The Peacock and the Sparrow, IS Berry ( paperback Oct 2024)
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WINNER OF THE 2024 EDGAR AWARD FOR BEST FIRST NOVEL
WINNER OF THE 2024 INTERNATIONAL THRILLER WRITERS AWARD FOR BEST FIRST NOVEL - WINNER OF THE 2024 BARRY BEST FIRST MYSTERY OR CRIME NOVEL AWARD - WINNER OF THE 2024 MACAVITY BEST FIRST MYSTERY AWARD
‘Gritty, propulsive, dark and twisty’ David McCloskey, author of Damascus Station
‘It’s fantastic, I loved it’ Steve Cavanagh, author of Thirteen
‘..the most impressive debut of the year to date and a spy novel to rank alongside the best of Mick Herron’s Slough House series.’ The Irish Times
‘Sensational…feels like every inch of the real world of espionage’ Alex Gerlis, author of Every Spy a Traitor
‘I.S. Berry is at the vanguard of a new generation of American spy novelists who have electrified the genre.’ Charles Cumming, author of Judas 62
The thrilling debut from author and former CIA officer I.S. Berry, following an American spy’s last dangerous mission.
Shane Collins, a world-weary CIA spy, is ready to come in from the cold. Stationed in Bahrain for his final tour, he’s anxious to dispense with his mission — uncovering Iranian support for the insurgency. But then he meets Almaisa, an enigmatic artist, and his eyes are opened to a side of Bahrain most expats never experience, to questions he never thought to ask.
When his trusted informant becomes embroiled in a murder, Collins finds himself drawn deep into the conflict, his romance and loyalties upended. In an instant, he’s caught in the crosswinds of a revolution. He sets out to learn the truth behind the Arab Spring, win Almaisa’s love, and uncover the murky border where Bahrain’s secrets end and America’s begin.
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'911 what's your emergency?''My dad's dead.
My sister Sofia killed him. She's still in the house. Please send help.''My dad's dead.
My sister Alexandra killed him. She's still in the house. Please send help.'One of them is a liar and a killer.
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Long Bright River by Liz Moore ( paperback 31 Dec 2020)
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Once inseparable, sisters Mickey and Kacey are on different paths, but they walk the same streets. Mickey on her police beat and Kacey in the shadows of the city's darkest corners where the drug addicts and sex workers preside.
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A remarkable, profoundly moving novel about the ties that bind and the irrevocable wounds of childhood. It's also a riveting mystery, perfectly paced.
Leave The World Behind, Rumaan Alam (pb, June 1st 2021)
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Easily the best thing I have read all year' KILEY REID, AUTHOR OF SUCH A FUN AGE'
Intense, incisive, I loved this and have still not quite shaken off the unease' DAVID NICHOLS
A magnetic novel about two families, strangers to each other, who are forced together on a long weekend gone terribly wrong. Amanda and Clay head to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a holiday: a quiet reprieve from life in New York City, quality time with their teenage son and daughter and a taste of the good life in the luxurious home they've rented for the week. But with a late-night knock on the door, the spell is broken. Ruth and G.
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The System, Ryan Gattis ( paperback,August 2021)
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Longlisted for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger 2021
'Excellent, lucid, intelligent and gripping' - Scotsman
December 1993. A drug dealer called Scrappy is shot and left for dead on her mother's lawn in South Central Los Angeles. Two local gang members, Wizard and Dreamer, are arrested.
The problem is: one is guilty, the other wasn't even there. It had to be a frame-up. And the cops had to be responsible, didn't they? Narrated by the characters involved - the suspects, the victim, the families who love them, and those simply doing their jobs - The System tells the story of one crime, from the moments before shots are fired to the verdict and its violent aftershocks.
It's a breakneck journey through the American criminal justice system. A system that can save you, or break you.
