English books
MARK CHARAN NEWTON – DRAKENFELD
The monarchies of the Royal Vispasian Union have been bound together for two hundred years by laws maintained and enforced by the powerful Sun Chamber. As a result, nations have flourished but corruption, deprivation and murder will always find a way to thrive . . .
Receiving news of his father’s death Sun Chamber Officer Lucan Drakenfeld is recalled home to the ancient city of Tryum and rapidly embroiled in a mystifying case. The King’s sister has been found brutally murdered – her beaten and bloody body discovered in a locked temple. With rumours of dark spirits and political assassination, Drakenfeld has his work cut out for him trying to separate superstition from certainty. His determination to find the killer quickly makes him a target as the underworld gangs of Tryum focus on this new threat to their power.
Embarking on the biggest and most complex investigation of his career, Drakenfeld soon realises the evidence is leading him towards a motive that could ultimately bring darkness to the whole continent. The fate of the nations is in his hands.
MARK CHARAN NEWTON – THE BOOK OF TRANSFORMATIONS
Corrupt politics and surprising superheroes, The Book of Transformations is the third book in Mark Charan Newton's Legends of the Red Sun fantasy series.
A new and corrupt Emperor seeks to rebuild the ancient structures of Villjamur. But when the stranger Shalev arrives, empowering a militant underground movement, crime and terror become the rule.
Emperor Urtica calls upon cultists to help construct a group to eliminate those involved with the uprising, and calm the populace. But there’s more to these Villjamur Knights than just phenomenal skills and abilities - each have a secret that, if exposed, could destroy everything they represent.
Investigator Fulcrom of the Villjamur Inquisition is given the unenviable task of managing the Knights’, but his own skills are tested when a mysterious priest, who has travelled from beyond the Empire’s edge, seeks his help. The priest’s existence threatens the church, and his quest promises to unweave the fabric of the world. Then in a distant corner of the Empire, the enigmatic cultist Dartun Súr steps back into this world, having witnessed horrors beyond his imagination. Broken, altered, he and the remnants of his cultist order are heading back to Villjamur. All eyes turn to the Sanctuary City, for Villjamur’s ancient legends are about to be shattered.
MARK CHARAN NEWTON – THE BROKEN ISLES ( LEGENDS OF THE RED SUN)
War spills into the Boreal Archipelago, as two rival cultures bring their eternal battle into this adjacent realm. Fresh from a military victory, Commander Brynd Lathraea plans to rebuild the city of Villiren, where he is confronted with a dilemma. There are friendly forces who have no other choice but to live alongside his own people, and their numbers will be required to fight in the looming conflict. The commander turns politician as he seeks to build bridges and embrace mysterious new technologies to further his ambitions. However, many in Villiren are sceptical of aliens coming to their city, tensions run high, and even the dream of a peaceful future brings with it inevitable clashes of beliefs. Meanwhile, Villjamur has been destroyed. A vast swathe of refugees from the legendary city are now on the run from an immense alien presence in the sky. Villages are being cleared and people are dying en masse. And Inquisitor Fulcrom finds himself at the helm of an operation to aid the refugee exodus to the coast, but it's a race against time before this threatened genocide is complete. Ancient civilisations line up on the field of battle. Exotic creatures and a possible god walk alongside citizens of the Empire. As the Legends of the Red Sun series draws to a close, there will be one final and immense conflict to decide the fate of multiple cultures forever.
MARK HODGKINSON – GAME, SET AND MATCH
What better way to improve your tennis – and to gain a new appreciation for the sport – than by discovering the secrets of the world's greatest players and coaches? Reading this book is to feel as though you are receiving personal tuition from the tennis elite, including those who have won Grand Slam titles and held the world number one ranking.
Game, Set and Match: Secret Weapons of the World's Top Tennis Players is an unprecedented collection of tips from the sport's superstars, including Maria Sharapova, Andy Murray, Grigor Dimitrov, Eugenie Bouchard, Kei Nishikori, Pete Sampras, Steffi Graf, Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg, Milos Raonic, Caroline Wozniacki, Stan Wawrinka, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Bob and Mike Bryan, Martina Navratilova, Gael Monfils, Petra Kvitova, Ana Ivanovic and Marin Cilic.
