Child ​44

John Le Carré - A ​Most Wanted Man
New ​spies with new loyalties, old spies with old ones; terror as the new mantra; decent people wanting to do good but caught in the moral maze; all the sound, rational reasons for doing the inhuman thing; the recognition that we cannot safely love or pity and remain good "patriots" -- this is the fabric of John le Carré's fiercely compelling and current novel A Most Wanted Man. A half-starved young Russian man in a long black overcoat is smuggled into Hamburg at dead of night. He has an improbable amount of cash secreted in a purse around his neck. He is a devout Muslim. Or is he? He says his name is Issa. Annabel, an idealistic young German civil rights lawyer, determines to save Issa from deportation. Soon her client's survival becomes more important to her than her own career -- or safety. In pursuit of Issa's mysterious past, she confronts the incongruous Tommy Brue, the sixty-year-old scion of Brue Frères, a failing British bank based in Hamburg. Annabel, Issa and Brue form an unlikely alliance -- and a triangle of impossible loves is born. Meanwhile, scenting a sure kill in the "War on Terror," the rival spies of Germany, England and America converge upon the innocents. Thrilling, compassionate, peopled with characters the reader never wants to let go, A Most Wanted Man is a work of deep humanity and uncommon relevance to our times.

Sara Shepard - Vicious
In ​Rosewood, Pennsylvania, reporters are lined up outside the historic courthouse, typing furiously at their iPhones with freshly manicured nails. Because the trial of the century is happening right here in Rosewood: the four pretty little liars have been accused of killing Alison DiLaurentis. Only Aria, Spencer, Hanna, and Emily know that they've been framed. Ali is still out there, laughing as she watches the girls go down for her murder. But when your nickname includes the word "liar," no one believes you're telling the truth. . . . Aria tries to run away from it all but finds that life on the lam is even harder than life as a liar. Spencer gets in touch with someone who can help her disappear--but when a guy from her past reemerges, Spencer no longer knows what she wants. Hanna decides that she'll hear wedding bells chime before she serves time. And in the face of prison, Emily does something truly drastic--something that will change her friends' lives forever. As the trial goes on and the outcome looks grim, the girls are in their darkest hour yet. But maybe they can finally figure out how to beat Ali at her own game. Because once upon a time, she was just a pretty little liar too.

Robert Harris - Fatherland
Very ​eerie book - the idea behind it is that Germany won WWII and that the cold war is between the US and Germany. Well thought out, and uses characters that I was familiar with from history books, but in a different light. The protagonist is caught between curiosity and blind servitude to the SS, and it's fun to read what and how he chooses. I thought the end was interesting, but anticlimactic.

S. J. Bolton - Awakening
When ​a man dies from what appears to be a random snake bite in a quiet country village, the hospital seeks the expertise of wildlife vet Clara Benning. But the post mortem reveals this was no freak accident. Clara finds herself drawn into the hunt for a brutally inventive killer, putting herself in grave danger as she unravels links to a barbaric ancient ritual, an abandoned house and a 50-year-old, unspeakable tragedy. For someone the truth must remain buried in the past, even if they have to kill to keep it there.

Minette Walters - A ​kaméleon árnyéka
Bárki, ​aki csak egy pillantást vet Charles Acland hadnagy szétroncsolt arcára, rögtön megérti, hogy sérülése maradandó nyomokat hagyott a lelkében is. Nem sokkal azután, hogy kijön a kórházból és megpróbál új életét kezdeni, a környéken egy idős embert majdnem halálra vernek. Acland menekülni kényszerül, mert Londonban egy sorozatgyilkos szedi áldozatait, és katonai múltja, sérülésének utóhatásai, illetve az, hogy néha órákig nem tudja hol van és mi történik vele, gyanússá teszik a rendőrség számára. Vajon fejsérülése annyira megváltoztatta a szimpatikus katonát, hogy gyilkos lett belőle? S elegendő-e a leszbikus súlyemelő, a különc orvos segítsége? "Sűrű szövésű lélektan thriller a műfaj mesterétől! A cím rejtőzködésre és alakváltásra utal, és valóban: ebben a történetben nincsenek egyszerű válaszok és ingyen kapott megoldások." Waterstones Books Quanterly "Walters ismét nagyot alkotott. A szereplők és a viselkedésük annyira hiteles, hogy szinte felkapjuk a fejünket, hátha itt vannak körülöttünk, nem csak a regény nagy odafigyeléssel megalkotott világában. Ha egy teljes hétvégét kitöltő könyvet keres, ezzel a krimivel nyugodtan elvonulhat egy csendes sarokba - nem fogja megbánni!" Evening Telegraph "Szomorú, érzékeny és nagyon jól megírt könyv." Literary Review

Val McDermid - A ​Place Of Execution
Winter ​1963: two children have disappeared off the streets of Manchester; the murderous careers of Myra Hindley and Ian Brady have begun. On a freezlng day in December, another child goes missing: thirteen-year-old Alison Carter vanishes from her town, an insular community that distrusts the outside world. For the young George Bennett, a newly promoted inspector, it is the beginning of his most difficult and harrowing case: a murder with no body, an investigation with more dead ends and closed faces than he'd have found in the anonymity of the inner city, and an outcome which reverberates through the years. Decades later he finally tells his story to journalist Catherine Heathcote, but just when the book is poised for publication, Bennett unaccountably tries to pull the plug. He has new information which he refuses to divulge, new information that threatens the very foundations of his existence. Catherine is forced to re-investigate the past, with results that turn the world upside down. A Greek tragedy in modern England, A Place of Execution is a taut psychological thriller that explores, exposes and explodes the border between reality and illusion in a multi-layered narrative that turns expectations on their head and reminds us that what we know is what we do not know. A Place of Execution is winner of the 2000 Los Angeles Times Book Prize and a 2001 Edgar Award Nominee for Best Novel.

