When I emigrated from the UK to Western Australia as a child, one of my first big moments was learning about sharks and realising swimming in the ocean was not the same as in the sea. Ever since writing my thriller The Shark, I’ve been on the lookout for novels with sharks in the title or on the page. Real sharks, human sharks, property sharks, sharks of the mind and the heart, these are stories that have influenced me, entertained me, beguiled, terrified, and at times utterly blindsided me.
The backpacker word-of-mouth bestseller I read in my twenties in a hostel in Rome or Siena rather than Bangkok.
The story of Richard, a backpacker in search of paradise in Thailand who discovers it, along with the darker aspects of himself and the others he meets there. A dark desert island classic, submerged in tension and foreboding, it takes utopia and smashes it apart on a razor-sharp coral reef.
Yes, bad shit happens. Both escapist and terrifying.
On Richard's first night in Bangkok, a fellow traveller slits his wrists, leaving Richard a map to "the Beach", where white sands circle a lagoon hidden from the sea, coral gardens and freshwater falls are surrounded by jungle. Richard was looking for adventure, and now he has found it.
At the beginning of my The Raw Shark Texts hardback, a Mark Haddon quote on a post-it note calls it "The bastard love-child of The Matrix, Jaws, and The Da Vinci Code," which is a pretty accurate summary of what you’re getting into with this one.
It’s a substantial novel, and you have to pay attention, but it’s well worth the investment. Epic, inventive, oceanic in scope and wryly funny, with the best cat in a book since The Last House on Needless Street.
Eric Sanderson wakes up in a place he doesn't recognise, unable to remember who he is. All he has left are journal entries recalling Clio, a perfect love now gone. As he begins to piece his memories back together, Eric finds that he is being hunted by a creature that moves in language, that swims through the currents of human interaction.
With the help of his cynical cat Ian, Eric must search for the Ludovician, the force that is threatening his life, and Dr Trey Fidorus, the only man who knows the truth.
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
I read Jaws, aged twelve, when I was scouring my parents’ bookshelves in search of sex scenes.
It didn’t deliver on that front, but was, as was the movie, a blockbuster summer thriller that terrified and captivated me in equal measure. Swimming in the Indian Ocean was never the same again.
First published in 1974, Jaws is of its time but worth a revisit for the iconic, flawed protagonist, Police Chief Brody, the vivid setting, and hero’s journey plot.
Peter Benchley's Jaws first appeared in 1974. As well as Steven Spielberg's film adaptation, the novel has sold over twenty million copies around the world, creating a legend that refuses to die.
It's never safe to go back in the water . . .
It was just another day in the life of a small Atlantic resort until the terror from the deep came to prey on unwary holiday makers. The first sign of trouble - a warning of what was to come - took the form of a young woman's body, or what was left of it, washed up…
A wise, humane, wildly original feat of imagination and heart.
The skill of Habeck in making the incredible credible knows no bounds as Wren and Lewis’s lives are upended by a diagnosis of Carcharodon carcharias mutation, namely his gradual transformation into a great white shark.
A beautiful meditation on art, family, loss, and what it means to be human, this reminded me of Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven but is like nothing I’ve read before or since.
Former model Kira McGovern picks up the paint brushes of her youth and through an unexpected epiphany she decides to mix ashes of the deceased with her paints to produce tributes for grieving families.
Unexpectedly this leads to visions and images of the subjects of her work and terrifying changes…
Third in the award-winning Chastity Reloaded series about State Prosecutor Chastity Riley.
A brutal double murder, a cover-up, and investigating team shenanigans ensue in this razor-sharp noir with a gentrification theme. Buchholz’s Riley is a singular, flawed detective, wearing her home city of Hamburg like a second skin as she exposes city-sanctioned corruption against all odds.
A must for fans of crime fiction with conscience and teeth.
In Hamburg's troubled Wilhelmsburg district, Prosecutor Chastity Riley investigates a brutal double murder amid corruption and gentrification. Battling personal demons and powerful foes, she fights to expose a city's dark secrets. Germany's Queen of Krimi returns with the caustically funny, breathtakingly dark next instalment in an addictive series...
'As much a character study as the story of a crime ... like a flipbook, full of startling images and sudden movements, that will thrill cynics and romantics alike' Sunday Times
'For the first time in a long time, I found a book I simply couldn't put down - and I didn't…
Every monster has a weakness. At the height of the Australian summer, a serial killer known as The Shark stalks a coastal suburb, hunting young female swimmers.
Afraid and furious at the failure of the police to protect them, two women fight back. Raych is grieving someone she'd have died to save, while Carmen hides her own disturbing connection to the murders. In desperation, they form an uneasy alliance. And when another girl vanishes, they take matters into their own hands—by kidnapping the prime suspect. But as their interrogation spirals, horrifying truths surface on both sides of the table. The clock is ticking to save the missing girl. And in their quest for justice, Raych and Carmen must face the darkest question of all: have they caught a monster—or become one?
Pride’s Children is a captivating, contemporary story about love, regret, ambition, and obsession - with a glitzy backdrop. Closer examination reveals a textured and soul-searching novel that serves as a poignant reminder that we are defined by our choices - and their consequences. The treatment of an enigmatic and life-altering…
Odette Lefebvre is a serial killer stalking the shadows of Nazi-occupied Paris and must confront both the evils of those she murders and the darkness of her own past.
This young woman's childhood trauma shapes her complex journey through World War II France, where she walks a razor's edge…
