Book picks similar to
Man on Fire by Humphrey Hawksley


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espionage
fiction
political-thriller

Someone Else's Daughter


Jennifer Harvey - 2020
    That was all they would see when they looked at us—that we had failed them.I count down the days until we can leave the city behind and return to the beach house. Where James and Katie can roam free over the dunes, like they did as children, and Peter will swap his 6 a.m. starts for the stacks of fluffy pancakes he lovingly serves up for our family breakfasts. These sun-drenched, golden days, just the four of us, are what I hold on to all year long.But this summer Katie’s best friend will be coming with us. I tell myself the girls will have fun together, pushing aside the doubts I have about this uninvited guest. Isa. With her corn-silk hair and luminous skin, who manages to overshadow my daughter at every turn. Who has been dumped on us by her own parents, too caught up in their petty dramas to see what is right in front of them.Because I can see it. There is something dangerous about Isa. Something more than a carefree girl, testing boundaries as she approaches adulthood. She threatens to cast storm clouds across my beach house days. I feel as powerless to stop her as I would in the face of a hurricane.By the end of the summer, Isa will be dead. And I will have to face her mother. I don’t know if I will be able to find the words. How can I begin to explain that she never really knew her daughter at all?

Need To Find You


Joseph Souza - 2016
    Souza continues to be a master of character development."Yasmine 'Yaz' Weeks would prefer to forget her troubled past and the vile crimes committed against her, but when she discovers a hidden memoir in a kidnapped girl's cell phone, Yaz finds herself on the run with an opportunity for retribution. She soon learns that the memoir has the potential to ruin both the reputation of its late great author, Robert Cornish, as well as the reputations of many influential people.Whip Billings, an ex-cop, unwittingly becomes entangled in the mystery of the missing phone. Realizing that this newfound memoir could significantly hurt the sales of Cornish's classic novel, Force of Will, he begins to search for Yaz. But why are the cops, and a mysterious drug kingpin known only as The Viking, also looking for her?In his quest to find Yaz, Whip uncovers a vast network of political corruption, long hidden family secrets, and a series of reprehensible crimes. As the bodies in town begin to pile up, Whip knows that he must track down Yaz before she also turns up dead.

Watching You Excerpt: The First Four Chapters


Lisa Jewell - 2018
    Someone knows what you did. You’re back home after four years working abroad, new husband in tow. You’re keen to find a place of your own. But for now you’re crashing in your big brother’s spare room.That’s when you meet the man next door. He’s the head teacher at the local school. Twice your age. Extraordinarily attractive.You find yourself watching him.All the time.But you never dreamed that your innocent crush might become a deadly obsession.Or that someone is watching you.

Dead Letters


Michael Brissenden - 2021
    Politician Dan LeRoi, Chairman of the Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, has been shot. Four bullets to the head. The crime scene is chaotic. Homicide. Counter Terrorism. Media. And for Sid, hunting the killer is going to get complicated.Journalist Zephyr Wilde is complicated. She's tenacious and she's got Sid's number. Sid knows the gossip: how Zephyr's mother was murdered when Zephyr was a kid. He doesn't know that Zephyr is still getting letters from her long-dead mother. But when he learns that Dan LeRoi was helping Zephyr look into her mother's death, he realises that lines are going to be crossed. A cop should not be talking to a journalist.As they both ask too many questions, Sid and Zephyr stir up a hornet's nest of corruption. Knowing who to trust is going to mean the difference between solving a crime and being a victim. The question is, which side will they end up on.

The Lost and the Damned (The Banlieues Trilogy)


Olivier Norek - 2020
    Anonymous letters addressed to him personally have begun to arrive, highlighting the fates of two women, invisible victims whose deaths were never explained. Just two more blurred faces among the ranks of the lost and the damned.Olivier Norek's first novel draws on all his experience as a police officer in one of France's toughest suburbs - the same experience he drew on as a writer for the hit TV series Spiral.Translated from the French by Nick Caistor

Touchfeather (Touchfeather Thriller #1)


