Never Flinch by Stephen King (Hodder & Stoughton, £25)
King’s latest brings back private detective Holly Gibney, who is consulted when the Ohio police department receives an anonymous letter stating that the writer is proposing to kill “13 innocents and 1 guilty” as an act of atonement for the death of an innocent. It soon becomes clear that the death is that of Alan Duffrey who, wrongly convicted of possessing child pornography, was murdered in prison. Slips of paper with names in the corpses’ hands suggest that each one represents a member of the jury responsible for Duffrey’s incarceration. Meanwhile, women’s rights campaigner Kate McKay finds herself targeted by religious extremists while on a speaking tour, and calls on Holly’s services as a bodyguard. Intelligent, courageous and modest to a fault, Holly is one of the most appealing investigators in contemporary crime fiction. Despite some longueurs, Never Flinch contains plenty of King’s trademark chilling moments, with the two storylines expertly entwined.
The Sunshine Man by Emma Stonex (Picador, £18.99)
Stonex’s second novel is an ambitious revenge thriller that takes the reader on a journey from London to Devon, both geographically, and via flashbacks to the early years of the two main characters, who share the narration. Jimmy Maguire, scion of the local “bad family”, was 19 when he killed 15-year-old Providence. When he is released from prison in 1989, her older sister Birdie tracks him, illicitly purchased gun at the ready. Although the mystifyingly redacted swearwords are an irritant, and seasoned crime readers will realise early on that one aspect of Jimmy’s past is not what it seems, what makes this thought-provoking book well worth the read is the delicate and perceptive chronicling of how good intentions, childhood misunderstandings, throwaway comments and split-second decisions can pave the way for disaster.
Heartwood by Amity Gaige (Fleet, £20)
Gaige’s fifth novel is a wilderness thriller set in Maine, where State Game Warden Lt Beverly Miller is managing the search for 42-year-old Valerie Gillis who, three months into the Appalachian Trail hike of a lifetime, has failed to make a scheduled meeting with her husband. As Valerie’s supplies dwindle and she battles against nature and the elements, she composes letters to her mother; meanwhile the clock ticks and Miller becomes increasingly anxious for the missing woman’s safety. A third narrative strand focuses on 76-year-old Lena, who lives in a retirement community and believes – thanks to some interactions on Reddit – that Valerie has stumbled upon a secret military training facility. Readers may feel that the central mystery lacks focus, but Gaige is at her considerable best when exploring the impact of Valerie’s disappearance on others and the range of emotions it prompts among those who are metaphorically, rather than literally, lost.
The Mourning Necklace by Kate Foster (Mantle, £16.99)
Set in the 1800s and based on the true story of “Half-hangit Maggie”, Foster’s third novel is the fascinating account of a woman who was given a new lease of life by being put to death. Although she has been found guilty of killing her newborn baby, the words “until you are dead” were not used in official judgments at the time, so the sentence, which has left Maggie Dickson with the titular mark about her neck, is deemed to have been carried out, and she is duly freed. Maggie’s life as the daughter of Scottish fishers is so vividly evoked one can almost smell it. When handsome Patrick Spencer comes along, Maggie sees a way to escape the unending round of gutting, cleaning lines and fixing bait, but her naivety proves her undoing. Her philandering new husband disappears, and she strikes out for London, only to find herself stranded, penniless and pregnant. An utterly compelling tale of a resourceful woman whose hard life is made even more so by institutional misogyny, gender-based violence and medical ignorance.
The Search for Othella Savage by Foday Mannah (Quercus, £16.99)
Present-day Edinburgh and Sierra Leone are the settings for Mannah’s debut novel, which won the 2022 Mo Siewcharran Prize. Hawa Barrie lives on the fringes of a Sierra Leonean expat community that revolves around the Lion Mountain Church, headed by a charismatic pastor. Ronald Ranka presents himself as “a true man of divine discernment who goes above and beyond to help Africans in this White people’s country”, but he also surrounds himself with attractive young women whose role as church “ambassadors” involves them in morally dubious ways of raising funds. When one of them is found barely alive, having been locked in a car boot for five days, and her old friend Othella disappears shortly thereafter, Hawa becomes suspicious. This sharp, evocative novel tackles morally thorny questions about ends justifying means, religious and political corruption, luxury beliefs, and the pressure on those living abroad to deliver for family and community back home.
