So the last of the Christmas chocolate is dwindling, the New Years’ bubbly is long fizzed out and the emails have once again started to pile up… ahh January. But no need to fall into a pit of despair! We are already pumped for this January’s crime thriller releases for more intoxicating exhilarations and delights!
Leave behind the January blues and get ready for high-stakes thrills, spills and chills from some of the most electrifying titles out this month!
Detective Thriller ○ Fast-Paced
Final Term by Leigh Russell
No Exit Press, 9780857304292, p/b, £9.99, 26/01/2023
From internationally bestselling crime author Leigh Russell comes this absolute sensational thriller that will have you completely hooked on whip smart protagonist DI Steel. When a pupil accuses a teacher of molesting her, his career and marriage are threatened. The girl’s corpse is discovered in the woods, and the teacher becomes a suspect in a murder enquiry. The victim’s best friend is then murdered so she cannot reveal the killer’s identity. The investigating team are satisfied the teacher is guilty, apart from Detective Inspector Geraldine Steel, who believes the wrong man has been arrested. All of her colleagues disagree… but if she is right, the real killer remains at large. The latest instalment in the spectacular DI Geraldine Steel series, this nail-biting mystery can also be read as a stand alone novel.
Suspense ○ Small-town secrets ○ Fiery heroine
The Hunter by Jennifer Herrera
Putnam, 9780593540213, h/b, £24.99, 12/01/2023
A complex, thoughtful suspense debut that is an addictive page-turner, this small-town thriller asks: How can we uncover the truth when we are lying to ourselves? After reckless behavior costs NYPD detective Leigh O’Donnell her job and her marriage, three suspicious drownings in her hometown cause her to return to Copper Falls, Ohio, in the hopes that solving a triple homicide just might get her life back on course… and while Copper Falls may seem idyllic, something rotten lies at its core. Leigh isn’t afraid to face a killer, but she has to do more than that to discover the truth about what happened to those men. She must unravel a web of secrets going back generations, confronting the lies Copper Falls was built on, and, in doing so, rocking the foundation of her beliefs about herself. Taut and beautifully written, Herrera writes with an evocative voice, and introduces us to a fiery and headstrong heroine whose search for truth may lead back to the most unlikely of places…
Icy thriller ○ Shocking Climax ○ Eerie
City Under One Roof by Iris Yamashita
Berkley, 9780593336670, h/b, £24.99, 12/01/2023
In a town where all 205 residents live in one high-rise building, this is the ultimate locked-room mystery. When a local teenager discovers a severed hand and foot washed up on the shore of the small town of Point Mettier, Alaska, Cara Kennedy is on the case. A detective from Anchorage, she has her own reasons for investigating the possible murder in this isolated place, which can be accessed only by a tunnel. After an avalanche causes the tunnel to close indefinitely, Cara teams up with Point Mettier police officer Joe Barkowski. But before long, the investigation is upended by a gang from a nearby reservation who are seeking shelter from the snowstorm. Trapped with odd, suspicious and some downright dangerous residents, Cara soon discovers that everyone in this town has something to hide. Warning: this gripping novel will drop you right in the middle of this snowy and atmospheric town and your eyes will locked to its pages until its convulsive climax.
Set in Thailand ○ Unique cinephile theme ○ Witty, offbeat thriller
The Motion Picture Teller by Colin Cotterill
Soho Press, 9781641294355, h/b, £26.99, 19/01/2023
Thailand, 1996: Supot, a postman with the Royal Thai Postal Service, hates his job. The only bright light in his life is watching classic movies with his best friend, Ali, the owner of a video store. These cinephiles adore the charisma of the old Western stars—until a mysterious cassette, entitled Bangkok 2010, arrives at Ali’s store. The cassette is a dystopian film set in a Thailand run by chauvinistic Security Council officers—and Supot and Ali, immediately obsessed, agree it’s the most brilliant Thai movie they’ve ever seen… but strangely nobody else has ever heard of the film. Supot journeys deep into the Thai countryside and discovers a curse around the motion picture, one that keeps Bangkok 2010 from ever being viewed. But does that mean its story can never be told? An incredible standalone novel from award-winning author Colin Cotterill, this is a completely unique thriller with no crime. Strange, witty, offbeat and enriching, this vibrant mystery will be one you won’t forget in a very long time.
