Crime and thrillers of the month – review
Deep-sea divers feel the pressure, Stephen King returns with some masterly tales, a mother fears her own son, and a Dorset resort isn’t as restful as it seems
The nuclear volcano’s about to blow! Can Michael Crichton score an explosive hit from beyond the grave?
From Jurassic Park to Westworld, he was king of the sciency disaster novel. But Crichton died before finishing Eruption. Who could possibly complete it? Fellow thriller legend James Patterson explains why he took up the baton
‘Bond’s gone woke!’ Charlie Higson on the row around his ‘metrosexual’ 007
When Charlie Higson published a new Bond novel last year, online critics accused him of turning 007 into a ‘woke, libtard snowflake’ ... But he has always been a complicated character, argues the author
The Crow review – Brandon Lee’s heavy metal horror is a potent goth fantasy
After Lee’s accidental on-set killing, speculation of a curse elevated this grungy revenge fantasy to cult status. Its violent, cartoonish energy still holds power
The Small Back Room review – boundary-breaking wartime drama from Powell and Pressburger
Reuniting the stars of Black Narcissus, this movie about a back-room boffin attached to a bomb disposal unit finds the film-makers pushing gloriously against genre conventions
Sunday with Harlan Coben: ‘New York City is a great city for walking’
The novelist takes us on a stroll to the Grand Bazaar, through Central Park and to Freeman’s on 72 Street for the best Reuben sandwiches
A night with the Murdle squad… and hundreds of crime writers
Can a visit to the Bristol CrimeFest – this year featuring GT Karber, creator of the whodunnit series Murdle – help pin down why the crime genre is booming?
The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup
Hunted by Abir Mukherjee; Bonehead by Mo Hayder; When We Were Silent by Fiona McPhillips; The Mystery of the Crooked Man by Tom Spencer
Crime and thrillers of the month – review
A surprise final novel from the amazing mind of the late Mo Hayder; a race against time between a father and the FBI; and a knowing riff on the premise of Jurassic Park
The Image of You review – schlocky erotic thriller is ripe with naffness
Identical twins mistaken for each other, a desperately obvious crime, the production values of a 70s TV mystery … this is cheap and tedious but not without a certain knowing charm
The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup
The Spy by Ajay Chowdhury; A Beginner’s Guide to Breaking and Entering by Andrew Hunter Murray; The Kitchen by Simone Buchholz; The Innocents by Bridget Walsh; The Grand Illusion by Syd Moore
The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup
The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton; Moral Injuries by Christie Watson; The Hunter by Tana French; How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin; Every Move You Make by CL Taylor
In brief: Four Shots in the Night; The Kellerby Code; Masquerade – review
The gripping real-life story of the murder of a spy; a funny and chilling debut in hock to the Ripley books; and the definitive biography of Noël Coward
Fight Club review – prescient, tremendously acted classic still feels overblown
Its ungainly final twist and unreal violence sequences dim a film with a brilliant premise and rage that still stings
The enigma of Rose Dugdale: what drove a former debutante to become Britain and Ireland’s most wanted terrorist?
The case of the English heiress who became an IRA bomber was one of the most confounding stories of the late 20th century. Now it’s dramatised in a new film