Wednesday 16 November 2011

Forthcoming books to look forward to from Mulholland Books and Hodder &Stoughton

Kind of Cruel is by Sophie Hannah and is due to be published in February 2012. When Amber Hewerdine consults a hypnotherapist as a desperate last resort, she doesn't expect that anything much will change. She doesn't expect it to help with her chronic insomnia ...She doesn't expect to hear herself, under hypnosis, saying words that mean nothing to her: 'Kind, cruel, kind of cruel' - words she has seen somewhere before, if only she could remember where ...She doesn't expect to be arrested two hours later, as a result of having spoken those words out loud, in connection with the brutal murder of Katharine Allen, a woman she's never heard of ...

In Broken Harbour, a ghost estate outside Dublin - half-built, half-inhabited, half-abandoned - two children and their father are dead. The mother is on her way to intensive care. Scorcher Kennedy is given the case because he is the Murder squad's star detective. At first he and his rookie partner, Richie, think this is a simple one: Pat Spain was a casualty of the recession, so he killed his children, tried to kill his wife Jenny, and finished off with himself. But there are too many inexplicable details and the evidence is pointing in two directions at once. Scorcher's personal life is tugging for his attention. Seeing the case on the news has sent his sister Dina off the rails again, and she's resurrecting something that Scorcher thought he had tightly under control: what happened to their family, one summer at Broken Harbour, back when they were children. The neat compartments of his life are breaking down, and the sudden tangle of work and family is putting both at risk ... Broken Harbour is by Tana French and is due to be published in June 2012.


Death and the Olive Grove is the second book in the Inspector Bordelli series by Marco Vichi and is set in 1960s Florence. April 1964, but spring hasn't quite sprung. The bad weather seems suited to nothing but bad news. And bad news is coming to the police station. First, Bordelli's friend Casimiro, who insists he's discovered the body of a man in a field above Fiesole. Bordelli races to the scene, but doesn't find any sign of a corpse. Only a couple of days later, a little girl is found at Villa Ventaglio. She has been strangled, and there is a horrible bite mark on her belly. Then another little girl is found murdered, with the same macabre signature. And meanwhile Casimiro has disappeared without a trace. The investigation marks the start of one of the darkest periods of Bordelli's life: a nightmare without end, as black as the sky above Florence. Death and the Olive Grove is due to be published in January 2012.

Summertime Death is the second book in the Malin Fors series by Mons Kallentoff and is due to be published in May 2012. As the temperature in Sweden reaches a record-breaking 45-, forest fires break out. All those who have failed to escape Linkoping for the summer take shelter indoors, shocked and paralysed by the heat.However, when a teenage girl is discovered naked and bleeding in the local park, it is clear that the raging heat is not the only plague affecting the town. Then a second girl is found dead. Alarmed by the fact that the victims are the same age as her daughter, Tove, detective Malin Fors will work round-the-clock to capture the perpetrator. But as every lead comes to nothing, it is as though the oppressive heat is clogging up the wheels of her investigation. And time is not on Malin's side ...

It feels like the safest place on earth. A family-friendly, floating palace. But, as Anya Crichton soon discovers, cruise ships aren't all that they seem...Statistics tell us that a woman is twice as likely to be sexually assaulted on a cruise ship than on dry land. Customers aren't screened, so the ships are a haven for sex offenders and paedophiles. With no policing, and floating in international waters, sexual assaults and passengers 'disappearing' are uncommonly frequent...So when a teenage girl is discovered, dead on the deck of the ship that she is holidaying on, Anya feels compelled to get involved. There's no apparent cause of death, but Anya's forensics expertise uncovers more than the ship's doctors can...or want to. With the killer still on board, and subsequently a crew-member found shot, it becomes clear that the safe haven of the cruise-ship is actually anything but. And, as Anya comes under increasing pressure to abandon her investigations, will she continue? Or do whatever it takes to keep her own family safe? Cold Grave is by Kathryn Fox and is due to be published in March 2012.

AD81. The Roman Emperor Domitian seizes power. Afflicted by classic paranoia, the self-styled Master and God sees enemies everywhere - and he is right. The Senate loathes him, his advisers are terrified, he cannot trust his wife and barbarians menace the frontiers. As he vents his suspicions, no one is safe...Gaius Vinius Clodianus survives physical and mental scars to reach high rank in the Praetorian Guard. Flavia Lucilla tends the privileged women at court; when Domitian's inherited talent unravels into madness, she loses her patron cruelly. In the haven of their shared apartment, Gaius and Lucilla find solace together, yearning for normality while living in a Reign of Terror. Moves against Domitian are begun by his own household. Lucilla has to watch Gaius choose between love for her and risking death; between his sworn duty to protect the Emperor and killing Domitian for the good of Rome. The plot careers close to exposure. Rome teeters on the brink of its Golden Age. A group of unlikely conspirators must now act with decency and courage, whatever the personal cost. Master and God is the epic story of a despot whose contemporaries wrote him out of history. Told in Lindsey Davis' sardonic style, it is an intimate portrait of resilience, friendship and love. Master and God is due to be published in March 2012.