Jimmy Sangster - 1968
    She’s lethal, seductive, and as ruthless as any double-O. Her latest assignment is to track down a scientist suspected of selling secrets to the Russians. It’s a high-stakes, global escapade that takes an unexpected violent turn that shatters her life…and ultimately pits her against a billionaire industrialist with terrifying intentions. “Jolly & Preposterous Intrigue.” New York Times “A clever, high-spirited story.” Times Literary Supplement (London) “Exhilarating…it’s a winner!” Irish Times

Total Fallout (A Jack Tate SAS Thriller #2)


Alex Shaw - 2021
    

The Collector


John Maher - 2020
    The Collector doesn’t agree.When world renowned archaeologist Philip Carlton suddenly and unexpectedly commits suicide, the police are called to investigate. Heading up the investigation is Detective Lucy O’Hara, a Forensic Linguist – and she immediately sees something is wrong with the suicide note. In her gut, she knows this was cold-blooded murder.Battling sceptical superiors and the Irish establishment, Lucy digs for the truth and begins to uncover a shadowy trade in ancient artefacts led by a mysterious figure known only as ‘The Collector’.As Lucy works to uncover his identity, she soon realises she is up against a ruthless mastermind who is systematically eliminating anyone who might lead her to him. But Lucy won’t give up and soon The Collector turns his attention to her…The Collector – the first in a gripping new series featuring Detective Lucy O’Hara.

Run and Hide


Alan McDermott - 2018
    She knows they won’t stop until she’s dead.After her brother is killed in a faked suicide, Driscoll teams up with ex-soldier Rees Colback, the one person who can help her find answers. Together they’re determined to uncover why members of his Special Forces squad are dying in mysterious circumstances.But with every agency in the country in hot pursuit, their only choice is to flee.The clock is ticking. They can’t run forever. It’s time to make a choice: kill or be killed…

Hot Siberian


Gerald A. Browne - 1989
    Browne’s thrilling, atmospheric novel Nikolai Borodin has been assigned to the Soviet diamond export agency’s London station for one purpose only: to keep in close touch with the System, the ruthless worldwide diamond cartel headquartered at 11 Harrowhouse Street. Recently the System has been buying large quantities of one-carat diamonds mined in Siberia. But now contraband from the same source is showing up on the market, and the System wants the smugglers stopped.   Nikolai knows the System suspects him and his beautiful, spendthrift British girlfriend, Vivian. Determined to find the secret path along which the diamonds flow, Nikolai and Vivian discover something far more terrifying—apocalyptic secrets that spell sudden death.

The Last Chai


Varun T. - 2017
    The world, as we know today, is not the same anymore. Blatant threats of war by ‘world leaders’ is the new normal. Gone are the days when mobilizing armies at borders, or aiming missiles at adversaries, was a rare phenomenon.With every nation or their allies possessing nuclear weapons, victory through conventional means is no longer possible, paving way for covert warfare to emerge as the preferred weapon. New Delhi is an easy target and Doshi, the unassailable supremo of the regime, is on the ‘hit list’. The threat assessment being at an all time high, Ajay Kaamte, the director of SPG (Special Protection Group), is tasked with protecting the PM.Intelligence claims that the PM is susceptible to cyanide attacks and situation is grim, to say the least. Will Doshiji survive to serve another term or will he very soon be having his last chai?

Love Under French Skies


Gill Bryant - 2016
     In a career rut, abandoned by her husband, with a daughter who has left home and a best friend who has recently re-married, life seems to be passing her by. Then a letter from a French lawyer shakes everything up: it seems she has inherited a house in France from an aunt she didn’t even know she had. Fiona recognises that this might be just what she needs and, taking voluntary redundancy from her lecturing job, packs up and goes to see the house for herself. The beautiful Lot valley and the people she meets in the village begin a much-needed healing process. Fiona falls head over heels in love with France, and with the house — not to mention two very different but equally attractive men: sensible, solid Englishman Mike and wildly impulsive Frenchman Xavier. And Aunt Bernice’s real legacy turns out to be something more deeply significant and life-changing than the house itself. But Fiona has to find out exactly what that is for herself…. Love Under French Skies is a charming contemporary romance, inspired by a real house, with a wonderful view, in the beautiful Lot region of South West France. Praise for Gill Bryant 'A charming love story' - Holly Kinsella, bestselling author of Uptown Girl In February 2015 Gill Bryant's first short story, 'The Swim', was judged runner-up in the Purbeck Literary Festival's Short Story Competition. Love Under French Skies is her first novel. Following a varied career in Adult Basic Education and community project work, Gill retired to rural Wiltshire, where she pursues her love of writing and wide interest in arts and crafts.

