Tried & true
Escaped convicts with very different goals and a Lapland murder in new thrillers from old hands.
I WILL FIND YOU, by Harlan Coben (Century, $37)
More than 30 years ago, a former college basketballer working in travel published
his first novel, a romantic suspense. I Will Find You is New Jersey author Harlan Coben’s 36th book – six have recently been adapted into Netflix dramas, with more on the way – and has all the hallmarks we expect: propulsive plotlines, characters with lots at stake, dramatic family dynamics and plenty of twists. David Burroughs is living a nightmare, imprisoned for killing his son Matthew. Even those who love David believe he’s guilty. He’s given up; even if he were ever released, what would it matter when his son is dead? Then his former sister-in-law visits with a puzzling photo. Could Matthew still be alive? Coben takes readers on a breakneck ride full of action and jeopardy, deftly laced with characters who make us care.
DON’T FEAR THE REAPER, by Stephen Graham Jones (Titan Books, $29.99)
Like Coben, Native American author Stephen Graham Jones (Blackfoot) has been writing for decades, though his New York Times bestseller status came more recently, after his pandemic “breakthrough” with the superb The Only Good Indians. The University of Colorado professor’s back catalogue ranges across and blends genres from experimental to crime fiction, science fiction to horror, all dosed with literary sensibilities.
Don’t Fear The Reaper, the second novel in his Indian Lake trilogy, underlines his love for slasher films, as former “final girl” Jade returns to Proofrock, Idaho the same weekend that a hulking indigenous serial killer escapes from his prison transport during a snowstorm. As bodies are found in ways that echo gory onscreen deaths, Jade must rally townsfolk and the remnants of the sheriff ’s department to uncover what’s really going on. Jones has crafted a tense, clever tale laced with humour and full of “Easter eggs” for film buffs. A great read for those who can
handle their thrillers bloody and killers monstrous.
THE SINS OF OUR FATHERS, by Åsa Larsson, translated by Frank Perry (MacLehose Press, $39.99)
Back in the late 2000s, when the Millennium trilogy and goth hacker Lisbeth Salander lit the fuse on the Nordic noir boom, Åsa Larsson was scooping awards for her five-book Arctic Murders series starring lawyer Rebecka Martinsson. But, other than a recent TV adaptation of the earliest books, fans have had to wait a decade for more from Larsson and her heroine.
The Sins of Our Fathers sees Martinsson back hunting killers and seeking justice in Lapland after the body of a man who disappeared in 1962 – the father of an Olympic boxing champion – is found in the freezer of a dead alcoholic whose family was once connected to Martinsson’s.
Meanwhile, the jaded prosecutor is reconsidering her future, and the tentacles of organised crime have ensnared the mining town of Kiruna. Frank Perry’s translation brings this puzzling mystery entwined with larger social issues, which was judged Swedish crime novel of the year, to Englishspeaking readers, and fans of Nordic noir will find much to enjoy. ▮