Bantam Press


Books published by Bantam Press

Oranges and Lemons

An important politician is almost buried under a crate of fruit, in a spot suspiciously near to the church of St Clements. The Peculiar Crimes Unit investigate, but now under the eye of a Home Office observer.

Reviewed on 25 November 2021 by Sylvia Maughan

Triple Cross

Kate Henderson is reluctantly pulled back into spying at the personal request of the prime minister, and then finds that her job will entail unmasking a Russian intelligence asset at the heart of MI6.

Reviewed on 24 July 2021 by Chris Roberts

The Sanatorium

An isolated hotel in the remote Swiss Alps, which was once a sanatorium, is cut off by an avalanche. A deranged masked predator stalks the residents and the only person who can help them is convalescing fellow guest, Detective Elin Warner.

Reviewed on 22 May 2021 by Viv Beeby

Blue Moon

Jack Reacher prevents an old man being mugged on a city street. But why is the old man carrying a large wad of money in an envelope, just stuffed into his pocket?

Reviewed on 11 April 2020 by Sylvia Maughan

Black Sun

Major Alexander Vasin of the KGB is sent to a secret Soviet site, which is producing a powerful new bomb, when one of the key scientists dies from radioactive poisoning.

Reviewed on 09 November 2019 by Chris Roberts

The Grid

President Robert S Thompson begins to behave increasingly illogically when he becomes convinced a series of nightmares are a warning of his approaching assassination. His doctor, Josh Cain, a military psychiatrist, must try to find a cure.

Reviewed on 09 November 2019 by John Cleal

Secret Service

When the Prime Minister announces that he’s stepping down from the leadership due to cancer, MI6 believe that one of the candidates for the top job might be in the pay of the Russians.

Reviewed on 07 September 2019 by Linda Wilson

The Suspect

Journalist Kate Waters is the first on the story of two girls who have gone missing in Thailand. But this time her scoop is personal and dangerously close to home.

Reviewed on 10 August 2019 by Kati Barr-Taylor

Past Tense

Jack Reacher happens upon the home town of his long-deceased father. Patty and Shorty’s car breaks down near an isolated motel in the same area.  After a long, eventful time for all concerned they separately arrive at the same place – a dark, isolated forest.

Reviewed on 29 June 2019 by Sylvia Maughan

Hall of Mirrors

A London building boss is due to appear in court and a rival is due to testify against him. A young Bryant and May are detailed to make sure he does. But then he decides to attend a house party in a country mansion, which is where it all goes very wrong.

Reviewed on 01 June 2019 by Sylvia Maughan

A Lethal Frost

When a local bookmaker is shot in the head and seriously injured, Denton copper, DI Jack Frost, is under pressure from his boss to find the culprit as well as having to pacify his landlords by tracking down an escaped parrot.

Reviewed on 23 February 2019 by Linda Wilson

Bad Apple

Hanna may only be seven years old, but she is a genius at showing her love for daddy. And her hatred for mummy.

Reviewed on 24 November 2018 by Kati Barr-Taylor

The Fox

A retired Cold Warrior uses the unique skills of a 17-year-old computer hacker with Asperger’s Syndrome to change the balance of world power.

Reviewed on 24 November 2018 by John Cleal

The Hunger

A California-bound waggon train is trapped by winter in the Sierra Nevadas. In an atmosphere of superstition, fear and mutual loathing, some members resort to cannibalism to survive.

Reviewed on 13 October 2018 by John Cleal

A Treachery of Spies

A series of murders in modern-day Orleans appears to be linked to events over 70 years old - the struggles of French resistance fighters battling the Nazis.

Reviewed on 01 September 2018 by Chris Roberts

The Midnight Line

Jack Reacher finds a small ring in a pawn shop that must have belonged to a marine. As an ex-marine himself, he sets off to track the owner down.

Reviewed on 01 September 2018 by Sylvia Maughan

City of Sinners

A young Asian woman is found murdered in a Bradford bookshop. But as DCI Harry Virdee investigates, the killer is leaving bizarre messages for him and making it clear that it’s personal.

Reviewed on 04 August 2018 by Sharon Wheeler

A Stranger in the House

Karen drives her car into a lamppost, late at night, in a seedy part of town, but she cannot remember why she was there. The police are suspicious, her husband disbelieving, and her best friend is behaving oddly.

