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Ali bobrow is an other-worldly single parent with a fraught nine-year-old daughter, a malevolent ‘ex’ with a grabby new wife, and an underused artistic talent. a pushover when it comes to needy neighbours and uninvited children, she allows her house to be the local drop-in centre, until she collides with noah glazer, who falls for her pale red hair. a solid man of science, noah walks into her over-populated life bringing good sense, order and security. but ten years on, ali is drawn back into the complexities of her past- an old lover, two ex-spouses, a colleague from clown school and a small smuggled cat all help to rock the boat.

It’s only a stone covered in ancient script. yet within 24 hours the english couple who found it have been killed in a car crash, and the stone has vanished. was it an accident – or murder? and where is the stone they died to protect? determined to uncover a secret that’s endured for two millennia, chris bronson follows a trail of clues that leads him from the hustle of a moroccan souk to the silent, deserted caves of qumran; from the sinister echoes of a water-filled tunnel under the city of jerusalem to a ruined and windswept fortress in northern israel. threatened on every side by violent extremists, bronson is plunged into a mystery rooted in biblical times. for the stone he must find is older, and far more dangerous, than anyone could ever imagine .

‘although it is difficult to believe, the 60s are not fictional; they actually happened’ (from the author’s note). hearts in atlantis comprises of five brilliant, interconnected, sequential narratives, each deeply rooted in the 60s and haunted by the vietnam war: in ‘low men in yellow coats’ 11-year-old bobby discovers that adults are sometimes not rescuers but at the heart of the terror. in the title story, a bunch of college kids get hooked on a card game, discover the possibility of protest … and confront their own collective heart of darkness. in ‘blind willie’ and ‘why we’re in vietnam’, two men who grew up with bobby in suburban connecticut try to fill the emptiness of the post-vietnam era. and in ‘heavenly shades of night are falling’ bobby returns to his hometown where one final secret, the hope of redemption, and his heart’s desire may await him.

‘the world had teeth and it could bite you with them anytime it wanted. trisha mcfarland discovered this when she was nine years old. trying not to be terrified. trying not to think that sometimes when people got lost in the woods they got seriously hurt. sometimes they died.’ in trisha’s panic to get back on the track, she takes turnings which lead her deeper and deeper into the woods. with only a small amount of food and water in her knapsack, she begins to give up hope of ever getting out. alive. the only thing that keeps her going is her walkman on which she listens avidly to red sox baseball games, creating an imaginary friendship with her hero tom gordon. and as she struggles for survival and a way out, she realises she’s not alone. there’s something else in the woods – and it’s watching her…

The third lou clark novel, following the number one international bestsellers me before you and after you. the third lou clark novel by jojo moyes, following the number one international bestsellers me before youand after you. lou clark arrives in new york ready to start a new life, confident that she can embrace this new adventure and keep her relationship with ambulance sam alive across several thousand miles. she is hurled into the world of the super-rich gopniks- leonard and his much younger second wife, agnes, and a never-ending array of household staff and hangers-on. lou is determined to get the most out of the experience and throws herself into her job and new york life within this privileged world. before she knows what’s happening, lou is mixing in new york high society, where she meets joshua ryan, a man who brings with him a whisper of her past. in still me, as lou tries to keep the two sides of her world together, she finds herself carrying secrets – not all her own – that cause a catastrophic change in her circumstances. and when matters come to a head, she has to ask herself- who is louisa clark? and how do you reconcile a heart that lives in two places?

‘terrific – terrifying, amazing’ stephen king ‘completely, indescribably magnificent’ marian keyes —– a disappearance. a small town. a question that needs answering… cal hooper thought a fixer-upper in a remote irish village would be the perfect escape. after twenty-five years in the chicago police force, and a bruising divorce, he just wants to build a new life in a pretty spot with a good pub where nothing much happens. but then a local kid comes looking for his help. his brother has gone missing, and no one, least of all the police, seems to care. cal wants nothing to do with any kind of investigation, but somehow he can’t make himself walk away. soon cal will discover that even in the most idyllic small town, secrets lie hidden, people aren’t always what they seem, and trouble can come calling at his door. a gripping tale of breath-taking beauty and suspense that asks how we decide what’s right and wrong in a world where neither is simple, and what we risk if we fail. winter richard and judy bookclub pick the sunday times paperback of the year 2021 the times paperback of the year 2021 ft best book of 2020 the guardian best crime and thriller book of 2020 the times thriller of the year 2020 —– ‘i’m a big fan of tana french’ ian rankin ‘i didn’t want it to end’ harriet tyce ‘to say tana french is one of the great thriller writers is really too limiting. rather she’s simply this: a truly great writer’ gillian flynn ‘immersive and atmospheric … cal and trey could very well be the new sort of heroes we need in this strange world’ araminta hall ‘this is a tour de force of suspense and storytelling. comes closer to perfection than anything i’ve read in the last decade’ sarah hilary ‘the searcher is its own kind of masterpiece’ washington post ‘one of the most compulsive psychological mysteries since donna tartt’s the secret history’ the times ‘french offers a masterclass in unreliability’ sunday times ‘[crime fiction’s] biggest contemporary star’ guardian ‘one of the finest writers of contemporary crime fiction’ the daily mail ‘an audacious departure for this immensely talented author . . . not to be missed’ the new york times ‘nuanced and compelling’ the new yorker