Quantum Radio: everything everywhere

I really should know what to expect when I pick up a sci-fi thriller by AG Riddle. After all, I’ve read half a dozen of them and they share a comfortable formula. Half geek: half boy’s own adventure. This means you get thoughtful speculative extrapolation based around solid contemporary scientific concepts – something of a…

No Plan B: next-gen Jack Reacher

Who needs a plan anyway? Everyone on the planet must already be aware of the vast line of Jack Reacher novels, from the very first – Killing Floor – right up to the present day, with authorship duties split between Lee Child (not his real name) and his brother Andrew Child (possibly not his real…

The Investigator: a fresh start

I’ve been a John Sandford fan since the Prey series started in the late 1980s. Back then, Lucas Davenport tracked down gruesomely grisly serial killers and brutally despatched them with grim efficiency – before falling onto bed with any attractive woman who could be extracted from her underwear. Since then Lucas has aged almost gracefully…

The Night Man: savvy Scandi Crime

Norwegian detective William Wisting has taken over where Wallander left off – which delights me, because I’ve always found Jorn Lier Horst’s world rather more rewarding to visit. This is a long-running series but if you’ve just come to the books – perhaps because you’ve seen the TV version – then this story is skilfully…

Fisher’s Ghost: happy Halloween!

Tis the season of spooky stories – and here comes a collection of eleven standalone supernatural short stories to send shivers down your spine. These eerie and outlandish fables resonate with the traditions of true Victorian gothic – although you won’t encounter anything truly horrific in here. These are gently unsettling stories of the type…

Black Lake Manor: sleuth. Die. Repeat

Now this is a clever concept: techno-thriller meets grisly ritual in a locked-room mystery that would make Agatha’s head spin… plus a side-order of supernatural tribal mysticism. Count me in! A short way into reading this I remembered that I’d thoroughly enjoyed the author’s earlier mind-bending mystery, Five Minds, which quite literally crammed five personalities…

Lost In Time: don’t overthink things…

No one could ever accuse AG Riddle of writing stories crammed with highly detailed, hard science. Instead he’s perfected a form of 21st century techno-thriller – following in the footsteps of Michael Crichton – where a strand of scientific speculation provides a launch pad for a fast-paced adventure into the unknown. This approach typically takes…

The Undiscovered Deaths of Grace McGill: not half bad

Half of this book is brilliant. The other half? Not so. The Undiscovered Deaths… is one of those carefully constructed novels that’s concocted of complicated layers. A mystery disguises a secret that in turn conceals a hidden truth – usually a perfect premise for a psychological thriller. Problem is, the initially intriguing aspects are overwhelmed…

The Shattered Skies: a satisfying sequel

Don’t start here! This is the second in a superbly constructed sci-fi series, stacked with multiple meshed threads from ideologically estranged offshoots of future humanity. I waited eagerly for it to arrive after consuming the first part in short order, but you need to begin at the beginning to stand a chance of keeping up…

Axe: an old-school investigation

There’s a gritty elegance to Ed McBain’s 87th precinct detective series. The writing might be more than half a century old, but it packs all the punch of a modern murder investigation – and suffers from a lot less of the fluffy filling. I’m a big fan of series like Michael Connelly’s Bosch, John Sandford’s…