If you are in the UK and are anticipating the need to decide on some books to buy in January (perhaps after receiving book vouchers for Christmas?) to see you through the last of the holiday season, here are a few of the paperbacks that will be published that month, via the Bookseller (25 September issue).
Long Lost by Harlan Coben (Orion, £7.99). A return to the author's original character, sports agent Myron Bolitar. The least-good book I've read by Coben, but still better than many thrillers out there.
Just Take My Heart by Mary Higgins Clark (Pocket, £6.99). If you read this author you will know exactly what to expect and won't be disappointed.
From among the predicted "major sellers", some I haven't read myself: Don't Tell by Karen Rose (Headline, £6.99); The Shakespeare Curse by J L Carell (Sphere, £6.99); The Price of Love (short stories) by Peter Robinson (Hodder, £7.99); Daemon by Daniel Surarez (Quercus, £7.99); Blind Eye by Stuart MacBride (Harper, £6.99) and one I'm looking forward to – Far Cry by John Harvey (Arrow, £6.99).
And from the "crime and thriller" category: Occupied City by David Peace (Faber, £7.99); No Lovelier Death by Graham Hurley (Orion, £6.99); Whispers of the Dead by Simon Beckett (Bantam, £6.99); Awakening by S. J. Bolton (Corgi, £6.99); Gutted by Tony Black (Preface, £7.99); Runner by Thomas Perry (Quercus, £7.99); Sure and Certain Death by Barbara Nadel (Headline, £7.99); Dark Waters by Jack Ross (Arrow, £7.99); Unknown by Mari Jungstedt (Corgi, £7.99); and one that is definitely on my "must read" list, The Reunion by Simone van der Vlugt (HarperPress, £7.99). One that sounds quite intriguing is "the fourth in the Mobile Library series", The Bad Book Affair by Ian Samson (4th Estate, £7.99).
There are a couple that sound a bit gruesome: Cut Out by Patrick Lennon (Hodder, £6.99) and Stop Me by Richard Jay Parker (Allison & Busby, £7.99) in which "a chain email might save a kidnapped girl's life in a tale that explores internet celebrity and obsession". And finally, a couple of old names: The Goliath Bone by Mickey Spillane with Allan Collins (Quercus, £7.99), and Salt River by James Sallis (No Exit Press, £7.99).
Links go to reviews of the books at Petrona, Euro Crime, It's a Crime! and Reviewing the Evidence.
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