Thrillers

1979

by Val McDermid

read by Katie Leung

running time 11hrs

1979. It is the winter of discontent, and reporter Allie Burns is chasing her first big scoop. There are few women in the newsroom, and she needs something explosive for the boys' club to take her seriously. Soon Allie and fellow journalist Danny Sullivan are exposing the criminal underbelly of respectable Scotland. They risk making powerful enemies - and Allie won't stop there. When she discovers a home-grown terrorist threat, Allie comes up with a plan to infiltrate the group and make her name. But she's a woman in a man's world...and putting a foot wrong could be fatal.

THE 39 STEPS

by John Buchan

read by Sandy Morison

running time 4hrs 30mins

The classic thriller featuring Richard Hannay who goes on the run after a murder is committed in his flat. Once in his native Scotland he manages to keep one step ahead of his pursuers.

61 HOURS

by Lee Child

read by Jeff Harding

running time 14hrs 30mins

A tour bus crashes in a savage snowstorm and lands Jack Reacher in the middle of a deadly confrontation. In nearby Bolton, South Dakota, one brave woman is standing up for justice in a small town threatened by sinister forces. Reacher's original plan was to keep on moving. But the next 61 hours will change everything...

THE ABSENCE OF GUILT

by Mark Gimenez

read by Jeff Harding

running time 14hrs 30mins

An ISIS attack on America is narrowly averted when the FBI uncovers a plot to detonate a weapon of mass destruction during the Super Bowl. Omar al Mustafa, a notorious Muslim cleric known for his anti-American diatribes is arrested, but there is only one problem: there is no evidence against him. If Mustafa is innocent, newly appointed District Judge A Scott Fenney, must set the most dangerous man in Dallas free, with no idea who is really guilty...

THE BABY IS MINE

by Oyinkan Braithwaite

read by Bayo Gbadamosi

running time 2hrs

When his girlfriend throws him out during the pandemic, Bambi has to go to his uncle's house in lockdown Lagos. He arrives during a blackout, and is surprised to find Aunty Bidemi sitting in a candlelit room with another woman. They both claim to be the mother of the baby boy, fast asleep in his crib. At night Bambi is kept awake by the baby's cries, and during the days, he is disturbed by a cockerel that stalks the garden. There is sand in the rice. A blood stain appears on the wall. Someone scores tribal markings into the baby's cheeks. Who is lying, and who is telling the truth?

CALL IN THE NIGHT

by Susan Howatch

read by Anna-Maria Vesey

running time 5hrs

Clare Sullivan obeys a desperate summons from her sister Gina and flies from her home in America to Paris. But when she arrives, there is no sign of her. Gina's trail leads Claire to London and to Garth Cooper - a boyfriend of Gina's - who seems to have a secret to hide. As time passes she can't help feeling something sinister is going on.

DAISY IN CHAINS

by Sharon Bolton

read by Antonia Beamish

running time 12hrs 30mins

Hamish Wolfe is charming, magnetic and very persuasive. He receives adoring letters every day from his countless admirers. He's also a convicted murderer, facing life in prison. Maggie Rosie is a successful lawyer. Reclusive and enigmatic, she only takes on cases she can win. Hamish is convinced that Maggie can change his fate. Maggie is determined not to get involved. She thinks she's immune to the charms of such a man. But maybe not this time...

THE EAGLE HAS FLOWN

by Jack Higgins

read by Richard Ratcliffe

running time 7hrs

By the end of 1943, all the evidence of the abortive German attempt to assassinate Winston Churchill has been buried in a grave in Norfolk. However, two of the most wanted ringleaders are still alive, and Himmler is demanding the eagle's return.

F2F

by Phillip Finch

read by Richard Ratcliffe

running time 9hrs

A psychopathic computer genius is stalking potential victims on the Verbum computer network, seeking a face-to-face (F2F) meeting. Will Kate Lavin be lured to her death before her computer-whiz ex-husband tracks the killer down?

GAMBLE

by Felix Francis & Dick Francis

read by Michael Maloney

running time 9hrs

Nick 'Foxy' Foxton's career as a world class jockey is on a perfect track until a near fatal accident cuts his dream brutally short. But when he returns to Aintree years later, nothing can prepare him for what unfolds.

HALF BLOOD BLUES

by Esi Edugyan

read by Kyle Riley

running time 11hrs 15mins

In the aftermath of the fall of Paris, 1940, Hieronymous Falk, a rising star on the cabaret scene, was arrested in a cafe and never heard from again. Fifty years later Hiero's bandmate Sid,and the only witness that day, is going back to Berlin, bringing to the surface secrets buried since Hiero's fate was settled.

I, ALEX CROSS

by James Patterson

read by Garrick Hagon

running time 7hrs

Alex Cross hears the news that his niece Caroline has been murdered, and she was not this killer's only victim. The hunt for her murderer leads Alex and his girlfriend, Detective Brianna Stone, to a place where every fantasy is possible. Alex and Bree are soon facing some very important, very protected, very dangerous people in levels of society where only one thing is certain - they will do anything to keep their secrets safe. As Cross closes in on the killer, he discovers evidence that points to the unimaginable...

JACK AND JILL

by James Patterson

read by Richard Ferrone

running time 13hrs 30mins

Washington D.C. is under siege. A controversial Senator is found murdered in his bed, and a little girl is savagely beaten to death. Detective Alex Cross is under pressure from two fronts. Faced with an impossible choice, Cross has to come up with something incredible – because right now, nobody in Washington is safe, and it’s only a matter of time before the killer sets their sights on the ultimate target…

KEEPING SECRETS

by Andrew Rosenheim

read by Peter Marinker

running time 12hrs 45mins

Jack makes a living discovering other people’s secrets, there’s also one of his own. Moving to England with his new love, Kate, forces him to confront the horrors of the past.

