The Crime Warp

I rarely blog about true crime, but this novelisation of Stefan Thunburg's family history is just mind boggling and captivating.  The Father, is about four brothers who grow up under the thumb of a violent father. Three of the brothers for "The Military Gang" a daring team of robbers who targetted banks and armoured cars in a series of audacious heists in the 1990s.  The fourth brother is the exception, studying at art schools, instead of taking part in hold ups.  The novel vividly recounts life growing up in an atmosphere that is often depicted in the novels we read, but I'm sure few could  comprehend living in this way.  As a father, I've helped my children learn, showing them the best way to do lots of things from writing neatly in their homework books, to DIY - Thunburg's father did too, but his range of topics was different, including precise instructions on how to make Molotov Cocktails!   The quality of the novel has undoubtedly benefited f...

When Charlie Yates arrives in Texarkana to cover the murder of young couples at a local make out spot, he knows he’s been well and truly sidelined from his job as a crime reporter for a New York newspaper.   Yates has a volatile and violent temper, a flawed character as you’d expect, but he’s also a true journalist – he knows the stories that sell newspapers and isn’t afraid to dig up the truth to get the story.   He’s quick to talk and meet with people, pick up clues and relentlessly follow them up, even if his methods are sometimes a tad…well let’s say what do you expect of a journalist?   As the novel develops, Yates also starts to mix personal and professional – not a good idea, but you can see why he’s attracted to Lizzie, and not just because she’s the latest victim’s sister!     

 I blogged last year about Deon Meyer’s previous Benny Griessel novel Cobra and seeing the advanced publicity this year for his new novel Icarus, it went straight on my review list. Icarus follows two parallel plots – the first, of Francois du Toit, a vineyard owner, slowly telling his story in a privileged discussion seemingly about to confess to his involvement in a crime to a criminal defence lawyer.  This first plot soon appears to be connected to the second, of a body found buried in sand dunes north of Capetown.  The dead man is Ernst Richter, head of Alibi, who specialise in producing fake documents for cheating partners.

I’ve been blogging less regularly this year because work has been so busy, so I’ve been quite selective about what I’ve been reading.   This trio of novels is about as diverse as you could get but I guarantee that everyone who reads the Crime Warp will find at least one of these to be just up their street. The Man Who Watched Women – Hjorth and Rosenfeldt – Sebastian Bergman is genius criminal profiler, traumatised by the tsunami disaster of 2004 when his family were killed and he survived.   Bergman kicks against any offer of help, instead abusing alcohol and seducing women to distract him.   He recently found out he has a daughter Vanja, from an old girlfriend.   Vanja offers the tiniest glimmer of normality for Bergman, but he can’t bring himself to reveal his relationship to her, instead he watches her, in an almost stalker like way.   Meanwhile Stockholm is victim to a series of brutal and sadistic killings that are alike in almost every deta...

I’ve been looking at what’s coming up in 2015 and there’s a superb crop of crime and thriller fiction waiting to hit the shelves. My pick this month are published on those crossover days of 31 December and 1 January – and as always, well worth looking out for.    Number one has to be Die Again by Tess Gerritsen . Rizzoli and Isles are back in the latest outing for the Detective and Pathologist duo, investigating a bizarre murder in Boston, where a man has been found butchered, gutted and hanging in his own home. The hope that this is just a single killing soon disappears when a second victim is found, and a link to previous killings emerges, indicating that the murderer has been at work for years and Boston has become his new hunting ground. The only way to catch the murderer is the temptation of a bait he can’t resist – a previous victim, the one that got away. Dark, horrifying and often harrowing, this is another top notch novel from Gerritsen. As always with...

A short while ago, I posted a competition for The Crime Warp's second birthday.  We had a fantastic response - the most ever for one of our competitions.  Jim Glaser from Michigan was the lucky winner, receiving a copy of Books to Die For , edited by John Connolly and Declan Burke.     As you can see, Jim was thrilled to be the winner. When I broke the news he said "That's so cool!"    It took a little while for the book to get to Michigan, but Jim was genuinely delighted with the prize.  He said " I can't wait to discover new authors and novels!  And being reminded of books and authors I may have forgotten."   So congratulations again to Jim, and don't forget that there's another Crime Warp competition underway - the new competition is to choose the best UK crime novel of 2014.  Here's the link:   http://thecrimewarp.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/launching-crime-warp-new-years-honours.html   Romancrimeblogger

Hello and welcome to my monthly post, highlighting crime and thriller fiction worth looking out for. I’ve previously concentrated exclusively on novels, but this month I wanted to highlight a couple of other things I believe are worth looking out for.   Six Degrees of Assassination is an exciting five hour political thriller series by Audible. It starts on a sullen, cloudy July day ten years since 7/7. The happy, confident and optimistic British Prime Minister is visiting a charity in East London. Just two months after the general election which saw his government returned to power with a clear majority, the economy is on the mend and the coalition is fast becoming a bad memory. Suddenly, a man appears out of the crowd and shoots him three times in the chest. Alex Cartwright, MI5 Chief Counter Terrorism Officer (Andrew Scott) must find out the truth and the action follows Cartwright’s investigation into the assassination. Six people, from assassin to mastermind, are unrave...