➡️🔝Best summer books of 2024: Crime Thriller
Barry Forshaw selects his best mid-year reads
1- Southern Man by Greg Iles (Hemlock)
Readers undaunted by the Proustian length of Iles’ sprawling epic will find crime writing of a rare order. Arson devastates the fiefdom of Natchez mayor Penn Cage as racial conflict grips the US — tensions exploited by an unscrupulous presidential hopeful. As much a trenchant state-of-the-nation novel as a mesmeric page-turner.
2- Boys Who Hurt by Eva Björg:-
The latest in the Forbidden Iceland series both chills the blood and raises the pulse rate. Detective Elma, maternity leave behind her, is plunged into a horrific murder case. The unhurried pace of Icelandic crime (Ægisdóttir doesn’t exaggerate her country’s modest crime rate) does not preclude mounting tension, confidently handled.
3- The Wrong Hands by Mark Billingham (Sphere)
Putting his long-term copper Tom Thorne on temporary gardening leave after two decades has re-energised Billingham’s batteries; this second outing for the less adroit Detective Declan Miller is as diverting as its predecessor, humour dialled up to 11 (although not neglecting the gruesome — even the title is a macabre joke).
4- This Is Why We Lied by Karin Slaughter (HarperCollins)
The basic elements of escapist crime fiction: adroit scene-setting, vivid characterisation and (crucially) impeccable plotting are studded throughout Karin Slaughter’s 25-year career, and her latest is the author en pleine forme. Murder and a family’s malign past rudely interrupt the honeymoon of her sleuthing duo Will Trent and Sara Linton.
5- Between Two Worlds by Olivier Norek, translated by Nick Caistor (MacLehose)
Diamond-hard, unrelenting Gallic crime fiction with a telling strand of social history: the 18 years that Norek served in the Police Judiciare prefigured a writing career and multiple literary prizes. A young lieutenant in the Calais police force risks his life to protect a migrant and pays a heavy price.
✔️✔️✔️✔️
Barry Forshaw selects his best mid-year reads
1- Southern Man by Greg Iles (Hemlock)
Readers undaunted by the Proustian length of Iles’ sprawling epic will find crime writing of a rare order. Arson devastates the fiefdom of Natchez mayor Penn Cage as racial conflict grips the US — tensions exploited by an unscrupulous presidential hopeful. As much a trenchant state-of-the-nation novel as a mesmeric page-turner.
2- Boys Who Hurt by Eva Björg:-
The latest in the Forbidden Iceland series both chills the blood and raises the pulse rate. Detective Elma, maternity leave behind her, is plunged into a horrific murder case. The unhurried pace of Icelandic crime (Ægisdóttir doesn’t exaggerate her country’s modest crime rate) does not preclude mounting tension, confidently handled.
3- The Wrong Hands by Mark Billingham (Sphere)
Putting his long-term copper Tom Thorne on temporary gardening leave after two decades has re-energised Billingham’s batteries; this second outing for the less adroit Detective Declan Miller is as diverting as its predecessor, humour dialled up to 11 (although not neglecting the gruesome — even the title is a macabre joke).
4- This Is Why We Lied by Karin Slaughter (HarperCollins)
The basic elements of escapist crime fiction: adroit scene-setting, vivid characterisation and (crucially) impeccable plotting are studded throughout Karin Slaughter’s 25-year career, and her latest is the author en pleine forme. Murder and a family’s malign past rudely interrupt the honeymoon of her sleuthing duo Will Trent and Sara Linton.
5- Between Two Worlds by Olivier Norek, translated by Nick Caistor (MacLehose)
Diamond-hard, unrelenting Gallic crime fiction with a telling strand of social history: the 18 years that Norek served in the Police Judiciare prefigured a writing career and multiple literary prizes. A young lieutenant in the Calais police force risks his life to protect a migrant and pays a heavy price.
✔️✔️✔️✔️