Dan Brown - Angyalok ​és démonok
Robert ​Langdont, a Harvard világhírű szimbólumkutatóját egy svájci tudományos intézetbe hívják, hogy segítsen megfejteni egy rejtélyes jelet, amelyet egy meggyilkolt fizikus mellkasába égettek. Langdon elképesztő felfedezésre jut: egy több száz éves földalatti szervezet - az Illuminátusok - bosszúhadjáratra készül a katolikus egyház ellen. Langdon mindenáron meg akarja menteni a Vatikánt a hatalmas erejű időzített bombától; a gyönyörű és titokzatos tudóssal, Vittoria Vetrával szövetségben Rómába megy. Hétpecsétes titkokon, veszélyes katakombákon, elhagyatott székesegyházakon és a földkerekség legrejtettebb barlangján át, őrült hajszát indítanak együtt a rég elfeledett Illuminátusok búvóhelye után.

Iris Murdoch - The ​Black Prince
"The ​Black Prince" is both a remarkable thriller and a story about being in love. Bradley Pearson, narrator and hero, is an elderly writer with a 'block'. Finding himself surrounded by predatory friends and relations - his ex-wife, her delinquent brother, a younger, deplorably successful writer, Arnold Baffin, Baffin's restless wife and engaging daughter - Bradley attempts to escape. His failure to do so and its aftermath lead to a violent climax and a most unexpected conclusion.

Hugh Laurie - The ​Gun Seller
Thomas ​Lang is a James Bond for the 1990s, with the same ingredients, but brought bang up-to-date, and with much better jokes. Cold-blooded murder just isn't Thomas Lang's cup of tea. Offered a tidy sum to assassinate an American industrialist, he opts to warn the intended victim instead - a good deed that soon takes a bad turn. Quicker than he can down a shot of his favourite whiskey, Lang is bashing heads with a Buddha statue, matching wits with evil billionaires, and putting his life (among other things) in the hands of a bevy of femmes fatales. Up against rogue CIA agents, wanna-be terrorists, and an arms dealer looking to make a high-tech killing, Lang's out to save the leggy lady he has come to love - and prevent an international bloodbath to boot.

Josh Lanyon - The ​Boy with the Painful Tattoo
It's ​moving day at Chez Holmes. Somehow, against Kit's better instincts, he and J.X. are setting up house together. But while J.X. is off at a writing conference, Kit unpacks a crate that should contain either old books or new china. It doesn't. Within the mounds of green Styrofoam popcorn is a dead body. A very dead body. There goes the neighborhood.

Josh Lanyon - Somebody ​Killed His Editor
Thanks ​to an elderly spinster sleuth and her ingenious cat, Christopher Holmes has enjoyed a celebrated career as a bestselling mystery writer. Until now. Sales are down and his new editor is allergic to geriatric gumshoes. On the advice of his agent, he reinvents his fortyish, frumpy, recently dumped self into the sleek, sexy image of a literary lion, and heads for a Northern California writers conference to try and resurrect his career. A career nearly as dead as the body he stumbles over in the woods. In a weirdly déjà vu replay of one of his own novels, he finds himself stranded in an isolated lodge full of frightened women—and not a lawman in sight. Except for J.X. Moriarity, former cop and bestselling novelist. The man with whom he shared a one-night stand—okay, maybe three—long ago. The man who wants to arrest him for murder. A ruthless, stalking killer, or a hot, handsome ex-lover. Which poses the greater danger? It’s elementary, my dear Holmes!

Rosamund Lupton - Sister
Nothing ​can break the bond between sisters ...When Beatrice gets a frantic call in the middle of Sunday lunch to say that her younger sister, Tess, is missing, she boards the first flight home to London. But as she learns about the circumstances surrounding her sister's disappearance, she is stunned to discover how little she actually knows of her sister's life - and unprepared for the terrifying truths she must now face. The police, Beatrice's fiance and even their mother accept they have lost Tess but Beatrice refuses to give up on her. So she embarks on a dangerous journey to discover the truth, no matter the cost.

