This is a brilliant book because it turns crime fiction on its head. It is a story told by a retired detective to a crime writer who has just given a lecture on crime writing at a police conference. The detective is talking about one of his former colleagues and how he became obsessed with this case about a little girl who was found murdered in some woods on the outskirts of a small Swiss town in the 1950s. The detective who finds the girl was just about to leave his job to go and work overseas, but he makes a promise – a pledge – to the girl’s parents that he will find her killer and bring him to justice, and that pledge takes over his life. It is an immensely moving scene when he talks to the girl’s parents, and very difficult to read. The storyline builds, the tension and suspense mounts as nefarious, savoury and unscrupulous characters try to do their worst. The ending is excellent, methinks just desserts?? Maybe, maybe not. So... we start with a detective on the hunt for some cold blooded kidnappers. Ones who have also just stepped up to being killers. There's something hinky about the way he is going about it though. We also then have a mother who is a lawyer defending a nasty piece of work but one she has to defend with every bone of her body as her daughter's life depends on the outcome. And finally we have a couple bent on committing the perfect crime. Far be it from me to reveal too much about this book as it will spoil the enjoyment as well as all the wonderful twists. Every time I felt I had worked out what was happening the author threw another spanner in the works! I defy you to figure out who was behind events in the book- there were so many layers to peel away!

The book that really stood out for me in this excellent series is A Dance at the Slaughterhouse, in which Scudder is hired to find out whether a guy has murdered his wife or not. Basically the man and his wife were supposedly ambushed in their apartment by a couple of burglars who they disturbed after a night out. The man was beaten and his wife was murdered. The wife’s brother suspects that there is something amiss and thinks that the husband is responsible, so he hires Scudder to look into it and we soon find ourselves in the real dark underbelly of New York. Tell me about your next book, Tell No One by Harlan Coben, which sounds like a very tense thriller and is all about a doctor losing (or is it finding) his wife? Newly engaged Elena Serenko has just made the life-changing decision to quit her job and start a new life in Australia. And as the story unfolded and I learnt more about the detective at the heart of it I genuinely couldn't get enough.I love this book; this really is a thriller, and a beautifully written one. For me, Dennis Lehane is one of the best American thriller writers alive today. This is one of his early books from his Kenzie and Gennaro series – a male and female partnership of private investigators based in Boston. He wrote five books featuring them in the 1990s. This was the first book from my Harrogate haul. Not out until October but get this on your TBR! It's really hard to describe the plot as it soon spirals into something I was swept away with, But let's just say there are a lof of people in this book who lie or who don't know what they're saying. The story revolves around a detective hunting down cold-blooded killers, but as the plot unfolds, you begin to question whether he knows more than he's letting on. Alongside him is a mother who must defend a murderer to protect her kidnapped daughter. The moral dilemmas and tension in this situation are palpable. And then there's a cunning couple attempting the perfect crime. High up amongst the penthouse suites, a skilled and dangerous killer is hunting a quarry who's eluded him for far too long. Becca is a barrister asked to defend killers and seemingly impervious to the fact she might be getting guilty criminals off scot free. When something awful happens to her daughter she is forced to choose between her family and her personal belief in the law- how far will she go to protect her own flesh and blood?

There are some good twists along the way that worked well for me - some of the recent 'twist masters'' works have felt like they just want to add one after another after another to the point you find them so contrived it's spoils the story. Here, they're relevant, appropriate and germane to the overall plot. Before we start with your five books, I would love to know what you think makes something a thriller as opposed to a straightforward crime novel. There are very few redeeming qualities among the array of characters that feature in the story. Many of the characters come across as caricatures of criminals, their driving force is self-preservation and they are more than willing to double-cross each other if that means they'll escape.The three threads and characters all stood out and all were very distinctive from each other. The detective, the mother, the missing child and the couple in the funeral home. Blimey when you see how it all goes down and how they all come together. The opening scene in an empty barn is one of the most chilling I have ever read and that includes Scandi fiction! It is well-known to most thriller readers (as well as the relevant authorities) that the first 48 hours is critical in any criminal investigation involving a disappearance or kidnapping. This book is a fast-paced examination of those critical hours in the case of a child who has been kidnapped by a professional ring known as The Vanishers. You often talk to police officers as part of your research – so do you agree with the book’s theory?

I would like to thank Netgalley and Headline for an advance copy of The First 48 Hours, a stand-alone thriller set in London. Yes, exactly. He can’t be one hundred per cent sure because, like everyone else, he’s convinced she’s dead, but he looks into it more deeply and he opens up a real can of worms, finding out first that she is still alive (although in hiding), and then that he’s being set up for her murder. People around him start dying and he finds himself on the run. It’s a hugely pacy book, with short chapters and a whole load of twists and turns. You always think you know what is going to happen but then Coben produces another twist and once again you don’t know where you are. And he manages to carry this on right the way through the book, which is no mean feat. It is the first of his books that I have come across, but I trust it will not be the last. Read it if you enjoy complicated storylines well-handled, multiple plot twists, continuous tension, and a satisfying ending without annoying plot devices that involve reaching too far.I highly recommend this thriller- if you’ve read other books by Simon you’ll love this and if you haven’t it’s a perfect one to start with. Five stars from me. What none of them know is that a group of ruthless gunmen are about to burst into the Stanhope, shooting indiscriminately, and seizing hostages. The book then moves to a completely different character, Becca Barraclough, a successful defense barrister who believes that everyone deserves the best defense possible, no matter what they've been accused of. It's her job to try and plant reasonable doubt in the jury's mind. You immediately wonder how Becca's storyline is connected to the Vanishers, and then her daughter is kidnapped. This time around it isn't money that the kidnappers demand.