It is that time of the month again when I ask you to pick my read for next month. Can you believe it is November? So what is your pick?
Spandau Phoenix by Greg Iles
The novel is a high-stakes thriller built around one of World War II’s most enduring mysteries: the true identity and mission of the Nazi prisoner Rudolf Hess, the last inmate of Berlin’s Spandau Prison.
When the prisoner dies and the prison is demolished in 1987, a young German police sergeant named Hans Apfel discovers a hidden diary written by the deceased. The document, known as the Spandau Diary, suggests that the man imprisoned for four decades was a physically identical double, and it hints at a devastating, top-secret Nazi plot dating back to 1941 that could rewrite World War II history.
As the secret of the diary is uncovered, Apfel and his estranged police father find themselves plunged into a desperate, global chase. They are hunted by agents from every major world power: Russian, British, American, and Neo-Nazi factions, all of whom will kill to suppress or exploit the explosive, game-changing truths revealed in the diary.
Death Watcher by Chris Carter
It is worth noting that I have read all the Robert Hunter books, this is the latest.
The story begins when a seemingly routine autopsy on a hit-and-run victim leads LA Chief Medical Examiner Dr Carolyn Hove to discover alarming inconsistencies. She realises the victim did not die from the collision but was, in fact, severely tortured beforehand.
Disturbed by her findings, Dr Hove calls in Detective Robert Hunter and his partner, Carlos Garcia, of the LAPD Ultra Violent Crimes Unit. The detectives quickly find themselves on the trail of a meticulously clever serial killer who has been operating undetected for years.
This killer expertly stages gruesome murders to look like accidental deaths, leaving behind no traditional crime scene and no clear motive. As more bodies appear with varied yet misleading causes of death, Hunter and Garcia must race to stop a killer no one can prove exists.
Last Seen Alive by Claire Douglas
The psychological thriller follows Libby Hall, a woman who has recently been thrust into the public eye after saving children from a school fire. The unwanted attention brings back haunting memories of a traumatic incident nine years earlier, the last time she saw her best friend alive during a backpacking trip to Thailand.
In an attempt to escape the stress and heal their strained marriage, Libby and her husband, Jamie, decide to take a house-swap opportunity, exchanging their small city flat in Bath for a luxurious, secluded house on the wild Cornish coast.
The idyllic getaway quickly turns sinister. Libby begins to feel isolated and constantly watched, finding odd and disturbing items hidden around the house. As she struggles with increasing paranoia and the resurgence of dark memories, she begins to suspect that the house swap is not a coincidence, and that someone knows the secrets she has desperately tried to bury.
So what is your recommendation?
Until next Monday: Read to learn. Read to escape. Read to smile.