Into the Dark by Ørjan Karlsson, translated by Ian Giles BLOG TOUR #IntoTheDark @orjankarlsson @OrendaBooks #BookReview #NordicNoir

 

In Norway’s far north, something unspeakable is surfacing…

When a mutilated body rises from the icy waters off the jetty in Kjerringøy, it shocks the quiet coastal village – and stirs something darker beneath. Not long after, a young woman is found dead in a drab Bodø apartment. Suicide, perhaps. Or something far more sinister.

Detective Jakob Weber and former national investigator Noora Yun Sande are drawn into both cases. Then a hiker reports a terrifying encounter in the nearby wilderness: a solitary cabin … and a man without a face.

As the investigation deepens, the clues grow more disturbing – and the wild, wintry landscape closes in. Jakob is certain of one thing: if they don’t find the killer soon, he’ll strike again.

SECOND in the dark, addictive Nordic Noir series set in Norway’s unforgiving Arctic north.

Into The Dark by Ørjan Karlsson was published on 15 January 2026 by Orenda Books and is book two in the Arctic Mysteries Series. It is translated by Ian Giles. 

Into the Dark by Ørjan Karlsson, translated by Ian Giles, is very much my type of Nordic Noir. From the beginning it is quietly unsettling, a story that slowly draws the reader into its pages with such confidence.

This is not a book that rushes. Instead, it settles into its own rhythm. There’s an intensity to the writing that encourages you to slow down, and to pay attention, and to really live in the story rather than race through it. 

Set in Norway’s far north, the novel opens with the discovery of a mutilated body pulled from the icy waters near the small coastal village of Kjerringøy. When another death follows soon after in nearby Bodø — one that may or may not be suicide — Detective Jakob Weber and former national investigator Noora Yun Sande are drawn into an investigation that becomes increasingly disturbing. As the boundaries between the cases begin to blur, the sense of unease deepens, particularly when reports surface of a chilling encounter in the surrounding wilderness.

One of the real strengths of Into the Dark is its setting. The Arctic landscape is described with an authority that makes it feel vast, isolating and, at times, almost oppressive. It seems to press in on the characters as the investigation deepens, heightening the tension without ever overwhelming the narrative. I love crime fiction where the location feels integral to the story, and Karlsson does that so well. 

A special mention for the translation by Ian Giles too. It is beautifully done, the writing is understated and never loses the underlying sense of menace. There’s a real emotional feeling to it.

I was really impressed by authentic the story feels. The characters feel believable and human, carrying their fears and uncertainties quietly and never over dramatically. 

Although Into the Dark is the second book in the series, it works perfectly well as a standalone. I never felt as though I was missing crucial information, and the characters are introduced with enough care that it’s easy to settle into their world. 

Overall, this is thoughtful, atmospheric Nordic Noir that lingers in the mind long after the final page. If you enjoy crime fiction that concentrates on mood, character and psychological depth, then you will love this. Highly recommended. 

Ørjan N. Karlsson grew up in Bodø. 

A sociologist by trade, he received officer training in the army and has taken part in overseas missions.

He has worked in the Defence Ministry and is now a departmental manager in the Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection.

He has written a large number of thrillers, sci-fi novels and crime novels for adults.

Ian Giles has a PhD in Scandinavian literature from the University of Edinburgh.

Past translations include novels by crime and thriller luminaries such as Arne Dahl, Carin Gerhardsen, Michael Katz Krefeld, David Lagercrantz, Camilla Läckberg and Gustaf Skördeman.

His translation of Andreas Norman’s Into a Raging Blaze was shortlisted for the 2015 CWA International Dagger.

Women Like That by Fiona Curnow VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR #WomenLikeThat #FionaCurnow @RandomTTours #BookExtract

 

War rages but sometimes the enemy is closer than you think.

Aged 14, Mhairi is forced into adulthood. Evicted from her family home in rural Scotland, separated from her parents, she must find her own way in life. As she fights for survival in a city of strangers, she finds companionship in the most unlikely of places. And she finds love.