LABYRINTH

by Kate Mosse

read by Maggie Mash

running time 24hrs 45mins

In 1209, as the Cathars are besieged in Carcassonne, a young woman is given a book by her father, which, he says, contains the story of the Grail. In 2005, Alice Turner is excavating in the area when she finds a tomb with two bodies, and sets in motion a terrifying sequence of events. Richard & Judy Bookclub

MACBETH

by Jo Nesbo

read by Derek Riddell

running time 17hrs

When a drug bust turns into a bloodbath it’s up to Inspector Macbeth and his team to clean up the mess. But he’s also an ex-drug addict with a troubled past. Plagued by hallucinations and paranoia, Macbeth starts to unravel. He’s convinced he won’t get what is rightfully his....unless he kills for it. Part of the ‘Hogarth Shakespeare’ series, where renowned authors adapt Shakespeare’s works for the present day.

THE NAKED FACE

by Sidney Sheldon

read by Richard Langley

running time 6hrs

Two murders, one victim murdered in the street in a gruesome but apparently arbitrary attack. The other brutally tortured and left to die in agony. Now it's the turn of psychoanalyst Dr Judd Stevens… In a chilling game of cat and mouse, Judd must become the hunter rather than the hunted if he wants to stay alive.

THE OATH

by Rankin Davis

read by Douglas Barber

running time 14hrs

A nail biting courtroom drama as 17 year old Rose Moody alleges systematic abuse at the hands of P J Rivers, a rich and charismatic cult leader. Is he a sinner or a saviour?

PACIFIC VORTEX!

by Clive Cussler

read by Ray Adamson

running time 9hrs

Dirk Pitt finds a communication capsule of the type used by submarines wishing to communicate with ships on the surface and finds inside a chilling message from the commander of the U.S. Navy’s nuclear submarine, the Starbuck, which had disappeared with all hands six months previously.

THE QUAKER

by Liam McIlvanney

read by Angus King

running time 11hrs

Glasgow, 1969. A serial killer is stalking the streets: the Quaker. He takes his third victim - from the same nightclub - and dumps her in the street like rubbish. The police are left chasing a ghost, with no new leads and no hope of catching their prey. From ruined backstreets to the dark heart of Glasgow, DI McCormack, a talented young detective from the Highlands, follows a trail of secrets that will change the city - and his life - forever....

RAGE

by Wilbur Smith

read by Gerald Sanctuary

running time 30hrs

It is 1952 and the Courtney family empire has come to dominate the lives of both white and black South Africans. Change, however, is on the way and Shasa will be forced to betray his ideals for a misguided dream of national unity.

THE SACRED BONES

by Michael Byrnes

read by Steve Hodson

running time 13hrs 15mins

A forensic scientist and an anthropologist are hired by the Vatican to examine a 2000 year old skeleton of a crucified man. Are these the bones of Christ? Will the Vatican allow the information to be known?

TALL ORDER

by Stephen Leather

read by Paul Thornley

running time 13hrs 30mins

He is one of the world's most ruthless terrorists, codenamed Saladin. Ten years ago he blew a plane out of the sky above New York - and now he's struck again, killing dozens in a London strike. But one of the latest victims is related to the acting head of MI5, who knows exactly who she wants on the case: Spider Shepherd. Dean Martin, a psychologically damaged former Navy SEAL, is the only person in the world who can identify Saladin. But Martin was killed ten years ago - wasn't he? Shepherd must find Martin and take him back to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Revenge on Saladin is long overdue, and Shepherd is determined to be the one to deliver it...

UNCLE TARGET

by Gavin Lyall

read by Harvey Ashby

running time 9hrs

This is the fourth thriller by Gavin Lyall to feature Major Maxim and it centres on a plot by a Jordanian army battalion to capture the prototype of Britain’s most sophisticated tank and reveal the secret to the Russians. Packed with action, suspense and authentic local colour.

VAGABOND

by Gerald Seymour

read by John O'Mahony

running time 18hrs 30mins

Danny Curnow, known in the army family by his call sign, Vagabond, ran agents - informers. Now he lives in quiet isolation and works as a guide to tourists visiting the Normandy's D-Day beaches. Violence in Northern Ireland is on the rise again and now, fifteen years later, the stakes are higher and the risks greater. Danny will have to prove that he is as hard and ruthless as before.

WAITING FOR SUNRISE

by William Boyd

read by Roger May

running time 13hrs 15mins

Moving from Vienna to London's West End, the battlefields of France, and the hotel rooms of Geneva, this is the story of young English actor Lysander Rief. He meets Sigmund Freud in a cafe´, begins to write a journal, enjoys secret trysts with Hattie Bull, and appears - miraculously - to have been cured of his neurosis.

YOU CAN'T SING WITHOUT ME

by Anne Worboys

read by Patricia Mumford

running time 12hrs 45mins

When Charlotte's twin sister is drowned, no one can really understand the extent of her loneliness. Her family fear that being left 'half a twin' will overwhelm her, but if they knew the truth would they believe her?

ZANZIBAR

by Giles Foden

read by Gerald Sanctuary

running time 14hrs 45mins

In 1998, Nick, a marine biologist, is working on a project off Zanzibar. On a trip to Tanzania he meets Miranda, an employee of the American Embassy. Their paradise is shattered when al-Qaida terrorists blow up the Embassy. With CIA agent Jack Quiller, Nick and Miranda attempt to catch the terrorists.