Greek idyll becomes a nightmare

THE LIZARD by Dugald Bruce-Lockhart (Muswell Press £12.99, 306 pp)

THIS impressive debut focuses on St Andrews University undergraduate Alistair Haston, who is brokenhearted at the break-up of his relationship with fellow student Ellie, and consoles himself with a Greek islands trip.

He knows she plans to go there, too, and hopes they collide ‘by chance’. But on the ferry from Athens he meets a charismatic Australian, Ricky, who introduces him to Heinrich, a renowned German artist living in a magnificent mansion overlooking the sea.

Alistair is hired to find ‘models’ for Heinrich, and is ushered into a world of drugs, debauchery and murder — then he is forced to flee to save himself.

Written with huge verve, the story twists and turns like a malign serpent and features a memorable villain in the wily Australian who lured Alistair into the maelstrom.

THE LAST TRIAL by Scott Turow (Mantle £20, 464 pp)

MORE than 30 years ago Turow introduced talented courtroom lawyer Sandy Stern in his Presumed Innocent, and now he’s back in this enthralling legal drama.

Stern is 85 now, and in poor health. But he is, nevertheless, persuaded to defend his old friend Dr Kiril Pafko, a Nobel Prize winner for medicine, who has been charged with fraud, insider trading and — astonishingly — murder connected to his pharmaceutical company that created a cancer drug.

As the trial unfolds, it becomes apparent that the man who appeared beyond reproach is anything but.

How far will Stern go to defend his friend, and does he even deserve to be saved? Stern wrestles with his conscience as well as with his courtroom opponent, U.S. attorney Moses Appleton.

Gripping, elegantly written and packed with surprises, this sublime thriller crackles with life.

DEAR CHILD by Romy Hausmann (Quercus £12.99, 352 pp)

THIRTEEN years ago, 23-yearold Lena Black was abducted in Munich after attending a student party.

Beautiful, articulate and full of hope, she is imprisoned in a windowless timber cottage in the woods by a man who demands she obeys him.

Over the years she bears her captor two children, a boy and a girl. All of his family have to follow his instructions to the letter.

Not surprisingly, Lena eventually decides to kill her captor, but fate intervenes and there’s a road accident which sends Lena and her daughter to hospital.

And so the path to normality begins — or does it?

Claustrophobic, terrifying and fiercely compelling, this is heartbreaking.