But there is war, the world is a terrible place, and the cost of standing up for what you believe in can be high. Mhairi has made an enemy and he is powerful. Women like her have no place in his world and he will do whatever it takes to suppress her.

When the unthinkable happens she loses everything again, including her freedom.

She had the best of friends and the greatest love. Now she has nothing. Will she have the strength to carry out the fight of her life?

Women Like That by Fiona Curnow was published on 1 December 2025. As part of this #RandomThingsTours Virtual Book Tour, I am delighted to share an extract from the book with you today. 

Extract from Women Like That by Fiona Curnow 

It was a cruel and heartless place when the navvies had arrived. Mud and machinery. Rock-face and desolation. A brutal wind howled up the valley, over the loch, and into their very souls. Rain lashed alongside it. This was a place needing tamed before it could be inhabited, but there was no taming of the weather. Tame the land. That was their job. Work it. Master it. But that weather? Christ!

Houses weren’t yet built. Not that any house would be for them. No. They would be cast out like intruders, vagrants, people of no use. No worth. Apart from to build and slave and grind away at life as best they could. Shelter for them was minimal. Canvas haphazard as if thrown down by some greater power with no care. No design. But this was at least a job. Money to be made. Lives to be bettered. That was what they had been told, and when you have less than nothing the chance of something is a call to be answered. And they had. Hundreds of men and a handful of women with promises of dinner. A settling of hungry stomachs. Shelter.

Mhairi had cut off all of her hair—rough like a navvy’s—baulked as she had taken the clothes from Jamie, her dead brother, stuffed rags into the toes of his boots so that they would stay on her feet and joined the people of the road. Itinerant workers. People of no importance. People who had fled their homes to look for something, anything, to lighten their load. People like her.

It was easier than she had thought, this disguise, this slip into someone else. She had Jamie to thank for that. The big brother who had toughened her up, challenged her, and she would not be beaten. She worked hard and the strength came of its own accord. Muscles to rival most boys of her age.

Jamie had joked. ‘Ye’ll no be finding a man when it’s time, wi muscles like that!’

‘Oh, and who says I’ll be wanting a man?’ Mhairi had answered, proudly flexing her arm, poking at the muscle she had worked so hard to create. She looked across at him, a grin breaking up her face.

‘Aye, well, just saying,’ he said, with a playful slap to her head.

They raced up the hill, as they had done at the end of every day when they’d been offered casual work at one of the nearby farms. Their income was small, almost insignificant, but it helped to put food on the table. What they had been working on was what they were paid in: potatoes, turnips, cabbage, eggs, milk, oats. It was all welcome. 

Dying bracken, brown and crispy, snapped at their legs. A wind was whipping up, shouting its presence through the trees—aspen and birch with tall, tall pine trees stretching above it all, keeping an eye out—an eerie sound, almost ghostlike. The aspen and birch swayed to its rhythm, casting off their remaining leaves. Hooded crows, rooks, and ravens cawed out their warning. Magpies mimicked the sounds, a flash of white and a swirl of the colours of petrol, barely seen in the decreasing light, but their presence was felt, nevertheless.

When Jamie and Mhairi rounded the brow of the hill everything looked wrong. There was no smoke from the fire twisting out of the chimney. Strangers stood on their land. Their mother, father and the two youngest were huddled together by the front door. A rag-taggle collection of bags at their feet.

‘You’re turning a family out into nothing! How can a man of the cloth do such a thing?’ their father shouted. His wife bowed her head in grief. The children clung onto their mother’s skirt, and she to them. They were too young to understand fully, but they could feel it. The fear. The desperation.

‘You’ve had more than enough warnings to pay your rent or leave. You haven't paid and now it’s time for you to go. Let’s not make this ugly for your children now.’

‘But…’ their father began. But what? There was nothing to be done and he knew it. Their lives had been hard, a challenge, poverty always biting at their bellies, at the clothes on their backs, but they had their home. A place that was full of hope and love, most of the time. No more.

