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Category: Mystery/Thriller

Tess Gerritsen - Body Double

A wholly un-put-downable book, frightening and utterly gripping where the motive for the terrible killings...no, I shouldn't tell you that. It's a revelation of utter depravity which is so compelling it is almost painful to put aside. It starts with our pathologist returning from holiday to find "herself", or so the neighbourhood believes, dead in a car outside her house and from there the mystery doesn't let up. It's stunning.

Comparison: Karin Slaughter; Kathy Reichs; Mo Hayder.

Category: Crime/Whodunnit

Mary Higgins Clark - No Place Like Home

The story of a devious man and of a little girl accused of murdering her mother, now grown up and facing the horrors again. The suspense builds to make this a gripping and, at times, surprising story; it is very good indeed.

Comparison: Christina Schwarz, Hilary Norman, Morag Joss.

Category: 1st novel

Stuart MacBride - Cold Granite

This is terrific; a dark, angry story about child abuse and murder with an anti-hero and a cold, unforgiving setting in Aberdeen. It's gritty, violent and graphic with a lot of black humour that lifts it. There is a past to our anti-hero, DS Logan McRae, which made me think I was reading a second novel, but no, I'm told it is a first and the beginning of a series which is very good news. I think he is rather special.

Comparison: Ian Rankin, Paul Johnston, David Peace.

Category: Relationship/Family Drama

Sophie Kinsella - The Undomestic Goddess

A book to lap up in one go, giggling all the way. Sophie is such a clever author; she is easy to read, writes well and you really can't second-guess the conclusion. Full of funny incidents yet totally heart-warming too - she is in a class of her own. Very highly recommended.

Comparison: Alexandra Potter, Carmen Reid, Maria Beaumont.

Category: Literary/Contemporary

Marya Hornbacher - The Centre of Winter

A lovely, lovely book. The story of an American family towards the end of the Vietnam War is told by three of its members: the mother, the six-year old daughter and the very disturbed 12-year old son. Their voices are quite different, as indeed are their viewpoints, and as a strategy for telling this powerful tale, it works like a dream. Harrowing in places, it is a novel of survival: strong, beautifully drawn and highly convincing. Just read it. The author's previous work, Wasted, was a shattering memoir of coming through eating disorders. She is very good.

Comparison: Alice Sebold, Alice Hoffman, William Kowalski.

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