Recommendations based on "The Mercy Chair"

A young woman is murdered in her Oslo flat. One finger has been severed from her left hand, and behind her eyelid is secreted a tiny red diamond in the shape of a five-pointed star — a pentagram, the devil’s star.Detective Harry Hole is assigned to the case with his long-time adversary Tom Waaler and initially wants no part in it. But Harry is already on notice to quit the force and is left with little alternative but to drag himself out of his alcoholic stupor and get to work.A wave of similar murders is on the horizon. An emerging pattern suggests that Oslo has a serial killer on its hands, and the five-pointed devil’s star is key to solving the riddle.

Receiving a sealed bottle with a years-old plea for help by two young victims imprisoned in a boathouse by the sea, Detective Carl Morck follows leads to a desperate woman trapped in a brutal marriage to a man who keeps her in isolation and hides deadly secrets.

The gripping eighth installment in the internationally bestselling series, available to pre-order now.“A superlative piece of crime fiction.” —Sunday Times (UK)“The work of a master storyteller.” —Daily Telegraph (UK)“A scrupulous plotter and master of misdirection, Galbraith keeps the pages turning . . . Strike and Ellacott remain one of crime’s most engaging duos.” —Guardian (UK)“No one can deny [Robert Galbraith, pseudonym of ] J. K. Rowling’s formidable talents as a crime writer.” —Daily Mail (UK)“Strike is a compelling creation . . . This is terrifically entertaining stuff.” —Irish Times (UK)

THE MURDER HAS BEEN SOLVED. BUT HAS JUSTICE BEEN DONE? Harry Hole is back in Oslo. He's been away for some time, but his ghosts have a way of catching up with him. The case that brings him back is already closed. There is no room for doubt: the young junkie was shot dead by a fellow addict. THE POLICE DON'T WANT HIM BACK... Denied permission to reopen the investigation, Harry strikes out on his own. Beneath the city's eerie tranquillity, he discovers a trail of violence and mysterious disappearances seemingly unnoticed by the police. At every turn Harry is faced with a conspiracy of silence. THE CRIMINALS DON'T WANT HIM BACK... Harry is not the only one who is interested in the case. From the moment he steps off the plane, someone is watching his every move and tracing his every call. SOMEONE WANTS HIM SILENCED.

*The Sunday Times top ten bestseller* *A Sunday Times Crime Book of the Month* Get hooked on this year's most addictive thriller Is revenge the most lethal dose of all? 'Without a doubt the best crime thriller I've read this year ... A story of loyalties and desperation. A brilliant read' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'A. A. Dhand is masterful within the gangland genre. He grabs the reader's attention from the start, and we remain gripped to the end' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'The Chemist is absolutely compelling, inventive and original ... Simply brilliant. State of the art British Crime fiction. Read it as soon as you can!' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ * * * * Local pharmacist and pillar of the community, Idris Khan, spends his days doling out methadone to the hundreds of addicts in his care. They trust Idris with their secrets, and so he knows more than his mild manner suggests. So when his childhood sweetheart, Rebecca, doesn't turn up for her daily methadone dose, Idris is worried. Worried enough to go looking for her in the most deprived area of Leeds, alone. The mess Idris finds catapults him into the middle of a turf war between the two most powerful drug cartels in Yorkshire. Now, he must use every bit of intelligence and cunning he has to keep those he loves safe. Because a war is on the way. And when Idris goes after his enemies, they won't see him coming. * * * * Praise for A. A. Dhand: 'Dark, daring and utterly propulsive ... blurs the lines between hero and villain' Kia Abdullah, author of Those People Next Door 'Terrific ... dispensing thrills and tension from start to finish' Trevor Wood, author of The Man on the Street 'Gritty, dark, and visceral ... If I read a better book in the next year, it's probably because I've read this one twice' Neil Lancaster, author of Dead Man's Grave