And that was that. Everything had gone. Jamie and Mhairi were old enough to look after themselves now. To find a job of some sort or other. Their parents had agreed that they should leave, fend for themselves. The family would survive easier with just the youngsters. Fewer mouths to feed. More chance of finding some sort of lodgings. A room somewhere. The family were heading to Glasgow, big and dirty and strange, but maybe something for them.

‘You take care o yer wee sister, Jamie,’ their mother called in the wind, a break in her voice, tears streaking her face. She glanced back at them every few steps until she tripped, almost fell. 

Her husband caught her elbow, held her up. ‘That’ll do ye no good, now,’ he said. ‘You need all o yer strength for these two.’ He nodded down at the children still clinging to her skirt. ‘Come on now.’

She knew that he was right, but it broke her heart nonetheless to turn away and walk on, her family splintered, separated in a way she hadn’t anticipated. Yes, they were nearly grown up. They would have moved out with their own loved ones soon enough. Started their own homes, and with luck, their own families. That would have been normal. Expected. Joyous even. It wasn’t meant to be like this. Not in her wildest dreams had she anticipated this. Yet here it was, and she was powerless. A failure of a mother. 

Her husband took her hand and squeezed it tight, before reaching for the hands of his children, a forced smile on his lips. ‘What an adventure this is going to be!’ he said.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 

I was the delighted winner of the Federation of Writers (Scotland) short story competition 2023.

I studied primary education at Edinburgh University, graduating with honours in 1996. As soon as I graduated, I packed everything I owned into my Renault 11, including my daughter, two dogs and a cat, and headed off to Estonia to become an international school teacher.

After fifteen years of teaching, predominantly in Eastern Europe, I became ill and had to return home. Unable to work, but not one to remain idle, I turned to the Open University where I studied creative writing, completing both courses with distinction, and discovering a new passion. Writing is what I do, and I love it!

I find it difficult to be content without a work in progress. That escape into a world of my own making is something very special!

I live on the east coast of Scotland and have written four books under the pen name of F J Curlew. I have now reverted to using my given name.

My writing has been described as, "Human experience impacted upon by political situation, interwoven with a love of nature." That pretty much sums my writing up!

www.fionacurnow.co.uk

IG @fiona_curnow_author 

The Girl in the Tower by Harrison Murphy VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR #TheGirlInTheTower #HarrisonMurphy @RandomTTours #BookExtract @harrisonmurph1.bsky.social

 

When the past lies buried beneath the waves, and the present hides behind a veneer, what power do we have over the future?

As high-flying energy magnate, Parsley Ringland, prepares for maternity leave, tragedy strikes. She passes out after a health complication and wakes up elsewhere. In the tower that sustained the life she had once known.

As she fights to protect herself and her unborn child, Parsley begins to fear for humanity itself. She is faced with an impossible dilemma. Does she keep the world in comforting darkness? Or expose a cruel truth that might destroy it?

Is it better to endure a terrible truth than to lounge inside a lie?

The Girl in the Tower by Harrison Murphy was published on 26 December 2025. As part of this #RandomThingsTours Virtual Book Tour, I am delighted to share an extract from the book with you today 

Extract from The Girl in the Tower by Harrison Murphy 

The opening sequence of sunset was broadcast around us.

We had left at sunrise; it had been a long journey. The ornithodroids were like stars, a substitute for streetlights. We weren’t just thankful for their torches penetrating the darkness though, as they had kept us sated and sustained, delivering a cavalcade of culinary delicacies. Returning to take the containers away for cleaning and re-use.

But now the suspendible had come to a stop. Figuratively lowered its anchor.

“We’re here!”

“Really? This exact spot is above where it used to be?”

“Where it still is.”

“Yes, of course,” I corrected myself.

“You said you’ve dived before, right?”

“Virtually a master at it.” 

