THE FIFTH TO DIE

by J.D. Barker,

HQ, £7.99, ebook £4.49

IN the bleakest mid-winter of snowbound Chicago, Detective Sam Porter and his team discover the body of a girl beneath the ice of a frozen lake. She’s been missing for three weeks, but the lake froze over months ago.

From this cold conundrum, Barker spins a serpentine and gruesome tale about Porter’s arch nemesis: serial killer Anson Bishop. Sparse and cinematic, the pages fly by.