Caly's Island


Dick Herman - 2011
    These aging giants, calling themselves the ‘freakin’ old guys’ are hard-working leaders in their respective fields and have a menagerie of skills to show for it. But what starts out as a dream quickly turns into a nightmare.With these guys, the action never stops.While preparing to set sail, they have a run in with a teenage troublemaker that plagues the locals. The son of a senator, Sean has no respect for authority and is a little lost. The FOGs come from an era where a little rough handling never hurt anyone, and so strike a deal with Sean’s mother to have him sail along with them. She agrees, hoping that two weeks of hard work alongside six respected, intelligent men will get Sean turned around. Things quickly take a turn for the worst when the six small boats get caught in the crossfire of a mafia drug deal. It soon becomes clear that some of the group’s members may be hiding secrets and past lives from the others… Suddenly, the six boats are caught in an odd fog bank, and when they come out the other side, things are not as they seem. Their radios and compasses no longer work and time seems to have lost its way. Where are they? Things quickly start to defy the accepted order of things. Suddenly dropped into their own Odyssey, they fight against strange creatures and demi-goddesses as they try to find a way back home. Together, they must navigate this strange new land. Caly’s Island is a rip-roaring pseudo-fantasy thriller of a modern quest to conquer the unknown amongst seas of turmoil. Dick Herman retired from the US Air Force in 1983 with the rank of Major after serving for twenty- one years. He has flown over 200 combat missions himself and was stationed in Vietnam, West Germany and Great Britain. He has flown the F-4 and C-130 and received five medals, including the Bronze Star. He and his English-born wife now live in Fair Oaks, California. He is the author of several aviation thrillers from Endeavour Press.Venture Press is a science fiction and fantasy imprint of Endeavour Press, the UK’s leading independent digital publisher. We are committed to the discovery and rediscovery of immensely talented authors in the SFF genre, and continue to push boundaries in search of great literature. Join us as we venture across universes and unknown landscapes – past, present and future. Sign up to our newsletter: http://bit.ly/1LUVI4n Follow us on Twitter @venture_pressFacebook: http://on.fb.me/1NnFow7

A Single Source


Peter Hanington - 2019
    This time, he’s in Cairo – bang in the middle of the Arab Spring. ‘The only story in the world’ according to his editor. But it isn’t – there’s another story, more significant and potentially more dangerous, and if no one else is willing to tell it . . . then Carver will, whatever the consequences.William Carver spots the Arab Spring early, aided by one of the infamous ‘Listeners’ at the BBC monitoring station in Caversham. He and his producer Patrick chase the story across North Africa before arriving in Egypt where the battle between the corrupt old order and the new will be both bloody and potentially definitive.Meanwhile, in Eritrea, two brothers begin to make their way up from the Horn of Africa and across the continent, desperate to find a better life in Europe. The horrors they endure at the hands of people traffickers and others along the way test their endurance and humanity to its limit. Over a few tumultuous months, these two stories come together to prove inextricably linked.Carver knows this story is a complex one; the world is watching, but in the age of Facebook, Twitter and rolling news, its attention span is increasingly short. And if everyone is a reporter, then who can you believe?

Ashwatthama vs Parashuram: The Immortal Force


Gunjan Porwal - 2022
    A secret Nazi experiment in the Wieliczka salt mine of Breslau goes wrong, annihilating the entire research team.Decades later, at the foothills of Dhauladhar ranges, the immortal warrior Kripacharya is brutally attacked by a mysterious beast and goes missing. His peer Vyasa, the old sage, tasks Parashuram to find and bring their fellow immortal back.As Parashuram adjusts himself to this new world and uncovers the plot, he crosses path with an old nemesis, one who not only matches him in power and intellect, but also in ferocity.Ashwatthama.Parashuram has to race against time, and Ashwatthama, to unravel the conspiracy behind Kripacharya’s disappearance to protect not just their identities, but also something much larger at stake, something which has the potential to change history forever.