Hell’s Horizon
by Darren Shan
Published by Harper Voyager
£7.99
The second in the City trilogy by Darren Shan, Hell’s Horizon is a thrilling novel that will have the reader on edge from start to finish.
The City is ruled by The Cardinal and the confident and cocky Al Jeery is a member of his loyal guard, protecting The Cardinal with his life. But when Al is removed from his duties to investigate a murder, he is led on a journey which tests his beliefs and loyalty to the extreme.
The mystery deepens and soon all manner of people become involved; mysterious Incan priests, the mighty Cardinal himself and the mythical assassin Paucar Wami who is above all laws and kills with ease with no fear of being punished. Soon, Al realises the truth about Wami and it is more than he could have imagined.
The ultimate tale of betrayal and distrust, one that will keep the reader guessing from the first chapter to the last. The action is intense, flowing and gripping; the perfect book for anyone who enjoys the thrill of a great mystery.
Review by Daniel Burton
To Kill a Mockingbird
By Harper Lee
Published by J B Lippincott & Co
Price £7.99
Things slowly return to normal in Maycomb, and Scout and Jem realize that Boo Radley is no longer an all-consuming curiosity. The story appears to be winding down, but then Bob Ewell starts making good on his threats of revenge. Scout is in the Halloween pageant at school, playing the part of a ham. With Atticus and Aunt Alexandra both too tired to attend, Jem agrees to take Scout to the school. After embarrassing herself on-stage, Scout elects to leave her ham costume on for the walk home with Jem.
On the way home, the children hear odd noises, but convince themselves that the noises are coming from another friend who scared them on their way to school that evening.
Suddenly, a scuffle occurs. Scout really can’t see outside of her costume, but she hears Jem being pushed away, and she feels powerful arms squeezing her costume’s chicken wire against her skin. During this attack, Jem badly breaks his arm. Scout gets just enough of a glimpse out of her costume to see a stranger carrying Jem back to their house.
True Blue
By David Baldacci
Published by Pan
Price £6.99
Mason “Mace” Perry was a firebrand cop on the D.C. police force until she was kidnapped and framed for a crime. She lost everything, her badge, her career, her freedom and spent two years in prison. Now she’s back on the outside and focused on one mission: to be a cop once more. Her only shot to be a true blue again is to solve a major case on her own, and prove she has the right to wear the uniform. But even with her police chief sister on her side, she has to work in the shadows: A vindictive U.S. attorney is looking for any reason to send Mace back behind bars. Then Roy Kingman enters her life.
Roy is a young lawyer who aided the poor until he took a high-paying job at a law firm in Washington. Mace and Roy meet after he discovers the dead body of a female partner at the firm. As they investigate the death, they start uncovering surprising secrets from both the private and public world of the nation’s capital.
Soon, what began as a fairly routine homicide takes a terrifying and unexpected turn-into something complex, diabolical, and possibly lethal.
