Herron's wry humour, sense of character, place (rainy, miserable London) and dialogue sets him right up there with le Carre. Hilton (Bonnier $16.99 )Orgies, murder and dodgy art dealers; sounds like a best-seller to me. Rebus has swapped the hard liquor for low alcohol beer and is forgoing cigarettes - thankfully his gruff humour remains intact. Cole's an ex-paramedic and this debut earned him a six-figure advance from Orion 48 hours after receiving (unsolicited) three chapters. If the plot gets a little ridiculous it's a much better written novel than many on the best-seller shelves - which is where this will undoubtedly end up.

Source: New Zealand Herald March 21, 2017 02:37 UTC