Orion Books

After caring for his mother in her last days, Alex has gone off round the world — with no plan other than to travel and maybe recapture some of his lost youth. Beginning his travels in Indonesia, the idea of finding himself sounds appealing... but soon, he finds himself in real trouble. It starts with a bus crash on a terrifying mountain road. Lucky to escape with his life, Alex loses everything else — even his identity. But then he meets Domino, a beautiful girl who takes Alex under her wing. At first it's an intoxicating adventure, but Alex starts to realise that danger seems to follow her around. As they approach the magnificent Lake Toba, and head to the remote community of free spirits that Domino calls home, it seems there's trouble in paradise. The ideals of the camp seem honourable — a simple life, shared by friends in a beautiful place hidden from the world. But Domino has no answers for the questions that are forming in Alex's mind: Why do the local villagers hate them so much? Why are people leaving the camp in the dead of night? And what are the strange shapes lurking just beyond the clearing? A taut, atmospheric and emotive thriller, DARK HORIZONS transports you to the lush landscapes of Sumatra, and the twisted ideals and deadly secrets lying in wait there...

Malcolm Fox returns in the stunning second novel in Ian Rankin's new series... Malcolm Fox and his team are back, investigating whether fellow cops covered up for Detective Paul Carter. Carter has been found guilty of misconduct, but what should be a simple job is soon complicated by a brutal murder and a weapon that should not even exist. A trail of revelations leads Fox back to 1985, a year of desperate unrest when letter-bombs and poisonous spores were sent to government offices, and kidnappings and murders were plotted. But while the body count rises the clock starts ticking, and a dramatic turn of events sees Fox in mortal danger.

5 August 2005. While conducting a secret mission thirty miles off the remote cost of Kamchatka, the Russian Navy submarine AS-28 became snared in the thick cables anchored to 60-tonne concrete blocks. Without power the stricken boat sunk to the seafloor. Trapped 600 feet down — too deep to escape — her crew of seven now had just seventy two hours before the air onboard ran out. Twenty-four hours later — still haunted by the loss of the Kursk — the Russian Navy requested assistance. And on their side of the world, Commander Ian Riches, Boss of the Royal Navy's Submarine rescue team got the call: there was a sub down. With their expertise and specialist equipment, he knew his team had a chance to save the men, but Kamchatka was at the very limit of their range. And the clock was ticking. As Riches and his men prepared to deploy to Russia's Pacific coast aboard a giant Royal Air Force C-17 airlifter, rescue teams from the United States and Japan were also scrambled to the area. After the failure of the Russian Navy's own attempts to resucue them, the crew of the AS-28 shut down all of their boat's non-essential systems, climbed into thick thermal suits to keep the freezing cold at bay and waited, desperate to eke out the stale, thin air inside the pressure hull of their submarine. But as the first of them began to drift in and out of consciousness, they knew their time was running out... 72 Hours tells the story of an extraordinary, edge-of-the-seat real-life drama. It's the gripping, inside story of one of the most dramatic rescue attempts of recent years. And there were no guarantees of success.

Lily Bard has started over in the quiet town of Shakespeare, Arkansas, where she works as a cleaning lady. But she's about to go back to where she came from, and where Lily goes, danger follows... Determined to move beyond her violent past, Lily heads to Bartley, her hometown, for her sister's Christmas Eve wedding. But there's something in the air besides festive cheer: the town's doctor and nurses have been bludgeoned to death, and Lily's detective boyfriend has followed an eight-year-old kidnapping case straight to Bartley. It just might have something to do with the murders... and with her sister's fiance. With only three days to the wedding, Lily must work fast to clean up the messy case before her sister promises to love, honour and obey a killer.

Over the years, Myron Bolitar has walked a tight rope between sports agent, friend, problem solver and private eye. When former tennis star Suzze T and her rock star husband, Lex, encounter an anonymous Facebook post questioning the paternity of their unborn child, Lex runs off, and Suzze — at eight months pregnant — asks Myron to save her marriage, and perhaps her husband's life. But when he finds Lex, he also finds two people he wasn't looking for: his sister-in-law, Kitty, wife of Myron's estranged brother, and her teenage son, Mickey, who is achingly familiar. But this boy that he has never met blames Myron for everything that has happened to his parents... As Myron races to locate his missing brother while their father clings to life after a savage heart-attack, he must face the lies that led to the estrangement long ago — including the ones told by Myron himself. He must also answer the questions that Mickey's arrival has thrown up. Who is Myron Bolitar really? And can he heal the damage of the past?

