“Beneath Dark Waters” by Karen Rose is an absolute page-turner! This action thriller had me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. The author’s knack for creating complex and relatable characters drew me into their world, making me care deeply about their fates. Karen Rose’s storytelling is so gripping that I couldn’t put the book down, and I truly hope it’s just the beginning of an exciting series. If you’re a fan of suspenseful and engaging thrillers, this is a must-read!
Category: Thriller
Black Buck
Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour is dark, funny and twisty.
Darren is working in Starbucks as a supervisor, his life is going nowhere and he is happy with that. Then he gets spotted and recruited into a fast growth tech business to go through their sales intern scheme. As he learns how to sell, he also has to learn how to survive in a high pressure competitive environment. Just as he thinks he has made it, things start to fall apart both corporately and personally.
Black Buck is a hilarious send up of the driven sales culture of modern tech businesses, layered with race and a broader lack of social responsibility. Not every tech company will be like this but most who have worked in the tech sector will recognise something in this novel.
This is a page turner, you will want to finish it in one or two sittings and it closes with a powerful ending. Whilst you are laughing your way through Black Buck you might learn a few sales tips as well.
4.5/5
The Absolute Book
A few chapters into The Absolute Book by Elizabeth Knox I was ready to give up. It didn’t seem to be going anywhere and there was a lot of book ahead of me. One more chapter I thought, and kapow! suddenly the book really lifts off, you start to get an insight into the clever plot threads and then it is a delight.
I don’t know how to describe The Absolute Book without spoiling those first revelations so I will just say, if you enjoyed Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and American Gods then there is a good chance that you will love this.
4/5
V2
I like Robert Harris’ historical novels, they are well researched, bring the characters to life and are an easy read. V2 is set at the end of WW2 as the SS step up the launches of V2 rockets at London in a last endeavour to turn the tide of the war.
Rudi Graf is a rocket scientist and engineer working at the missile launch site in occupied Holland. The narrative flashes back to his youth and his friendship with Wernher von Braun and their shared passion for rockets and space travel.
Kay Caton-Walsh is a WAAF officer posted to Belgium as part of desperate attempt to find the launch sites and destroy them by reverse calculating the path of the V2s as they launch and subsequently land in London.
While Graf is increasingly doubting the morality and sanity of his masters, the British realise that their operation in Belgium may be compromised.
V2 is not Harris’ best novel (my favourites are the Cicero trilogy) but if you like the minutiae of WW2 military stuff then you will enjoy this.
3/5
Total Blackout
Total Blackout by Alex Shaw is a page turner that grabs you in the first couple of pages.
Jack Tate is an MI6 agent and former SAS officer on vacation in Maine when a rogue Russian and Chinese taskforce triggers an electro-magnetic pulse device that wipes out all electrical and electronic equipment in the US (apparently this is also a side effect of a nuclear explosion). In the chaos that follows the leader of the Russian team is determined to settle several scores with those who he believes have insulted the Russian state and ultimately with Tate and his brother.
Total Blackout feels like it has been written to make into a Netflix type production and you can see further adventures for Tate and his brother. It’s not deep and it’s not that believable but it is fun and would make a good holiday read.
3/5
The Rhino Conspiracy
The Rhino Conspiracy by Peter Hain is set in modern day South Africa, it combines a page turner about the battle against rhino poachers with a scathing critique of the corruption that pervaded South Africa in the post Mandela era.
Hain is well qualified to expose the corruption of the modern state but I was surprised at how good a thriller writer he is. This is really really good, I wonder what he will do next?
4/5
The House of Lamentations
The House of Lamentations is the 5th in Shona Maclean’s much praised Seeker series.
It’s 1658, Damian Seeker is living under cover in Bruges keeping tabs on the royalist followers of the exiled King Charles who are scheming to restore Charles to the thrown. Meanwhile in London the Protector, Cromwell, is in the last days of his life and all around him are preparing for a power shift and a new leader.
The royalists have discovered that there is a spy within their midst they have no idea who it is and send their own spy to spy on Seeker’s spy. Complicated? Yes but Maclean weaves a complex plot around these characters while providing a fascinating and detailed understanding of life in 17th century Bruges and the politics of England and Europe.
The House of Lamentations is historical fiction at it’s very best. The publisher says this is the last in the series. I hope not!
4.5/5
Power Play
Power Play by Tony Kent is a very readable thriller.
An aircraft is blown up halfway across the Atlantic, one of the passengers is the leading candidate in the forthcoming US Presidential election. The baggage handler, a Syrian refugee, who placed the bomb confesses but rapidly questions arise as to whether he is a terrorist or a stooge.
It soon becomes evident that forces close to the current President are trying to shut down the legal team defending the baggage handler and the intelligence agency that starts to investigate.
This a fast paced but really rather preposterous page turner. At the end my reaction was – “really?”. I can imagine this being script fodder for the production machines of Amazon or Netflix but as a read it leaves quite a bit to be desired.
2.5/5
Hitler’s Secret
Hitler’s Secret by Rory Clements is a “what if?” spy thriller set in 1941.
Martin Bormann is desperately trying to locate and kill Hitler’s illegitimate daughter before Hitler and the rest of Germany learn about her existence. Tom Wilde an American academic based in Cambridge is recruited by British intelligence services and their US counterparts to get into Germany, find the child and get her to safety. Of course things aren’t as simple as they appeared, who are Tom’s allies and helpers in Germany? Why are they helping?
This tale of intrigue amongst the different factions of the German leadership, competition between the British and the US has plenty of twists and turns and is quite easy to read but overall it is both unbelievable and predictable. Might make a good film script for the streaming factories.
2.5/5
The Last Hours
I used to be a big fan of Minette Walters, eagerly devouring each of her chilling psycho thrilled. But that was a good while ago and I haven’t read her for ages, with more edgy American and Scandi authors replacing her.
The Last Hours breaks with Walters past work, it is a historical novel set in the time of the Black Death. Lady Anne is the compassionate and strong willed mistress of the Devilish (yes really!) estate which is quarantined to protect against the plague after its brutal master has succumbed to the disease. The Last Hours combines the evolving relationship between Lady Anne and her mysterious steward Thaddeus with a vivid description of the spread of the plague and the wasteland surrounding the estate.
It is quite readable but not outstanding, the plot meanders in a somewhat predictable way to a climax which is then snatched away with a “to be continued”. I am not sure that I will bother to follow this through to conclusion.
3/5