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Jane Hawk’s one-woman war comes to an explosive climax as the rogue FBI agent gambles everything against a terrifying conspiracy, for vengeance, for justice, and for humanity’s freedom—from the author of The Silent Corner. “Jane Hawk is arguably the best character Koontz has created. . . . Simply put, wow.”—Associated Press A visionary young filmmaker hunted for sport across a vast Colorado ranch by the celebrated billionaire at the heart of a monstrous cabal . . . A brilliant computer hacker slipping through top-secret databases a whisper ahead of security trackers, gathering the facts to fight the all-powerful perpetrators of mass murder . . . A pair of brutal operators, methodically shadowing their targets with every cutting-edge tool in the arsenal of today’s surveillance state . . . A sequence of quiet heroes—everyday citizens—stepping up, stepping forward, intent on countering the advancing darkness . . . A Vegas mob boss teamed with a homicidal sociopath, circling a beloved boy and his protectors, aiming to secure him as leverage against his fugitive mother . . . And that fugitive mother herself, ex-agent Jane Hawk, closing in on the malevolent architects of ruin she has stalked as they stalk her, prepared to sacrifice herself to finally bring them down. These are the people and circumstances of The Night Window, the thrilling new novel in Dean Koontz’s acclaimed Jane Hawk series. Replete—and then some—with the ingenious twists, the spellbinding action, the resonant themes, the sheer heart that have characterized Jane’s journey from the start, The Night Window follows its extraordinary heroine to her long-sought objective, in a stunning, unforgettable finale.  Don’t miss any of Dean Koontz’s gripping Jane Hawk thrillers:THE SILENT CORNER • THE WHISPERING ROOM • THE CROOKED STAIRCASE • THE FORBIDDEN DOOR • THE NIGHT WINDOW  “The spectacular finale to Jane’s story . . . will hit series fans with all the impact of a carefully calibrated hammer blow.”—Booklist (starred review)   “The best installment in the series since the first . . . [Koontz] revs it up with entertaining encounters and offbeat humor.”—Kirkus Reviews  

Don't miss the new, devastatingly good thriller from Helen Fields, The Institution. Coming March 2023 - available to pre-order now! He had never heard himself scream before. It was terrifying. Alone, trapped in the darkness and with no way out, Bart Campbell knows that his chances of being found alive are slim. Drugged and kidnapped, the realisation soon dawns that he's been locked inside a shipping container far from his Edinburgh home. But what Bart doesn't yet know is that he's now heading for France where his unspeakable fate is already sealed... DCI Ava Turner and DI Luc Callanach are working on separate cases that soon collide as it becomes clear that the men and women being shipped to France are being traded for women trafficked into Scotland. With so many lives at stake, they face an impossible task - but there's no option of failure when Bart and so many others will soon be dead... Get ready for a rollercoaster ride like no other, with the next gripping thriller from the number one bestselling crime author, Helen Fields. The perfect read for fans of M. J. Arlidge and Karin Slaughter. What readers are saying about Perfect Kill: "I never thought this author could get better. OMG I was so wrong!!!!! Chilling, dark very dark and utterly gripping. This is a MUST READ, finished this book in a day, it was so good. This read had me glued to my seat and tapping my kindle faster and faster." "I enjoyed this book so much, I finished within 24 hours." reviewer "Another absolute belter of a book... 110% recommend this series." "Wow!! This one has to be the best so far!" "This book starts out with a bang and it just keeps getting better and better. It's a roller coaster of a ride so buckle up!" "A gritty hard-hitting thriller." "A series that gets better and better." "Wow, this was a brilliant read from start to finish and was a roller coaster of a ride! It was unputdownable and I loved every minute of it!" "Perfect Kill is thoroughly captivating, thrilling, chilling and a perfectly addictive read."