This is the story of Dr Alfred Jones, a fisheries scientist — for whom diary-notable events include the acquisition of a new electric toothbrush and getting his article on caddis fly larvae published in 'Trout and Salmon' — who finds himself reluctantly involved in a project to bring salmon fishing to the Highlands of the Yemen — a project that will change his life, and the course of British political history forever. With a wickedly wonderful cast of characters — including a visionary Sheikh, a weasely spin doctor, Fred's devilish wife and a few thousand transplanted salmon — SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN is a novel about hypocrisy and bureaucracy, dreams and deniability, and the transforming power of faith and love.

The Straits of Gibraltar, 1940. In the heart of a storm at sea, Captain Gonzalez rescues a group of German castaways. When the storm subsides, their leader gratefully offers the captain a strange-looking emblem made of gold and diamonds, in exchange for safe passage to the coast of Portugal.

An Autumn evening in 1937. A German engineer arrives at the Warsaw railway station. Tonight, he will be with his Polish mistress; tomorrow, at a workers' bar in the city's factory district, he will meet with the military attache from the French embassy. Information will be exchanged for money. So begins The Spies of Warsaw, with war coming to Europe, and French and German operatives locked in a life-and-death struggle on the espionage battlefield. At the French embassy, the new military attache, Colonel Jean-Francois Mercier, a decorated hero of the 1914 war, is drawn in to a world of abduction, betrayal and intrigue in the diplomatic salons and back alleys of Warsaw. At the same time, the handsome aristocrat finds himself in a passionate love affair with a Parisian woman of Polish heritage, a lawyer for the League of Nations. Colonel Mercier must work in the shadows, amidst an extraordinary cast of venal and dangerous characters — Colonel Anton Vyborg of Polish military intelligence, last seen in Furst's The Polish Officer; the mysterious and sophisticated Doctor Lapp, senior German Abwehr officer in Warsaw; Malka and Viktor Rozen, at work for the Russian secret service; and Mercier's brutal and vindictive opponent, Major August Voss of SS counterintelligence. And there are many more, some known to Mercier as spies, some never to be revealed. The Spies of Warsaw is Alan Furst's finest novel to date — the history is precise, the writing evocative and powerful, more a novel about spies than a spy novel — exciting, atmospheric, erotic and impossible to put down.

Jack Isidore is a 'crap artist', a collector of crackpot ideas and worthless objects. His beliefs make him a man apparently unsuited for real life and so his sister, an edgy and aggressive woman, and his brother-in-law, a crass and foul-mouthed businessman, feel compelled to rescue him from it. But, observed through Jack's murderously innocent gaze, Fay and Charley Hume are seen to be just as obsessed as Jack. Their obsessions may be a little more acceptable than Jack's but they are uglier. And, in the end and thanks to Jack's intervention, theirs lead to tragedy...

Laura McNaughton's life is almost perfect. She's young, pretty and she has a fabulous job on a glossy magazine, which involves interviewing celebrities (and air-brushing their personalities). But when she is offered a job presenting a trendy Friday night television show she can't resist the opportunity to experience fame first hand. Putting her puritanical Scottish upbringing, her intellectual boyfriend and her hippy best friend behind her, she soon hooks up with world-famous actress Lucy Lloyd and gorgeous, infamous rock god Ricky Jones, who introduce her to a hedonistic world of partying where appearance is everything and nothing really matters but sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. But as the stories about her private life become front page news, Laura begins to doubt those closest to her, and her life starts to spiral dangerously out of control. Packed with passion, glamour and danger, DROP DEAD GORGEOUS is a unmissable glimpse into the fame game — and the price you have to pay to play it.