There is also advice from Roger Federer's mother, Lynette on tennis parenting and tips from Rafa Nadal's uncle and coach, Toni, as well as other leading coaches such as Patrick Mouratoglou, Nick Bollettieri, Paul Annacone, Marian Vajda, Judy Murray, Darren Cahill, Roger Rasheed and Robert Lansdorp, and from fitness experts such as Andre Agassi's former trainer, Gil Reyes.
MARK PEARSON – MURDER CLUB
Detective Inspector Delaney is looking forward to spending Christmas with Kate Walker and his young daughter Siobhan, but the past always had a way of ruining Jack's best-laid plans. And this holiday season is no different!
A year previously, Delaney was responsible for the arrest of Michael Robinson, a viciously violent rapist. Robinson always claimed he was set up by the police but before he could be brought to trail he was brutally attacked in prison and left for dead. He didn't die, however, and a year later, out of hospital and fit for trial - he is pointing the finger squarely at Delaney for the assault that nearly killed him. And not only that - it looks like he has a case!
And everything is about to get a whole lot worse for the Detective Inspector when Robinson walks free from court.
There are new faces at White CIty - and with them come old crimes, old bones and old scores to settle!
It seems that Delaney is not the only one in West London with a past they'll take any measures to hide. And as the body count starts to climb - it looks like Jack himself might be about to join the club.
MARK ROBSON – THE DEVIL’S TRIANGLE
The Bermuda Trianglehas cast a shadow over Sam and Niamh Cutlers' lives since their mother vanished nine years ago. Her whereabouts remains a mystery and every year they return to the Florida Keys with their father, Matt, who is obsessed with solving the haunting puzzle.
But Sam is bored with lazing around by the pool while his father hunts for the truth. Craving excitement, he and his friend, Callum, "borrow" Matt's boat. At first it's great fun, but when they find themselves marooned in a terrifying land, the boys realise they too have fallen victim to the Triangle's mysterious effects. Can they find a way home, or will they be lost forever?
MARK SULLIVAN – OUTLAW
From the #1 Amazon Charts bestselling author of Beneath a Scarlet Sky
AN ENEMY EMERGING FROM THE EAST.
The US Secretary of State is abducted while conducting secret negotiations aboard a tanker in the South China Sea. 'Seven days' is her captors' warning. Seven days before she is beheaded, live on the internet. Seven days for Robin Monarch to save her.
A TREACHERY TRACING TO THE TOP.
The CIA asset and master thief journeys into the underworld of Southeast Asia to locate and extract his target. But as he navigates this shady labyrinth, he unravels a worrying conspiracy: stretching from the red-lit underbelly of Asia to the White House itself.
MARK URBAN – TASK FORCE BLACK
The book the MoD doesn't want you to read' Daily Mail
Soon after British and American forces invaded Iraq they faced an insurgency that was almost impossible to understand, let alone reverse.
Facing defeat, the Coalition waged a hidden war within a war. Major-General Stan McChrystal devised a campaign fusing special forces, aircraft, and the latest surveillance technology with the aim of taking down the enemy faster than it could regenerate. Guided by intelligence, a small British special forces team met the car bombers' fire with fire and accounted for thousands of insurgents.
MARLON JAMES – A BRIEF HISTORY OF SEVEN KILLINGS
*WINNER OF THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2015*
JAMAICA, 1976
Seven gunmen storm Bob Marley’s house, machine guns blazing. The reggae superstar survives, but the gunmen are never caught.
From the acclaimed author of Black Leopard, Red Wolf and The Book of Night Women comes a dazzling display of masterful storytelling exploring this near-mythic event. Spanning three decades and crossing continents, A Brief History of Seven Killings chronicles the lives of a host of unforgettable characters – slum kids, drug lords, journalists, prostitutes, gunmen and even the CIA. Gripping and inventive, ambitious and mesmerising, A Brief History of Seven Killings is one of the most remarkable and extraordinary novels of the twenty-first century.
MARTIN CRUZ SMITH – STALIN’S GHOST
Moscow lies deep under snow, and Arkady Renko is called in to handle a delicate matter: passengers riding the last metro of the night have reported seeing the ghost of Stalin on the platform edge. Not everyone, it seems, likes the fact that Stalin is dead . . .
