream, not just circled by the wagons of genre –

He informed us that the job of the publisher is to bring books to the public that they didn’t want; books that they didn’t anticipate; and books that would nonetheless make an impression and challenge their way of thinking.

Read More from that launch HERE

I was delighted to sample a debut that is far from the ‘same old, same old’, and an extraordinary novel that this month's Audible crime and thriller selection.

It’s entitled Deadly Sacrifice by Stella Oni and like the award-winning and celebrated debut, My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite, it has comes from an author with a Nigerian heritage – BUT that’s where the similarity ends, because Deadly Sacrifice is something entirely different, and darker.

So, what’s this month’s Audible Crime Thriller of the month about?

When a childs severed hand is found, DC Toks Ade and DS Philip Dean are put on the case. Thrown into a world of Nigerian traditional customs, ritual sacrifice, and international trafficking, they must find the guilty parties before more children are lost and more limbs are found. A chilling new thriller introducing Detectives Toks Ade, Philip Dean, and investigative author Coretta Davis.

And we present an interview with Stella Oni HERE

Stella was born in Clapham, London, brought up in Nigeria and lives in the UK. She has a degree in Linguistics and African Languages from the University of Benin and a MSc in Information Systems and Technology from City University, London. Stella works as a Business Intelligence Analyst and writes on culture, food, travel, health & wellbeing. Stella believes that her experience of growing within two worlds has given her a unique perspective and she is happy to share this. She has been shortlisted for the SI Leeds Literary Prize, UK. She is a regular contributor to Thrive Global and currently runs the culture blog African Britishness-a celebration of being African and British.

Audible’s production of this startling debut is brought to life by the actress (Reanne) Weruche Opia known for her roles in I May Destroy You for BBC/HBO, Inside No.9 and Bad Education for the BBC and Top Boy for Channel 4 – as well as narrating Audible’s production of Oyinkan Braithwaite’s My Sister, The Serial Killer, among other audio books.

Deadly Sacrifice is also one of the books that celebrates diversity in the Twenty in 2020 literary promotion culminating from a year-long project from Jacaranda Books in association with Words of Colour Productions.

Following a hugely popular call-out for unpublished Black British writers, independent publisher Jacaranda has picked twenty top submissions to publish over the course of 2020. Apart from the crime and thriller genre, the Twenty in 2020 celebration also traverses literary fiction, poetry, memoir, history, romance and more, and together works to add to the diversity of literature, characters and authors available to UK readers—and to inspire a whole new generation of readers, writers and publishing professionals.

If you are not an Audible member, you can join Audible and take advantage of their £7.99 / month subscription, even taking Deadly Sacrifice as your free book, as part of their introductory offer – click HERE for more information on joining Audible.

Audible UK are to be applauded for the support they provide the crime and thriller fiction genre, especially as the importance of audiobooks increases within publishing. They commission new work such as the pseudonymous Alex Callister’s thrillers as well as supporting the genre, including sponsoring one of Crimefest’s annual awards. Previous Audible crime and thriller selections we enjoyed can be accessed HERE, HERE and HERE.

We’d like to advise our trusty Shots Readers that you are welcome to attend the launch of Deadly Sacrifice, which is occurring next week as a free online event [due to the pernicious ubiquity of this surreal COVID-19 situation].

Mark your diaries - The book launch will take place on Thurs 17 Sept from 6.30pm to 8.30pm and will include an introduction, author Q&A with editor, publisher & writer Kadija Sesay, plus readings of extracts from the book by the author.

For more information from The Arts Council on registering for this free event, click HERE. We hope to see many of you there next week, but behind the safety of a PC or Smart-Phone screen.

Stella Oni can be found on Twitter > @SOnithewriter with more information HERE and HERE and actress Weruche Opia’s Twitter > @WerucheOpia can be found HERE

Photo credits: Audible UK, Stella Oni, Weruche Opia, Jacaranda Books, Foyles Charing Cross Rd, Words of Colour Productions, Amazon UK, BBC, HBO, The Arts Council and MIDAS.

Shots Magazine would like to thank Ben McCluskey of Midas Public Relations, for his help with this feature, as well as the team from Audible original productions [UK].