Stephen King - A ​holtsáv
Johnny ​Smith 5 évig feküdt kómában, miután csodával határos módon túlélt egy szörnyű autóbalesetet. A szürke kisvárosi tanár egészen más emberként tér vissza: furcsa természetfeletti erő birtokába került és látnoki megérzései támadnak, amint megérint valamit vagy valakit. Johnnyból hamarosan igazi amerikai szenzáció lesz akarata ellenére, ám mégis használnia kell különleges képességeit. Szadista fojtogató tartja rettegésben a várost, de még ennél is nagyobb veszély bukkan fel egy törtető vidéki politikus személyében, akinek a lelkében a Sátán lakozik és az Egyesült Államok elnöki székére tör. Mindezt csak Johnny tudja és felmerül benne a kérdés: ha látja a jövőt, vajon meg is tudja az változtatni?

Dean R. Koontz - The ​City
There ​are millions of stories in the city—some magical, some tragic, others terror-filled or triumphant. Jonah Kirk’s story is all of those things as he draws readers into his life in the city as a young boy, introducing his indomitable grandfather, also a “piano man”; his single mother, a struggling singer; and the heroes, villains, and everyday saints and sinners who make up the fabric of the metropolis in which they live—and who will change the course of Jonah’s life forever. Welcome to The City, a place of evergreen dreams where enchantment and malice entwine, where courage and honor are found in the most unexpected corners and the way forward lies buried deep inside the heart.

J. K. Rowling - Harry ​Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry ​Potter receives an ominous warning from a house-elf at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry: if he returns to the school at the end of the summer, terrible things will happen. But return Harry must. His second year begins with a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Quidditch training and the intensification of old rivalries. Then the warning starts to ring true, as mysterious words are daubed on a wall, students are attacked and Ron's sister, Ginny, disappears. And so the search for Salazar Slytherin's heir begins, with the mystery pointing Harry to a clandestine chamber and a deadly creature at its heart...

Ian Rankin - The ​Hanging Garden
Detective ​Inspector Rebus is buried under a pile of paperwork generated by his investigations into a suspected war criminal. But an escalating dispute between the upstart Tommy Telford and Big Ger Cafferty's gang gives Rebus an escape clause. Telford is known to have close links with a Newcastle gangster nicknamed Mr Pink Eyes - a Chechen bringing refugees into Britain as prostitutes. When Rebus takes under his wing a distraught Bosnian call girl, it gives him a personal reason to make sure Telford takes the high road back to Paisley and pronto. Then Rebus's daughter is the victim of an all too professional hit-and-run and Rebus knows that now there is nothing he wouldn't do to bring down prime suspect Tommy Telford - even if it means cutting a deal with the devil.

Rosamund Lupton - Drága ​Tess!
A ​"Drága Tess!" idehaza a tavaly ősszel indult - és máris több sikerkönyvet listáján tudó - Carta Light-sorozat részeként jelenik meg. Elbeszélője a New Yorkban élő angol Beatrice, akinek vasárnapi ebédjét riasztó hír szakítja meg: édesanyja telefonál Londonból, és közli, hogy Tessnek, Beatrice húgának néhány napja nyoma veszett. A "Drága Tess!" óriási sikerének legfőbb titka az, hogy a regény egyszerre feszültségteli, érzelemgazdag családi dráma és fordulatos, gyomorszorítóan izgalmas detektívtörténet, e két eleve népszerű műfaj igen eredeti és páratlanul ügyesen kivitelezett ötvözete.

Karin Slaughter - Broken
When ​Special Agent Will Trent arrives in Grant County, he finds a police department determined to protect its own. Officer Lena Adams is hiding secrets from him, and while her role in the death of the county’s popular police chief is unclear, that man’s widow, Dr. Sara Linton, desperately needs Trent’s help to crack the case of a prisoner’s death. While the police force investigates the murder of a young woman pulled from a frigid lake, Trent investigates the police force. Caught between two complicated and determined women, trying to understand the facts surrounding Chief Tolliver’s death, Trent will uncover explosive secrets—and confront a thin blue line that could be murderous if crossed.

Ian Rankin - Doors ​Open
For ​the right man, all doors are open... Mike Mackenzie is a self-made man with too much time on his hands and a bit of the devil in his soul. He is looking for something to liven up the days and perhaps give new meaning to his existence. A chance encounter at an art auction offers him the opportunity to do just that as he settles on a plot to commit a 'perfect crime'. He intends to rip-off one of the most high-profile targets in the capital - the National Gallery of Scotland. So, together with two close friends from the art world, he devises a plan to a lift some of the most valuable artwork around. But of course, the real trick is to rob the place for all its worth whilst persuading the world that no crime was ever committed. But soon after he enters the dark waters of the criminal underworld he realises that it's very easy to drown...

Claire McGowan - The ​Lost
_Not ​everyone who's missing is lost..._ When two teenage girls go missing along the Irish border, forensic psychologist Paula Maguire has to return to the hometown she left years before. Swirling with rumour and secrets, the town is gripped by fear of a serial killer. But the truth could be even darker. _Not everyone who's lost wants to be found..._ Surrounded by people and places she tried to forget, Paula digs into the cases as the truth twists further away. What's the link with two other disappearances from 1985? And why does everything lead back to the town's dark past- including the reasons her own mother went missing years before? _Nothing is what it seems..._ As the shocking truth is revealed, Paula learns that sometimes, it's better not to find what you've lost.