Absynthe
Brendan P. Bellecourt Head of Zeus £18.99
This is a sci-fi thriller that takes us to 1920s Chicago as you’ve never seen it before: a jazzed-up Jazz Age of bullet trains, cyborgs and serums that enable telepathy.
Our story follows Liam, an amnesiac veteran of war who discovers that he’s living in an authoritarian dystopia.
Absynthe, a complicated feat of world-building, raises dizzying questions about truth and power.
Anthony Cummins
The Newcomer
Laura Elizabeth Woollett Scribe £9.99
Paulina, an unhappy young woman is trying to overcome her troubles on a idyllic Pacific Island. She is an outsider living in tight knit community and her self-destructive tendencies become out of control. Her murder attempt was brutal.
Woollett subverts crime fiction in her character driven narrative. By focusing only on the victim’s grieving mother and the victim, Woollett highlights violence against women.
Although disturbing and difficult to read, it is very easy to follow.
Simon Humphreys
Below the Rainbow
Celia Laskey HQ £8.99
An LGBTQ organization sends a taskforce to Big Burr in Kansas after it is ranked the most homophobic area in America. This in the hopes of helping people overcome their prejudices. There are many things that could go wrong.
A chorus of narrations includes closeted Gabe and Linda who are lost in grief. Teenage Avery is the project’s leader, as her lesbian mom has moved from Los Angeles.
It’s refreshing, smartly executed and often very funny.
Hephzibah Anderson
Apollo Murders
Chris Hadfield Quercus £20
Not the first crime novel to be set in space, but the first to be written by someone who’s been there.
Set in 1973, this offers an alternative history in which Apollo 18 wasn’t cancelled, but rather embroiled in an extension of the Cold War beyond the stratosphere.
The spaceship that makes this a crime scene is an enticing and gripping thriller.
John Williams