PRIZE OF THE WEEK

Country News has two books to give away this week.

Billy Summers

From legendary storyteller and No. 1 bestseller Stephen King, whose ‘‘restless imagination is a power that cannot be contained’’ (The New York Times Book Review), comes a thrilling new novel about a good guy in a bad job.

Billy Summers is a man in a room with a gun. He’s a killer for hire and the best in the business. But he’ll do the job only if the target is a truly bad guy. And now Billy wants out. But first there is one last hit. Billy is among the best snipers in the world, a decorated Iraq war vet, a Houdini when it comes to vanishing after the job is done. So what could possibly go wrong?

How about everything.

This spectacular can’t-put-itdown novel is part war story, part love letter to small-town America and the people who live there, and it features one of the most compelling and surprising duos in

King fiction, who set out to avenge the crimes of an extraordinarily evil man. It’s about love, luck, fate, and a complex hero with one last shot at redemption.

You won’t put this story down, and you won’t forget Billy.

Billy Summers by Stephen Kind is published by Hodder and Stoughton, RRP $32.99.

1979

1979. It is the winter of discontent, and reporter Allie Burns is chasing her first big scoop. There are few women in the newsroom and she needs something explosive for the boys’ club to take her seriously.

Soon Allie and fellow journalist Danny Sullivan are exposing the criminal underbelly of respectable Scotland. They risk making powerful enemies — and Allie won’t stop there.

When she discovers a homegrown terrorist threat, Allie comes up with a plan to infiltrate the group and make her name. But she’s a woman in a man’s world . . . and putting a foot wrong could be fatal.

This is the atmospheric, heartpounding first novel in a gripping new series by the queen of crime, Val McDermid.

1979 by Val McDermid is published by Hachette Australia, RRP $32.99.

How to enter

For a chance to win these books, send your name, address, daytime phone number and the answer to this question: What’s on the front cover? to: Country Life ‘Luck’ Competition, PO Box 8000, Shepparton, 3632 by Wednesday, September 1.

Winner

Last week’s book competition winner was Gwenva Lane. Congratulations, enjoy your books.