CRIME AND THRILLERS

GEOFFREY WANSELL THE SILENT CHILD by M J White (Hero €13.99, 400 pp)

ONE of the most striking crime novels of the year focuses on Lottie Arundel, a troubled teenager who became an elective mute a year ago — but why?

The shadow of child abuse and the grooming of young girls hangs over a riveting story that tugs at the heart strings — and has a great twist at the end.

HOPE TO DIE by Cara Hunter

(Penguin €12.60, 432 pp) OXFORD’S other cerebral fictional detective — aside from the legendary Inspector Morse — is DI Adam Fawley who has quietly built a fine reputation for seeing the complexities in the most straightforwardseeming crimes. Here it is a burglary gone wrong, which turns out to be much more complicated.

DARK OBJECTS by Simon Toyne

(HarperCollins €20.99, 416 pp) THE brutally murdered body of a woman is found posed in a glass-fronted house on the edge of Highgate Cemetery in London.

Four objects have been carefully placed around her, but what are their significance? So begins this haunting story that sends more than a shudder down the spine.

YOU CAN STAY by Elle Connel

(Wildfire €12.99, 368 pp) ROYAL Marine Connor is on an exercise on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall to see if he can make it into British Special Forces. There he encounters Eilidh who lives alone in an isolated, hidden farmhouse. She offers food and warmth but turns out to be a far creepier host: menace at its best.

SUSPECT by Scott Turow

(Swift €14.99, 464 pp) NO ARGUMENT — this is Turow’s finest novel since his breath-taking debut Presumed Innocent 35 years ago. Defence attorney Rik Dudek is defending his friend, a female police chief, who is accused of soliciting sex from three of her male colleagues. Serpentine storytelling delivers a terrific finale.

THE AMBASSADOR

by Tom Fletcher (Canelo €23.79, 320 pp) WHEN a human rights activist is found with her throat slashed inside the British Embassy in Paris, the Ambassador Ed Barnes is horrified. The French authorities call it suicide, but he is not so sure and embarks on his own probe. Vivid and exhilarating, it is almost as good as Frederick Forsyth.