When
my publisher told me I’d written a psychological thriller with my second book,
The Mountain in my Shoe, I was surprised but very proud. I wasn’t sure I knew
anything about such things. And now many people have asked me what crime novels
I’ve liked, and I’ve tended to say that I don’t really read crime. Until I
realised, when looking at my bookshelves and Kindle, that I do. Quite a lot of
it. And the only reason I didn’t know is that I’m very genre-unaware. That is,
I read for the story. I’ll read any category in the world if the story is
there. If the beautiful writing and engaging characters are there. And in the
following seven novels, all were present; while each had a different thing I
love in my psychological thrillers…
The Murder Wall by Maria Hannah
A
strong lead character
This
novel stood out for me because of the strong lead character – DCI Kate Daniels.
She’s complex; both direct yet private, a risk-taker yet a woman who wants to
help others, confident yet insecure, torn between career and love. I adore
character-led stories and Kate truly leads this book. Much seems to be made in
reviews of her being a lesbian - and the central lesbian relationship - but for
me this is incidental. Mari Hannah writes exquisitely, and Kate is a character
I’d be proud to have created.
Kind of Cruel by
Masterly
twists and turns
I
first discovered Sophie Hannah four years ago when I read Kind of Cruel. The title
intrigued me; the double meaning and play on words. These words are something
Amber Hewerdine comes out with under hypnosis, words that mean nothing yet are
somehow familiar. As a result of saying them aloud, she is then arrested. I was
utterly hooked, with no clue how Hannah would resolve the mystery. And so I
devoured the other books in the Spilling series, each one more addictive then
the previous, each hook more bizarre and seemingly impossible. But Kind of
Cruel was my first, and another I wish I could have come up with.
In Her Wake by Amanda Jennings
Emotional
resonance
With
Jennings, you get ‘the feels’. She has an extraordinary way of touching you
while terrifying you. (I just read that sentence again and it does sound rather
creepy, which is perfect for a piece like this!) I’m not sure what her trick
is, but I sure wish I’d written In Her Wake. In the novel, Bella is on a
personal journey to discover her own identity, and the shocking crime that
happened twenty-five years earlier. Because Jennings gets you under the skin of
her characters, you care for Bella, you care what happens, and so you
personally feel every shock discovery, which makes this book truly a thriller
on all levels.
Exclusion Zone by
A
strong sense of place
I
don’t think I’ve ever read a book with such a strong sense of place as this
one. Set in Pripyat, Chernobyl, it follows the disappearance of a teenager,
Afia, during 1986 and the famous reactor explosion. Hewitt deftly uses the
backdrop - the horrific fallout, the dying land, and the freakishly altered
creatures - to create an added sense of dread. I learned a great deal from this
novel about the importance of the where as much as the who and the how.
Stasi Child by David Young
Era
is everything
In
Stasi Child, David Young has captured not a long-gone time, for 1975 really
isn’t that far in the past, but certainly a very different time. By setting
this incredible thriller during the Cold War in East Berlin, Young cleverly
brings into play all the restrictions of the time, the strict regime, the power
of the Stasi. This lends a dark, claustrophobic, big brother is watching kind
of feel, and makes it one of my favourite crime novels of the year.
A Suitable Lie by
Close
to home is just as chilling
While
far-flung lands and eras gone by make for fantastic fiction, so too do places
quite close to home. And in A Suitable Lie - which is perhaps what people are now
calling Domestic Noir - the setting is an everyday marriage, in the modern
world. The difference is that there are dark secrets within this marriage, ones
you might not expect. Malone cleverly manipulates your emotions, but with
truth. The bare and honest prose grabs you roughly by the collar and doesn’t
let you go until the final sentence. Another top read of 2016 for me.
Before It’s Too Late by
Time
running out
Tension
is key in a good crime novel. And what better cause of anxiety than someone
being abducted, while detectives search desperately for the truth, and for their
whereabouts. In Before It’s Too Late, Isaac does it all. There’s the sharp
writing, the relentless pace, the shocking twists, and above all - for me
anyway - the sublime characters. An abductee we really care about, and an
interesting detective, means this great novel is the whole package.
The Mountain in My Shoe by Louise Beech is out now and published by Orenda Books (£8.99)
A
missing boy. A missing book. A missing husband. A woman who must find them all
to find herself. On the night Bernadette finally has the courage to tell her domineering
husband that she’s leaving, he doesn’t come home. Neither does Conor, the
little boy she’s befriended for the past five years. Also missing is his lifebook,
the only thing that holds the answers. With the help of Conor’s foster mum, Bernadette
must face her own past, her husband’s secrets and a future she never dared
imagine in order to find them all.
You can find more information about Louise Beech on her website. You can follow Louise Beech on Twitter @LouiseWriter.
No comments:
Post a Comment