10-07-2025
Unforgettable and impossible to resist: The best Thrillers out now: A Murder in Paris by Matthew Blake, Love, Mom by Iliana Xander, Deadline by Steph McGovern
A Murder in Paris by Matthew Blake (HarperCollins £16.99, 368pp)
London based, half-French psychotherapist Dr Olivia Finn, an expert in helping patients reclaim painful memories in an effort to recover, is summoned to Paris to help her grandmother – acclaimed artist Josephine Benoit – who is insisting she is someone else. Could this be the effects of dementia?
Josephine is also claiming to have committed murder in Paris at the end of the war. Surely there is a mistake? But then she is herself murdered and secrets from the past – including many from Olivia's own – surface.
This delicate story, which travels seamlessly between post-war Paris and the present day, is exquisitely told by the author of last year's bestselling debut Anna O, and is just as unforgettable.
Love, Mom by Iliana Xander (Penguin £9.99, 400pp)
Mackenzie Casper is the only child of a mega-selling author – who writes under the name of E. V. Renge – whose fame has cast a dark shadow over her daughter's childhood.
But then she dies in what appears to be a tragic accident and Mackenzie starts to receive letters from her dead mother, delivered by an unseen hand.
So begins this supremely twisty tale of deceit and deception that sees Mackenzie try to unravel what went on in her mother's life, and what her father Ben may have had to do with it.
Helped by computer nerd friend EJ, she starts to piece together what happened. Supremely gifted story-telling, with twist upon twist, it is impossible to resist.
Deadline by Steph McGovern (Macmillan £20, 384pp)
TV presenter McGovern's engaging story takes us behind the scenes of live television, drawing on her eight years' experience on BBC Breakfast, but then she adds a killer twist.
Her heroine, reporter Rose, is interviewing the Chancellor of the Exchequer live, when a voice in her earpiece announces that her wife Kate and their son Rory have been kidnapped and she must do exactly what the voice says. It is an exciting set up, but only the start.
McGovern also explores hate speech, deprived children, the stalking of female reporters and the impact of the media in a fast-paced story that often brings a tear to the eye – while the question remains: can Rose rescue the two people she loves?
An encouraging debut from the broadcaster. Let's have another.
