February’s best thrillers revealed – these four books will grip you | Books | Entertainment
Warning Signs by Tracy Sierra, Hardback, £18.99
When 12-year-old Zach joins his father Bram and his business clients on a skiing weekend in the Colorado mountains he immediately feels something lurking in the darkness outside their remote cabin. Zach was taught to spot dangers in the backcountry by his late mother, who grew up there, but the men on the fathers and sons trip think they know better. When disaster strikes he’ll have to use all of his survival skills to escape the wilderness and the monsters within it. The second novel from the Nightwatching author is a riveting tale of survival that builds dread and tension to keep the reader on the edge of their seat. The best thriller this reviewer has read in a long time. 10/10
A Bad, Bad Place by Frances Crawford, Hardback, £16.99
Janey Devine blames her dog Sid Vicious for leading her to the murdered daughter of a local hardman on an abandoned railway. The 12-year-old claims she can’t remember what she saw that day, but the police think she’s hiding something and they’re not the only ones taking a close interest. As fear and rumour rip through the tight-knit community of Possilpark in Glasgow in 1979, Janey’s grandmother Maggie tries to protect her but is deeply afraid when she starts to remember exactly what happened in that bad, bad place. This visceral debut is touching and darkly funny in exploring powerful themes like love and redemption in troubled working class lives, with a character you’ll adore in Janey. Crawford is one to watch. 9/10
The Persian by David McCloskey, Hardback, £20
Having debuted with Damascus Station in 2021, former CIA analyst McCloskey’s rise to the top tier of spy writing has been effortless. His fourth novel, a thrilling standalone featuring the shadow war between Israel and Iran, couldn’t be better timed. On one side of a series of tit-for-tat assassinations and kidnappings is Persian-Swedish dentist Kam, working for Mossad cash towards his dream of a new life in California before being caught by the Iranian security forces. On the other is Colonel Ghorbani of the deadly Quds Force – hunting Israeli agents via drone strikes. Forced to endlessly confess his crimes in crayon, Kam’s story unfolds step-by-step at the hands of his captors. Pitch-perfect, utterly gripping and deliciously timely. Seriously good. 9/10
The Hadacol Boogie by James Lee Burle, Hardback, £25
Now in his 90th year, the elder statesman of US crime writing’s greatest creation, Louisiana detective Dave Robicheaux – appearing here in his 25th full-length novel since 1987’s The Neon Rain – remains a beguiling, brilliant character. Hallucinatory, disturbing and utterly gripping, The Hadacol Boogie opens when a disfigured, cloaked character leaves the body of a young woman on Robicheaux’s lawn. Working with a new detective, Valerie Benoit, who may be related to the victim, and his ‘podna’ Clete Purcell, Robicheaux must wade through layers of moral corruption, dodging deadly ‘button men’, to find the truth and protect his daughter Alafair, who is somehow linked to the dead woman. Burke’s beautiful prose never fails to grip heart and mind. 8/10
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