But in the midst of a blizzard nothing is as it first appears to be. Renko’s girlfriend Eva and his adopted son, Zhenya, seem to be slipping into danger. The owner of a matrimonial agency wants her husband killed. An innocent `Russian Bride’ employs a garrotte. A chess grandmaster wanders into Renko’s life and leads him into the line of fire. Diehard Communists gather to sing along with Stalin. `Red Diggers’ uncover secrets buried for half century in a desolate forest and Renko discovers ghosts that have been waiting for him all his life . . .
As Russia swings more and more to the right, Renko is more and more out of step. Not only an original and deeply humane thriller, Stalin’s Ghost is also a wonderful evocation of the emerging New Russia.
Praise for Martin Cruz Smith:
`Cruz Smith not only constructs grittily realistic plots, he also has a gift for characterisation of which most thriller writers can only dream’ Mail on Sunday
MARTIN O’ BRIEN – CONFESSION
Chief Inspector Daniel Jacquot has been enjoying the quiet life in a peaceful Provençal village. A former rugby international, who once scored the winning try against England at Twickenham, Jacquot sports a trademark ponytail and loves food, wine - and one woman, artist Claudine. Now, however, he must leave her to go to Paris, where Marseilles Magistrate, Solange Bonnefoy's niece has been abducted. As the trail of violence and corruption leads Jacquot back to the ancient seaport, with its bloody history of slave trafficking, another utterly shocking and unexpected murder sets the investigation galloping in a wholly new direction and Jacquot has to go undercover.
MARTIN O’BRIEN – BLOOD COUNTS
When you're a copy in Marseilles, threats of violence and revenge go with the territory. Ususally they come to nothing, but when friends and colleagues start turning up dead, it soon becomes clear that someone from Jacquot's past has a score to settle. The first to die is a bride on her wedding day. She's been shot in the head. And an eye has been removed. The second to die is the wife of a high-ranking officer in the Marseilles homicide squad. Her throat has been cut and a tooth removed. When a third body is found, there's a hand missing; and the fourth body has had a foot sawn off. The message couldn't be clearer -- an eye for any eye, a tooth for a tooth, and so on. But not only that. In order to sweeten the revenge and cause the greatest pain, his victims are never the names on the list but the people closest to them. When Jacquot realises that he's the target, he knows that unless he can track dow
MARTINA COLE – THE FAMILY
Phillip Murphy is a family man. He worships his old mum; he takes care of his siblings who help run his business empire in Southend; he dotes on his two young sons who will one day take over the reins. And then there's his wife and saviour Christine, whom he loves with a vengeance. Christine has always understood this about her husband; it was one of the things that first attracted her to him. But there is another side to Phillip, and it's a side he never wanted his wife to see. Though, even if she did, could she do anything but stand by him? Because Phillip has rules, and he expects loyalty from his nearest and dearest.
MARTINA COLE – THE LIFE
When it's in your blood, there's no other way.
THE LIFE by the 'undisputed queen of crime writing' (Guardian) and Sunday Times No.1 bestseller Martina Cole is an unflinching novel that exposes a world that many would rather ignore...
The Baileys are born into the Life.
Brothers Daniel and Peter rule London's East End with threats and violence. Only a fool would cross them, but there are always those in the shadows who will try.
And when their enemies strike, every Bailey pays the price. But none more so than Daniel's only daughter, Tania. The Life is in her blood, and now it's her weapon for revenge.
For more novels that will take you deep into the dark and dangerous criminal underworld, check out Martina Cole's THE GRAFT, THE BUSINESS and REVENGE
MARUCIE BROADDUS – KING’S JUSTICE
FROM THE DRUG GANGS OF DOWNTOWN INDIANAPOLIS, THE ONE TRUE KING WILL ARISE.
Guided by the crazed visions of his advisor Merle, King knows that he must unite the opposing factions, before the streets erupt in all-out war. But how can he preach peace when even his own warriors are plotting against him? A heart-stopping mix of ancient myth and powerful gang action, from the author of King Maker.
File Under: Urban Fantasy [ Street gangs | Drug wars | Wild magic | Gather darkness ]