Point and Shoot is the final book in the Charlie Hardie trilogy by Duane Swierczynski. On a day like any other day, Kendra Hardie picks up the phone. A voice says, 'leave the house and you're dead'. Then the line is cut. Kendra hasn't seen her husband Charlie for nearly a decade. He hasn't forgotten about her - but neither have his enemies. And he has a lot of enemies. Charlie thought he could protect her by staying away. But now he has access to secrets his enemies will kill to keep hidden, and they're planning to start with his family. After years in exile, Charlie's arming up...and heading home. Point and Shoot is due to be published in March 2012.

The Leopard Sword is by Anthony Riches and is due to be published in April 2012. Britannia has been subdued - and an epic new chapter in Marcus Valerius Aquila's life begins. The murderous Roman agents who nearly captured Marcus have been defeated by his friends. But in order to protect those very friends from the wrath of the emperor, he must leave the province which has been giving him shelter. As Marcus Tribulus Corvus, centurion of the second Tungrian auxiliary cohort, he leads his men from Hadrian's Wall to the Tungrians' original home in Germania Inferior. There he finds a very different world from the turbulent British frontier - but one with its own dangers. Tungrorum, the center of a once-prosperous farming province, a city already broght low by the ravages of the eastern plague that has swept through the empire, is now threatened by an outbreak of brutally violent robbery. A bandit chieftain called Obduro, his identity always hidden behind an iron cavalry helmet, is robbing and killing with impunity. His sword - sharper, stronger and more deadly than any known to the Roman army - is the lethal symbol of his unstoppable power. And now he has moved beyond mere theft and threatens to destabilize the whole northern frontier of the empire ...

Guilt by Degrees is by Marcia Clark and is the second book in the series to feature Deputy DA Rachel Knight. It is due to be published in May 2012. Rachel Knight has never been one to let justice slide from the grip of the law. So when a deputy district attorney mishandles a murder case and then shrugs it off - the victim was a homeless guy, so who cares? - she decides to take the case on herself. With the help of Detective Bailey Keller, Rachel soon finds a missing piece of the puzzle. And a new mystery: the homeless man's death is somehow connected to the vicious murder of a LAPD cop a year earlier. The prime suspect in the murder was acquitted - but now Rachel and Bailey are hot on the trail of new leads. What Rachel doesn't know is that she's being watched. Someone is following her every move, and just waiting for a chance to strike...

Full Back is by Brad Thor and is due to be published in February 2012. Everybody knows that governments engage in activities that are top secret and not always carried out by-the-book. They are knows as 'black ops'. But perhaps less well known is that there is a level beyond this, when the very existence of the state is threatened and the situation needs fixing instantly and utterly secretly and probably violently. Sometimes, it's necessary to go 'full black'. And when the USA is in that position, the man most likely to lead the mission is former Navy SEAL Scot Harvath. FULL BLACK finds Harvath in Sweden, executing in an audacious plan to prevent a massive attack on the Unites States by leading a team to capture a suspected terrorist and infiltrate his cell with a double agent.At the same time, Larry Solomon, one of the most famous film producers in Hollywood, is attacked in his home by a special forces-style group of assassins and only escapes with the help of his friend and former Delta Force operative Luke Ralston.In making a documentary film, Solomon has unknowingly exposed one of the world's wealthiest and highly connected power-brokers as a man determined to plunge the West into deadly chaos. Now, both Solomon and Ralston are living on borrowed time.As the plots rocket to their pulse-pounding conclusions, Harvath will be left with only one means to save his country. Unable to trust anyone, he will be forced to go FULL BLACK.

