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. 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 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. 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. 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!

Well, it is so well known that most people will already know the twist, and those who don’t can skip this paragraph [SPOILER ALERT]! 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 would like to thank Netgalley and Headline for an advance copy of The First 48 Hours, a stand-alone thriller set in London.Although you’ll get different answers from different people, for me I think that a thriller is more plot-related. Characterisation is important but I think less so than the plot. Pace is also essential in a thriller, whereas it doesn’t have to be in a regular crime novel. Clearly there are crime novels which have pace as well but the mix tends to be more focused towards characterisation. THREE STORIES. TWO DAYS. DOES ONE SECRET CONNECT THEM ALL? THE FIRST 48 HOURS.... MAY ALSO BE THEIR LAST. Without giving away any spoilers it's a kidnapping procedural with a difference and brings its apparently disparate plots together in an intriguing way.

I've not read many of this author's books and that's not for want of trying to fit them into an already bulging TBR but, what I have read had been top notch. I really do need to get my act together! Briefly, the demotion doesn’t bother Fisher as he has one last job to complete before he retires to the beach in Thailand. We follow Fisher as he tries to keep his police colleagues from discovering who the Vanishers are, where the kidnapped daughter is and of course his Jekyll and Hyde life.

Simon Kernick Complete Book List

The First 48 Hours” is a verd thriller where three enthralling storylines are connected by secrets, danger, and a constant race against time. A committed detective is assigned the task of solving a chilling murder case. The second storyline features a mother who is defending her own child accused of murder and thirdly a couple planning what they believe to be the perfect crime. 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. Fish is a detective who works for the Met investigating kidnaps, particularly a group of kidnappers called the Vanishers who snatch young people for ransoms. However Fish has many secrets of his own and his first person narration leads the reader to suspect that he is not a particularly nice character and certainly knows more about the kidnappers than it first appears. I enjoyed The First 48 Hours as it is a clever novel with plenty of twists and turns. I did not find it as gripping as I thought it would be and that is due, I think, to the continually changing point of view. The majority of the novel is told in the first person from the first person perspective of a morally ambiguous detective, Fish with the lawyer, the couple and some other characters making contributions as and when required.