Dirty secrets of the money launderers
THE WHISTLER by John Grisham (Hodder £20)
A JOHN GRISHAM thriller is like a jigsaw puzzle — he’s brilliant at deceiving us into believing we have a perfect fit when, in fact, there is much more to it than meets the eye.
The Whistler starts with a corrupt judge in Florida. As a professional investigator, Lucy Stoltz is used to judicial delinquency, but this case relies on an anonymous informer who has a story to tell of links to money-laundering on a massive scale.
Eager to pursue the lead even when her work partner is killed in a car crash that turns out not to be accidental, Stoltz has to penetrate a thick smokescreen of duplicity to find the only person who knows enough to bring the full force of the FBI bearing down on a crime empire.
It may seem odd to describe a jigsaw as nail-biting, but that is precisely what John Grisham delivers.
THE CITY IN DARKNESS by Michael Russell (Constable £19.99)
IT IS difficult to keep track of Stefan Gillespie.
When we first meet him, at the start of World War II, he is a Special Branch detective in Dublin who hears more than it is wise to know about an IRA plot to raid an arms dump.
Pitched into a swirl of conspiracy and counterconspiracy that takes him half way across Europe, Gillespie is landed with managing the release of an IRA leader from a Spanish jail.
But why should Dublin want back a man who can only make trouble for the government? And why is German intelligence, operating in supposedly neutral Spain, so closely involved?
Gillespie also has his own mystery to solve: his wife’s death, an apparent accident, is revealed as murder. Michael Russell is a master at building tension. This is a thriller to keep you guessing and gasping.
THE TURNCOAT by Alan Murray (Freight Books £9.99)
WE ARE back in the war, with the threat from fifth columnists — but this time in Glasgow.
In the wake of the blitz on the Clyde shipyards, Major George Maclean of Military Intelligence must track down the insiders who are guiding the Luftwaffe to choice targets.
While the traitors stay a jump ahead, leaving several dead bodies to prove their point, Maclean is diverted to the interrogation of a German pilot who has crash-landed in the open countryside.
This proves to be none other that Rudolf Hess, Hitler’s deputy, having arrived on his mission to make peace with Britain.
Hess has vital information to impart, but only to the wrong people. It is up to Maclean to persuade him to reveal the enemy within.
Newcomer Murray writes with infectious enthusiasm and weaves a story that stays within the bounds of credulity.
The climactic shootout might teach James Bond a few tricks.