Clair lives in the leafy suburbs and has worked hard to create the perfect life for her husband and two children. She knows it's a big bad world out there and her beautifully painted garden fences keep that world out. While her children are young, Clair is determined to do everything she can to keep them safe. But then a new family moves in next door. The first time she sees Chelsea, Clair has her pegged as a spoilt only child who is used to getting her own way from her doting parents, beautiful yet spiteful. As Chelsea befriends Clair's children over the fence, Clair's unease increases. The girl is not a good influence, and she has Clair's son in her sights. Soon the children are running in and out of each other's gardens. But then events take a tragic turn. A terrible event shatters the cosy suburban community, proving Clair was right to remain vigilant. To protect her family, Clair tightens her grip on her children. The more she reins them in, the more they rebel. And the less control she has. Teetering on the edge of madness, Clair will do anything to save her family, and in doing so risks destroying all their lives. Powerful, compelling and utterly unflinching, Camilla Noli again explores the darker sides of a mother's love.

It is 2010. In two years' time it will be the centennial of the sinking of the Titanic. Two of the world's most powerful corporations race to raise the vessel but there are other powers at work, and chaos theory comes into play as plans progress — and six preserved bodies are found. This novel incorporates two of Arthur C.Clarke's passions — deep sea exploration and future technology — in a fast-moving tale of mysetry and adventure. As operations proceed, the perfectly preserved body of a beautiful girl is found. She was not on the ship's passenger lists. The quest to uncover the secrets of the wreck and reclaim her becomes an obsession... and for some, a fatal one.

A seemingly sleepy Devonshire village, Burracombe is in fact full of intrigue and drama. Family secrets, budding romance, cruel twists of fate and amazing friendships all play out against the backdrop of the beautiful countryside. It's autumn 1953. The village is delighted when Joe Tozer — who left Burracombe as a young man in 1919 — returns to visit his family. His life since emigrating to the States has been a world away from rural Devon — but coming home, he falls in love with the place (and one particular person) all over again. With him is his eldest son, Russell. He sets hearts fluttering in the village — but will there be anyone on his arm when he catches the boat back to America?

Onetime underground journalist Sandy Blair has traveled far from his radical roots in the 60s-until the bizarre and brutal murder of a millionaire rock promoter draws him back. As Sandy sets out to investigate the crime, he finds himself on a magical mystery tour of the pent-up passions of his generation. For a new messiah has resurrected the once legendary rock band Nazgul-but with an apocalyptic new beat that is a requiem of demonism, mind control, and death only Sandy may be able to change in time...

This is not a story about a girl who disappears. This is the story of a little girl who comes back. As if from nowhere, she appears one day on a seaside promenade, with a black flower and a horrifying story about where she's been. But telling that story will start a chain reaction of dangerous lies and deadly illusions that will claim many more victims in the years to come. Neil Dawson has grown up wanting to be like his father — a writer. When his father commits suicide, he is devastated. But through his grief, Neil knows something isn't right. Looking through his father's papers, he finds a copy of an old novel, The Black Flower. Opening it will take Neil into an investigation full of danger, pain and subterfuge. Hannah Price is also mourning her father. She followed his footsteps into the police force, and knows she has a big reputation to live up to. When she gets assigned to Neil's father's case, it will lead her on a journey into her own past and to the heart of a shattering secret.

When Alice Forster receives an email from her dead sister she assumes it must be a sick practical joke. Then an invitation arrives to the virtual world of Soul Beach, an idyllic online paradise of sun, sea and sand where Alice can finally talk to her sister again — and discover a new world of friendships, secrets and maybe even love... But why is Soul Beach only inhabited by the young, the beautiful and the dead? Who really murdered Megan Forster? And could Alice be next? The first book in an intriguing and compelling trilogy centred around the mystery of Megan Forster's death.

Thousands of years ago the land is one dark forest. Its people are hunter-gatherers. They know every tree and herb and they know how to survive in a time of enchantment and powerful magic. Until an ambitious and malevolent force conjures a demon: a demon so evil that it can be contained only in the body of a ferocious bear that will slay everything it sees, a demon determined to destroy the world. Only one boy can stop it — 12 year old Torak, who has seen his father murdered by the bear. With his dying breath, Torak's father tells his son of the burden that is his. He must lead the bear to the mountain of the World Spirit and beg that spirit's help to overcome it. Torak is an unwilling hero. He is scared and trusts no one. His only companion is a wolf cub only three moons old, whom he seems to understand better than any human. Theirs is a terrifying quest in a world of wolves, tree spirits and Hidden People, a world in which trusting a friend means risking your life.

