Passenger List by J.S. Dryden

 

When Kaitlin Li’s twin brother, Conor, disappears after Atlantic Airlines Flight 702 vanishes while flying across the Atlantic, with all passengers and crew presumed dead, she becomes obsessed with solving the mystery. She sets up a Facebook page for tips and is soon investigating. Inevitably this leads to a whole heap of conspiracies and various people who might be kooks, spies, or various shades of baduns.

The tragic, and downright weird, tale of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared without a trace over the Pacific in 2014, clearly inspired Passenger List. MH370 has inspired many conspiracy theories and these are clearly also an inspiration for Passenger List. In real life I have no time for conspiracy theories, but in fiction I love a conspiracy thriller. For example, personally I suspect Lee Harvey Oswald was the sole assassin of JFK, but I love a JFK conspiracy novel or film and Oliver Stone’s movie might be hokum but was great fun.

That said, as I read Passenger List I wondered whether this was going to be just a rehash of MH370 conspiracies, all pushed along by cardboard cutout genre fiction tropes and two-dimensional characters. This is a novel inspired by a podcast (a drama podcast, obviously. Not a true crime one). It feels cardboard cutout and there is little depth to the characters. That said, the plot moves along at pace and when the final denouement occurs it is believable, even for someone like me who doubts conspiracy theories in real life. The author doesn’t go with the most outlandish theory, but ends with something much more realistic, knowing as we do how governments have a tendency to cover their backs.    

Anthrax Island by D.L. Marshall

 

The island of Gruinard, off the coast of Scotland, is the setting for this novel. It’s an actual island which was poisoned with anthrax during the second world by a British Government experiment on germ warfare. Unfortunately anthrax spores are hardy and the island remained polluted for decades until a hugely expensive clean up operation. But what if the government failed in their endeavours and anthrax has returned? Such is the scenario painted by debut novelist D.L. Marshall.

A technician has died from a virulent strain of the disease. Attached to the new scientific mission to clean up the island, his death is a mystery and the intelligence services despatch freelance operative John Tyler (under the guise as the technician’s replacement) to investigate what has happened. It quickly transpires that the technician’s death might well be foul play and so John has a captive cast of suspects (for obvious reasons access to the island is strictly controlled). 

What follows is one part locked room mystery, one part spy thriller. It’s an interesting set up and John Tyler is a well-drawn protagonist. The suspects are well-drawn too, and the novel is adeptly plotted. Did I guess who the killer/killers were? Well, no, I must confess that I didn't. But they were credible and their motives believable when the reveal came, and the narrative led to a satisfying denouement.

Tyler himself is clearly set to return in a sequel and it will be interesting to see his back story. He’s an action hero in the mould of many in the espionage/action genre, though Marshall tells us he’s never been in the military. That was a little confusing as we gather he knows his way around weapons, etc. But I’m sure Marshall will explain this as the series continues and I’m not somebody who needs everything to be spelt out on page one of book one.

This was a great read, and Marshall is a great talent. Bring on book two in the series.

I Know What I Saw by Imran Mahmoud

 

Xander Shute is a once wealthy banker now living on the streets. After a fight with another homeless person in a London park, Xander sees an open door and shelters inside someone’s flat. Only they return when he’s there and he witnesses the woman of the house being murdered. Filled with shame at his cowardice in not stopping the assault, Xander becomes obsessed with finding out who her attacker was and bringing him to justice.

This is the author’s second book and a worthy follow on from his excellent debut, You Don’t Know Me. It’s not a sequel and does not follow on from his earlier title (although I would encourage people to read both books, as they’re both excellent). 

While the two titles have something in common in that they’re both told in first person from the protagonist’s point of view, and the reader has to decide how much of their account to believe, Xander Shute is a much more unreliable protagonist than the young man on trial who was the centre of the plot of the author’s debut. 

Xander had quite an eccentric childhood, fiercely bright but encouraged by his father to compete with his much more gifted younger brother, a contest he always lost. This led to years of resentment on Xanders' part, although his brother was always kind to him. But then tragedy struck and Xander went off the rails and now his memory is flawed. Throughout the narrative he discovers things about his past which cast his memory of the murder in a new light. This keeps the reader guessing until the end.

I Know What I Saw is a brilliant read and I finished it in just a couple of sittings. Xander is a sympathetic character, and the plot is compelling. This is a great read.

True Crime Story by Joseph Knox

 

Zoe and Kim Nolan are identical twins who have recently enrolled at Manchester University. They’re housed together in a flat in a hall of residence, and the narrative revolves around them and their flatmates, and some other students they befriend. Most important is Zoe’s boyfriend, Andrew Flowers, her course mate, Fintan Murphy, a flatmate of the twins, Liu Wai, and one of Andrew’s housemates, Jai Mahmoud. Other friends and flatmates appear in the narrative but are less central. Soon after the term begins, just three months into their time at university, Zoe Nolan goes missing and is never heard from again.

True Crime Story is written as a true crime book (hence the title) and includes emails between the author, Evelyn Mitchell, and a character called Joseph Knox (yes, THE Joseph Knox), who in an act which kind of breaks the fourth wall, appears in the narrative of his own novel. There are even references to Knox’s brilliant Sirens trilogy. Evelyn is obsessed with the case and interviews all the surviving participants - Andrew Flowers, Fintan Murphy, Liu Wai, and Jai Mahmoud, and Zoe and Kim’s parents, as well as the police liaison officer and some other people who become involved in the case.

The case became a media sensation, with Andrew Flowers, Kim Nolan and Jai Mahmoud in particular, coming under suspicion. Evelyn pulls on these threads, and on others, and soon exposes the dark underbelly of this story. For example, the twins' dad is quickly exposed as a repellent piece of work, as are others.

This is an innovative crime thriller that will keep readers guessing until the end and is not like many books on the market. It’s well worth a read.