BookTalk
Book Talk with Smiffs book & card store , Nerja
We start off with Last Boat From Tangier ( h ) by James von Leyden . When Detective Karim Belkacem ’ s best friend and colleague , Abdou , goes missing during an investigation into an illegal cartel , Karim is sent to Tangier to look for him . But the Tangier police have another problem on their hands . Thousands of sub-Saharan migrants have collected in the region , desperate to get to the Promised Land of Europe . Unable to trust his contacts in the police , or anyone in Tangier ’ s underworld of traffickers and informants , Karim turns to his adopted sister Ayesha for help . The truth behind Abdou ’ s disappearance is more disturbing than either of them could imagine .
Last Boat From Tangier leads off this month ’ s Soltalk Hotlist of titles , some entirely new , others moving into small paperback format for the first time or being reissued , sometimes after years out of print . All are due for publication on dates in January , with availability in print this month or in early February . The Hotlist helps readers to budget for and plan book ordering .
In the wake of his sad death last month , we had to include a book from John Le Carre who will be sadly missed by lovers of his writing skills . Most Wanted Man ( h ) was originally published in 2008 and made into a film of the same name in 2014 . A halfstarved young Russian man in a long black overcoat is smuggled into Hamburg at dead of night . He has an improbable amount of cash secreted in a purse round his neck . He is a devout Muslim . Or is he ? He says his name is Issa . Poignant , compassionate , peopled with characters the reader never wants to let go , ‘ A Most Wanted Man ’ is alive with humour , yet prickles with tension until the last heartstopping page . It is also a work of deep humanity , and uncommon relevance to our times .
The Stratford Murder ( p ) by Mike Hollow is the fourth in the four book Blitz Detective series . Set in October 1940 , bombs are falling on Stratford when airraid warden Sylvia Parks sees a house with a light shining like a beacon to the enemy aircraft overhead , violating the strict
blackout regulations . With no answer at the door she manages to break in , only to discover the body of a young woman - and she ’ s been strangled with a stocking . For Detective Inspector John Jago , the scene brings back memories of the gruesome Soho Strangler , who murdered four women in the mid-1930s but has never been caught . Is there a connection ? As the investigation develops , it leads him into a web of family jealousies , violence , robbery and the underworld of terrorism .
X Ways To Die ( p ) by Stefan Ahnhem . A murderous game . The killer makes the rules . Death hangs on the roll of the dice . In murder investigations , it pays to keep things simple : motive , method , opportunity . But the case in front of Detective Fabian Risk is a nightmare . A killer who strikes out of nowhere ... This explosive thriller from Scandinavia ’ s most inventive storyteller concludes the epic events of ‘ Motive X ’.
In the addictive , gripping psychological thriller I Am Pain ( p ) by Ethan Cross , a father returns home to find that his family has been kidnapped . He can get them back - alive - if he agrees to pay the ransom . The price ? The life of an innocent ... In order to stop The Coercion Killer – the name given to the kidnapper by the media - Special Agent Marcus Williams will be forced to question everything that he believes in . He will find himself turning for help to one of the world ’ s most infamous and wanted men , the serial killer Francis Ackerman Jr . Sometimes stopping the worst of the worst is a job for the best of the bad .
Set in 1990s Edinburgh , Our Ladies ( p ) by Alan Warner has also been made into a stage show and a film of the same name . The choir from Our Lady of Perpetual Succour School for Girls is being bussed to the national finals in the big , big city . It ’ s an important day for The Sopranos , with pubcrawling , shoplifting and bodypiercing being the top priorities . And with a newly anchored nuclear sub in the
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