#1 New York Times Bestseller"The pace of "The Cel-list" never slack-ens as its ac-tion vol-leys from Zurich to Tel Aviv to Paris and be-yond. Mr. Silva tells his story with zest, wit and su-perb tim-ing, and he en-gi-neers enough sur-prises to star-tle even the most at-ten-tive reader."--Wall Street JournalFrom Daniel Silva, the internationally acclaimed #1 New York Times bestselling author, comes a timely and explosive new thriller featuring art restorer and legendary spy Gabriel Allon. Viktor Orlov had a longstanding appointment with death. Once Russia's richest man, he now resides in splendid exile in London, where he has waged a tireless crusade against the authoritarian kleptocrats who have seized control of the Kremlin. His mansion in Chelsea's exclusive Cheyne Walk is one of the most heavily protected private dwellings in London. Yet somehow, on a rainy summer evening, in the midst of a global pandemic, Russia's vengeful president finally manages to cross Orlov's name off his kill list.Before him was the receiver from his landline telephone, a half-drunk glass of red wine, and a stack of documents....The documents are contaminated with a deadly nerve agent. The Metropolitan Police determine that they were delivered to Orlov's home by one of his employees, a prominent investigative reporter from the anti-Kremlin Moskovskaya Gazeta. And when the reporter slips from London hours after the killing, MI6 concludes she is a Moscow Center assassin who has cunningly penetrated Orlov's formidable defenses.But Gabriel Allon, who owes his very life to Viktor Orlov, believes his friends in British intelligence are dangerously mistaken. His desperate search for the truth will take him from London to Amsterdam and eventually to Geneva, where a private intelligence service controlled by a childhood friend of the Russian president is using KGB-style "active measures" to undermine the West from within. Known as the Haydn Group, the unit is plotting an unspeakable act of violence that will plunge an already divided America into chaos and leave Russia unchallenged. Only Gabriel Allon, with the help of a brilliant young woman employed by the world's dirtiest bank, can stop it.Elegant and sophisticated, provocative and daring, The Cellist explores one of the preeminent threats facing the West today--the corrupting influence of dirty money wielded by a revanchist and reckless Russia. It is at once a novel of hope and a stark warning about the fragile state of democracy. And it proves once again why Daniel Silva is regarded as his generation's finest writer of suspense and international intrigue.

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the master of the novel of international intrigue comes a riveting new book as timely and unsettling as tomorrow's headlines.It is summer 1999 in Russia, a country on the threshold of anarchy.  An interim president sits powerless in Moscow as his nation is wracked by famine and inflation, crime and corruption, and seething hordes of the unemployed roam the streets.For the West, Russia is a basket case.  But for Igor Komarov, one-time army sergeant who has risen to leadership of the right-wing UPF party, the chaos is made to order.  As he waits in the wings for the presidential election of January 2000, his striking voice rings out over the airwaves offering the roiling masses hope at last—not only for law, order, and prosperity, but for restoring the lost greatness of their land.Who is this man with the golden tongue who is so quickly becoming the promise of a Russia reborn?  A document stolen from party headquarters and smuggled to Washington and London sends nightmare chills through those who remember the past, for this Black Manifesto is pure Mein Kampf in a country with frightening parallels to the Germany of the Weimar Republic.Officially the West can do nothing, but in secret a group of elder statesmen sends the only person who can expose the truth about Komarov into the heart of the inferno.  Jason Monk, ex-CIA and "the best damn agent-runner we ever had," had sworn he would never return to Moscow, but one name changes his mind.  Colonel Anatoli Grishin, the KGB officer who tortured and murdered four of Monk's agents after they had been betrayed by Aldrich Ames, is now Komarov's head of security.Monk has a dual mission: to stop Komarov, whatever it takes, and to prepare the way for an icon worthy of the Russian people.  But he has a personal mission as well: to settle the final score with Grishin.  To do this he must stay alive--and the forces allied against him are ruthless, the time frighteningly short. . . . Praise for Icon“Vintage Forsyth, intricate, exact and gripping.”—The New York Times Book Review“Another strong performance by a writer who knows exactly what he's about, and who here catalyzes narrative with another memorable protagonist, the stealthy and daring Monk.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)“One of his best works for a long time, which provides an all-too-real look at a chilling new millennium.”—The Sunday Times, London

Award-winning and international bestselling author Lynda La Plante brings back her popular series character, London Detective Chief Inspector Anna Travis of the Murder Squad, to work a seventh case in Blood Line. La Plante, who bestselling crime fiction author Karin Slaughter (Blindsided) says “practically invented the thriller,” is best known for her Prime Suspect novels, the basis for the wildly popular BBC series starring Helen Mirren and a recent U.S. incarnation featuring Maria Bello. In Blood Line, Anna takes on a high profile missing person investigation which might well develop into the hunt for a murderer, especially when a pool of blood is discovered but no body. Crime fiction fans who appreciate a good cop and a good murder—especially Ian Rankin, Ruth Rendell, Elizabeth George, Peter Robinson, and Val McDermid readers—will be eagerly following the trail of evidence every step of the way.