It is 612 AD and Aelric - senator of the Roman Empire, fresh from a bloodbath in Egypt - is forced to divert the Imperial galley to Athens. He finds a demoralized and corrupt provincial city threatened by an army rumoured to contain twenty million starving barbarians. Not to mention an explosive religious dispute, an unexplained corpse, and hints of something worse than murder ...He will have to call upon all his formidable intellect and lethal ingenuity to survive his enemies inside and outside the city walls ... The Ghosts of Athens is by Richard Blake and is due to be published in June 2012

Things start going wrong the day Johnny Conroy meets Ruth Hynes. He just wants to show his mates that he can pull hard-man Frankie Hynes' daughter, but before he knows it he is part of the Hynes family. And the Hynes family business, which is stealing cars. And there is no way he is ever going to get out of the marriage or the business alive ...The only good thing in their hellhole of a marriage is his daughter Angel, as nice as her name and as innocent. And the only thing keeping Johnny sane is his secret life. But then Angel grows up and meets Johnny's new employee Ryan. He loves Angel - but the family secrets involve him, too. And they are about to explode. Lost Angel is by Mandasue Heller and is due to be published in March 2012.

ALPHA Jonathan 'Jad' Bell has spent a lifetime in the US army. He can be relied on to get the job done, whatever happens, whatever the cost. So when someone needs to go undercover at the nation's biggest amusement park, Jad is the obvious choice. Aside from dealing with fights and missing children, his main responsibility is to prevent the nightmare scenario from coming to pass. This is the nightmare scenario: A group of well-trained, highly motivated terrorists infiltrate the park. They cut off all escape routes. They take hostages. They ensure every camera in the world is trained on Wilsonville...and then they turn it into a bloodbath. And on the day the nightmare becomes real, Jad and his team are all that stands between a band of ruthless killers and thousands of innocent people...including Jad's estranged wife and daughter. Alpha is by Greg Rucka and is due to be published in May 2012.

Agent of Rome: The Imperial Banner is by Nick Brown and is due to be published in May 2012. 272 AD The Roman Emperor Aurelian has defeated Queen Zenobia and crushed the Palmyran revolt. Faridun's Banner, hallowed battle standard of the Persian Empire, has fallen into Roman hands and is to be returned to the Persians as part of a historic peace treaty. But on the eve of the signing the banner goes missing. Recalled to Syria, imperial agent Cassius Corbulo is charged with recovering the flag. Accompanied by his faithful servant Simo and ex-gladiator bodyguard Indavara, Cassius must journey across the dangerous wastes of Syria to the equally perilous streets of Antioch. He and his companions face ruthless brigands, mysterious cults, merciless assassins and intrigue at every turn.

Jack Nightingale was a cop who quit his job over a little girl's death. He's saved his own soul from a devil, and now he's haunted by the cries for help of that same little girl. Is she trapped in eternal torment? Or are demons torturing and deceiving him in order to gain the ultimate prize? Nightingale will have to face down the powers of the police, south London gangs and Hell itself to find out... Nightmare is by Stephen Leather and is due to be published in January 2012.

Also due to be published in May 2012 is The Columbus Affair by Steve Berry, a thriller featuring Christopher Columbus, the last treasures of Jerusalem and much, much more.

No Going Back is by Matt Hilton and is the seventh book in the Joe Hunter series. It is due to be published in February 2012. Jameson Walker approaches Joe Hunter when his daughter Jay and her friend Nicole go missing at a gas station in the Arizona desert while on a cross-country trek across the North American interior. He mentions that a robbery/homicide at the gas station as worrying as the girls were due to be in the vicinity at that time. Joe accepts the job of locating the girls, though not at first convinced there's much to worry about. As Joe picks up the girls' trail he discovers that other young women have also disappeared in the area, and comes across the brutish Logan family.

In the midst of a grueling training exercise, Navy Seal Commander Thomas Crocker unearths a pocket of terrorism that leads straight from the slopes of K2 to the cities of Europe and the Middle East. Crocker and his team, who are trained for the most intense kinds of combat in the most extreme environments, must work their way through a perilous web of terrorist cells. Their goal: to track down the ruthless sheikh behind an international kidnapping ring before his captives pay the ultimate price. Hunt the Wolf is by Don Mann along with Ralph Pezzullo and is due to be published in June 2012.

Iraq 2005 Seven mercenaries journey deep into the desert in search of Saddam's gold. They form an unlikely crew of battle-scarred privateers, killers and thieves, veterans of a dozen war zones, each of them anxious to make one last score before their luck runs out. They will soon find themselves marooned among ancient ruins, caught in a desperate battle for their lives, confronted by greed, betrayal, and an army that won't stay dead... Juggernaut is by Adam Baker and is due to be published in February 2012.

Tonight I said Goodbye is by Michael Koryta and is due to be published in May 2012. Investigator and former Marine Wayne Weston is found at home, killed by a single gunshot wound to the head, the gun still lying in his right hand. There is no sign of his wife and six-year-old daughter.The police believe Wayne Weston killed his family before turning the gun on himself. Weston's father is convinced his son was murdered. He turns to Lincoln Perry, former cop, now private investigator, for help.All the evidence supports the police's conclusions, but as soon as he starts asking questions, Lincoln hears rumours of gambling, extortion, and links to Cleveland's Russian mob. When the FBI asks him to back off, followed by a second murder, Lincoln is more determined than ever to uncover the truth, even if that means putting himself in danger ...