When wealthy Sarah Erroll dies a violent death at her home in a posh part of Glasgow, the local community is stunned by what appears to be a truly gratuitous act. Heavily pregnant with desperately wanted twins, DS Alex Morrow is called in to investigate and soon discovers that there is more to Sarah's murder than it first seems. On the other side of town, Thomas Anderson is called into the headmaster's office at his boarding school to be told that his tyrannical father — a banker responsible for the loss of many livelihoods in the recession — has committed suicide by hanging himself from the old oak tree on the lawn of their home. Thomas returns to the family home to find his mother and sister in a state of numb shock. The head of the household is dead, yet their initial reaction is not that of grief, but relief. As Alex Morrow slowly unravels the connections between the two cases, she faces her greatest challenge yet as her work and home lives collide with potentially disastrous consequences.

Glen Barber's life has just spiralled out of control. His wife's car is found at the scene of a drunk-driving accident that took three lives. Not only is she dead, but it appears she was the cause of the accident. Suddenly Glen has to deal with a potent mixture of emotions: grief at the loss of his wife, along with anger at her reckless behaviour that leaves their young daughter motherless. If only he could convince himself that Sheila wasn't responsible for the tragedy. But as more and more secrets begin to surface, Glen may have to face something much, much worse...

Andy McNab and Peter Grimsdale's Battlefield 3: The Russian is the most ambitious, and substantial thriller ever to be published alongside a game. It is the best in its class. Never before has there been such close, two-way collaboration between an author and the creators of the game itself. Nor has the resulting book been written by a thriller writer with such a strong track record of bestsellers behind him. SAS hero, McNab, has used Battlefield 3 as his starting point to write a story that breaks new ground and can't be found within the game. Displaying all of his trademark grit, authenticity and insight, Battlefield 3: The Russian is a scorching top-of-the-line military and a heart-stopping race against time...

Stephen King called Michael Marshall's debut novel The Straw Men, a masterpiece... brilliantly written and scary as hell. With Killer Move, the acclaimed author of Bad Things and The Intruders demonstrates that he has only gotten better with time. The electrifying story of a man on the fast track to success who finds that his life has been chillingly modified by someone, somewhere with a very different master plan for his future, Killer Move is a remarkably intelligent, genuinely creepy thriller from Phillip K. Dick Award-winner Marshall.

Katie Lavender has always thought she was pretty unshockable, until a year after her mother's death she receives a letter from a solicitor telling her that the man she thought was her father, in fact wasn't. Her real father, a man named Stirling Nightingale, has for years been building a trust fund for her. And now she's of an age to collect it. But Katie's not interested in the money. She wants to know about the man instead. So decides to do some snooping. She tracks him down to a beautiful riverside home in Surrey on the night he's hosting a birthday party for his 90-year-old mother. And as she's hovering outside, Katie is mistaken for a replacement waitress — an opportunity just too good to miss. And so Katie discovers that the Nightingales are far from your normal family... But what makes a normal family anyway?

THE GAME'S AFOOT... It is November 1890 and London is gripped by a merciless winter. Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are enjoying tea by the fire when an agitated gentleman arrives unannounced at 221b Baker Street. He begs Holmes for help, telling the unnerving story of a scar-faced man with piercing eyes who has stalked him in recent weeks. Intrigued by the man's tale, Holmes and Watson find themselves swiftly drawn into a series of puzzling and sinister events, stretching from the gas-lit streets of London to the teeming criminal underworld of Boston. As the pair delve deeper into the case, they stumble across a whispered phrase «the House of Silk»: a mysterious entity and foe more deadly than any Holmes has encountered, and a conspiracy that threatens to tear apart the very fabric of society itself...

When word gets out that Mary-Margaret O'Reilly may have been witness to a miracle, religious mania descends on the Church of the Sacred Heart in Battersea. The consequences will be profound, not only for Mary-Margaret but for others too: Father Diamond, the parish priest, who is in the midst of his own crisis of faith. Stella Morrison, adrift in her marriage and aching for her ten-year old son, away at boarding school. Alice Armitage, counting the days until her soldier son comes home from Afghanistan. Mary-Margaret's mother, Fidelma, imprisoned in a tower block with nothing but her thoughts for company. Mary-Margaret's quest to understand what she has seen grows increasingly desperate — but no one is prepared for the shocking outcome that ensues.