Reviewed on 26 May 2018 by John Barnbrook

No Middle Name

A collection of stories about Jack Reacher’s life, starting with him as a young lad of about 13.

Reviewed on 14 April 2018 by Sylvia Maughan

Night School

Major Jack Reacher and two others are given a special project concerning a mystery American in Germany.  First they have to find out who he is and why he is mysterious.

Reviewed on 17 March 2018 by Sylvia Maughan

Line of Fire

Nick Stone is operating on home soil for a change. He has to find a woman, snatch her and deliver her to the shadowy operator he knows as the Owl.

Reviewed on 17 February 2018 by Linda Wilson

I Know A Secret

Two bodies are found days apart in Boston, both drugged and both mutilated after death, but otherwise seemingly unrelated.

Reviewed on 16 September 2017 by Sylvia Wilson

The Child

The discovery of a baby’s skeleton on a building site reveals a decades old tragedy which means different things to three women.

Reviewed on 05 August 2017 by John Cleal

Bryant and May: Strange Tide

Bryant and May of the Peculiar Crimes Unit investigate when the body of a woman is found chained to a post in the River Thames.

Reviewed on 24 June 2017 by Jim Beaman

The Restless Dead

Forensic anthropologist Dr David Hunter is called to give advice on a body washed up on the Essex marshes. The police seem to want an easy resolution to the case of a missing man, but Hunter isn’t convinced by the evidence and wants to delve deeper.

Reviewed on 24 June 2017 by Linda Wilson

Frost at Midnight

DI Jack Frost has a wedding and a murder to contend with in Denton during the hot summer of 1983. And then a woman goes missing.

Reviewed on 27 May 2017 by Linda Wilson

Dead Woman Walking

The lone survivor of a hot air balloon crash has to go on the run to stay ahead of the ruthless killer responsible for the disaster.

Reviewed on 29 April 2017 by Linda Wilson

Crisis

Sent to Colombia to investigate the murder of a British intelligence officer, Spanish-speaking former SBS man Luke Carlton is caught in a revenge plot with international dimensions – and London as its target.

Reviewed on 03 September 2016 by John Cleal

The Widow

Jean is newly widowed. Her husband, killed in a traffic accident, had been the object of an investigation into child kidnapping. His death leads to a resurgence in press and police interest and a renewed investigation ensues.

Reviewed on 06 August 2016 by John Barnbrook

Streets of Darkness

DI Harry Virdee has been suspended from duty, but he goes solo to track down the killer of a Bradford VIP.

Reviewed on 23 July 2016 by Sharon Wheeler

Make Me

Jack Reacher gets off a train in the middle of the Oklahoma prairie, and finds more than he bargained for in the strangely watchful town of Mother’s Rest.

Reviewed on 23 April 2016 by Linda Wilson

Little Black Lies

A child goes missing on the remote Falklands Islands. This is not the first time it’s happened and the last two children to disappear have never been found.

Reviewed on 12 September 2015 by Linda Wilson

Personal

There are believed to be only four snipers in the world capable of making the shot that nearly killed the French president. One of them is American, and favours are called in to set Jack Reacher on his tail.

Reviewed on 01 August 2015 by Linda Wilson

State of Emergency

Against the background of growing civil unrest, former SAS sergeant Tom Buckingham has to stay close to right-wing politician Vernon Rolt and decide where his own loyalties lie.

Reviewed on 01 August 2015 by Linda Wilson

Into the Fire

A man is found dead in the ruins of a hotel in the French city of Orleans. Police captain Ines Picaut has to find out what links him to France’s most famous heroine, Joan of Arc, who’s been dead for 500 years.

Reviewed on 01 August 2015 by Sharon Wheeler

Die Again

Six years ago, a group of tourists disappeared on safari in Botswana. Only one escaped barely alive. Now in Boston a well-known hunter and taxidermist is found hung up and gutted like a deer. As Detective Jane Rizzoli investigates, connections emerge between the two incidents.

Reviewed on 08 June 2015 by Sylvia Wilson

The Shut Eye

Anna Buck has fallen apart at the seams since her son Daniel went missing. She’s convinced she can still hear his voice and so when Anna hears of a psychic who might be able to help, she jumps at the chance.