Ray and Marie Benson killed thirteen women before they were caught, tried, and imprisoned. Five of their victims were never found. Six years later, psychologist Alice Quentin discovers a woman's body abandoned on the waste ground at Crossbones Yard. The wounds make it clear: someone wants to continue the Bensons' crimes. Alice hates getting involved in police work, but feels she owes it to the victim to help if she can. Soon her feelings don't matter. The murderer isn't going to let her walk away. Because he seems to know everything about Alice. And if she wants to stop him - and survive - she's going to have to find out all about him. The body at Crossbones Yard is just the start... Crossbones Yard is the debut novel by Kate Rhodes and is due to be published in June 2012

Edge of Dark Water is by Joe R Lansdale and is due to be published in March 2012. May Lynn was a pretty girl from a mean family who dreamed of becoming a film star. Now she's dead - her body dredged up from the Sabine River, bound with wire and weighted down. Her best friend, Sue Ellen, has a family meaner than May's and a yearning for something greater than she's been given. She thinks the least she can do for her friend is take her ashes to Hollywood, and place them on her favourite actor's grave. But May Lynn's diary holds a secret: the location of a large sum of money. What seems like a stroke of fortune has disastrous consequences, and Sue Ellen's escape is about to get more complicated than she'd ever imagined.

Two novels by Nick Santora are due to be published in April 2012. Firstly, Slip and Fall - Robert Principe thought it would be a one-time deal. When he graduated from law school, Rob believed his future was set - he was part of the professional world now, far from his impoverished upbringing. But faced with a struggling firm, a pregnant wife, and a sister in trouble, Rob realises the white-collar world isn't as easy as he thought. He needs money...fast. Desperate, he approaches his wiseguy cousin Jackie with an insurance scheme - a way for the Mob to collect from guys who owe but can't pay and a chance for Robert to use his law degree to make a few quick bucks when he needs it most. The scheme works well - too well. The money flows, the violence escalates, and Rob soon learns that getting out of a deal with the Mafia isn't exactly easy...especially when the FBI is onto you. Rob Principe is a good man. But he's made a seriously bad decision. Secondly, Fifteen Digits - 'The benefit of being invisible is that people don't see you when you're robbing them blind ...now how about you and I get rich, Rich?' The men who work in the print and post room at legal firm Olmstead and Taft are far too unimportant for anyone to notice. But the information that passes through their office is a goldmine: bank deals, mergers, acquisitions...everything you need to play the stock market and win big. All of them could use the money. None of them can see how it would hurt anyone. They should have known that when millions of dollars are involved, all bets are off. Each of the five men picks three numbers. Together, they make up a code to an offshore bank account. It seems like a fool-proof system - that way, no-one can access the cash on their own. But what happens when if one of them learns all fifteen digits?

Faster - Stronger – Deadlier! Former SAS Warrant Officer Joe Gardner has fought the Regiment's deadliest enemies, in some of the most desolate places on earth. And he's always won. Now he's about to face his toughest challenge yet. After losing his hand whilst on a covert operation in Afghanistan, Gardner is forced to stand down from active duty. Now he lives off the grid. But trouble finds him in the shape of a phone call from an old friend. Ex-Regiment legend John Bald is trapped in a bullet-ridden favela in Rio de Janeiro and a violent gang is out to kill him. Unless Gardner helps, Bald is a dead man. What begins as a simple rescue mission soon descends into a desperate struggle for survival as Gardner finds himself caught up in a conceit that stretches from the slums of Brazil to the frozen steppes of Siberia. Stalked by elusive MI6 agents and ruthless ex-Blades, Gardner must draw on all his training and instincts to hunt down the hardest target of all - before disaster strikes... Hard Target is by Chris Ryan and is due to be published in January 2012.


Agent of the State is the debut novel by Roger Pearce. A suspected terrorist is frisked for explosives on the Embankment. Operators do this so skilfully he remains completely unaware...In New Scotland Yard a new brand of manager fails to deal with escalating threats - 'aggressive indecision' is what Detective Chief Inspector John Kerr calls it...He discovers that cocaine-fuelled sex parties in Knightsbridge are pulling in businessmen, Russian diplomats and senior members of the British government...When Kerr's investigations are blocked by his bosses in Scotland Yard, he decides to go it alone and begins to expose a cover-up that extends to all levels of the British Establishment. Agent of the State is due to be published in June 2012.

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