Reviewed on 21 March 2015 by Linda Wilson

Never Go Back

Jack Reacher goes back to visit his old Military Police unit on a whim. But its new woman commanding officer, whose voice he liked on the phone, has gone missing and he’s arrested on charges relating to old events.

Reviewed on 07 February 2015 by John Cleal

For Valour

Someone in the Special Forces is going to extraordinary lengths to cover up a death in training. Can ex-SAS sergeant Nick Stone get to the bottom of the mystery, and stay alive on the way?

Reviewed on 10 January 2015 by Fiona Spence

Keep Your Friends Close

When Natty Wainwright rushes to her daughter’s sick bed leaving best friend Eve Dalladay to care for husband Sean and daughter Alice, she has no idea that her friend will steal her life.

Reviewed on 10 January 2015 by Sylvia Wilson

The Winter Siege

As the Empress Matilda, only surviving child of Henry I, and her cousin Stephen battle for the English throne, two women from very different backgrounds struggle to survive as bands of mercenaries burn, rape and loot their way across the country.

Reviewed on 29 November 2014 by John Cleal

Personal

A cryptic message in a newspaper takes Jack Reacher to Paris and then to London to track down an assassin with world leaders in his sights.

Reviewed on 18 October 2014 by Sharon Wheeler

Fortress

There are riots on the street and tension in Whitehall. Disgraced SAS sergeant Tom Buckingham becomes involved with Invicta, a group who are seemingly doing a good job of helping injured servicemen – but there might be more to them than meets the eye.

Reviewed on 04 October 2014 by Fiona Spence

A Dark and Twisted Tide

Lacey Flint has had enough of being a detective. A transfer to the Marine Unit suits her very nicely, but trouble seems to follow Lacey around no matter where she goes, and when bodies start to turn up in her beloved river, she can’t just sit on the sidelines.

Reviewed on 26 July 2014 by Linda Wilson

Silencer

Nick Stone’s past has come back to haunt him, and he has to find out who wants him dead and also protect his family

Reviewed on 14 June 2014 by Fiona Spence

Wolf

Two teenage sweethearts are horrifically murdered in a Mendip wood. The prime suspect confesses, but 14 years later the nightmare returns to haunt a family trying to put their memories behind them.

Reviewed on 03 May 2014 by John Cleal

Last to Die

The families of children, already no strangers to violence, are being targeted and killed. Can a remote boarding school in the Maine wilderness provide a safe haven or will it prove to be just another hunting ground?

Reviewed on 22 March 2014 by Linda Wilson

High Rollers

National Transportation Safety Board investigator Tom Patrick is first on the scene when the engine of an aircraft on the ground at Los Angeles airport tears itself apart killing three men and injuring six more. And it’s not the only 737 that has problems as the death toll starts to rise.

Reviewed on 22 February 2014 by Linda Wilson

Stone Bruises

Sean is on the run in a stolen car. He eventually ditches the vehicle, but blunders into a man-trap on a lonely French farm. Rescued by the elder of the farmer’s daughters, he realises he has blundered into a realm of dark secrets which at least one of the family is willing to kill to protect.

Reviewed on 08 February 2014 by John Cleal

Inferno

Professor Robert Langdon wakes up injured, evidently in Florence, to find himself being chased.  His attempts to remember what he was doing before this event require him to identify the violent images he keeps seeing. 

Reviewed on 11 January 2014 by Sylvia Maughan

Morning Frost

Denton is its usual hotbed of crime and this time it comes with added body parts, as a farmer ploughing his fields soon discovers. On top of that, DS Jack Frost has to cope with shootings and the death of his wife.

Reviewed on 14 December 2013 by Linda Wilson

I Am Pilgrim

A killing in New York leads the man codenamed Pilgrim – a former undercover agent – to a sinister plot to destroy America.

Reviewed on 30 November 2013 by John Cleal

Poppet

A series of horrifying, possibly supernatural, incidents shake both patients and staff at a secure mental unit. DI Jack Caffery, still looking for the body of a missing woman, is dragged into the hospital mystery.

Reviewed on 01 November 2013 by John Cleal