We both laughed at the world’s most depressing inside joke as we donned our wetsuits. We helped each other with the scuba apparatus, which was much more sophisticated than what I had been accustomed to. Everything appeared to be in working order.

“Three, two, one...

We leant back from the side of the suspendible and plunged into the water, piercing the layer of detritus. The sophisticated headlamp provided a level of visibility like nothing I had known prior.

Though it wasn’t like all the other times. Although I could see everything, everything was nothing. A perfectly unobscured view of a void.

On previous descents, I had been surrounded by shoals of Csh. Naressed by straggly strands of seaweeds and grasses that had become disconnected from the seabed and sidled against me as I swam.

But this ocean was lifeless.

In the past I had observed all manner of tropical Csh, colourful coral reefs, and had even explored the rooms of a colossal ship- wreck, the tour guide like an estate agent showing me around, emphasising the potential the place had. Imagine what it would be like if you knocked this wall down? Or if it hadn’t sunk.

Although I knew that was all artiCcial back then, it was this that felt fake. The ocean felt like a neglected aquarium. We would have to descend much further to see anything awe-inspiring. This was just water itself. A blank screen perpetually buffering.

The descent felt like it took almost as long as our journey to reach the coordinates. For we would have to drop to a level that felt unfathomable to me. Technology had improved immeasurably since my diving era, but we still had to be careful about the bends. So amount of innovation could prevent that phenomenon, so we still had to be patient, not be tempted to descend too abruptly.

If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t have remained patient. I was panicked. Lomehow being in water that contained nothing felt more dangerous than water that was teeming with aquatic life. It was eerie and unsettling. I had nothing to do but keep checking my oxygen levels, awash with silent disbelief that we’d barely made a dent in our supply. To seek assurance wasn’t necessary though. Lhe knew what she was doing.

“Hook!” We were mic’d up and both stopped to look at each other. zer Cnger drew downward, alerting me to the fact that I should be able to see something.

At Crst, I didn’t. But suddenly it was as if the buffering had ceased and the image had loaded.

“I see it!” I called out, more loudly than I needed to.

Harrison Murphy is a writer from Motherwell, Scotland. 

He specialises in downbeat, and often provocative, speculative fiction with elements of sci-fi and fantasy thrown into the mix. 

The Girl in The Tower – a cli-fi Rapunzel story – is his most recent novel. 

His fourth novel, IV, is an exploration of the afterlife, as well the limited agency we have in affecting this life. 

He also wrote the Chrysalis trilogy, set in a world where we can design our own minds.

IG @harrisonmurph1

The Ice Angels by Caroline Mitchell #VirtualBookTour #TheIceAngels @Caroline_writes @PenguinUKBooks @RandomTTours @carolinemitchell.bsky.social #BookReview #Lincoln #CrimeFiction

 

Ten years ago, in the depths of the Finnish winter, Detective Elea Baker’s daughter was taken—and never found.

Now, in the quiet streets of Lincoln, girls are disappearing again. When one is found on the cathedral steps, clutching a chilling clue linked to the decade-old abduction, there’s only one person who can solve the case: Elea.

Dragged back into her nightmare, she’s determined to bring her daughter home this time—no matter the cost.

But is she chasing a ghost, or on the verge of uncovering a truth that will shatter everything?

The Ice Angels by Caroline Mitchell is published on 15 January 2026 by Penguin and is the first in the Elea Baker series. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy as part of this #RandomThingsTours Virtual Book Tour. 

I absolutely love to read books that are set in places that are familiar to me. I've lived around twenty minutes away from Lincoln for my entire life and was really excited to discover that Caroline Mitchell's new crime series was set there.  It really adds a depth when you recognise the settings, being able to actually picture the place as you read. Don't worry if you've never been to Lincoln though, I can promise you that it's a great read and the author conjures up the places so well. 

There’s something immediately arresting about The Ice Angels, and it is not just the biting cold that seeps from the page. From the opening chapters, this is a story that looks at  grief, loss and the kind of emotional scars that never quite heal.

Ten years ago, Detective Elea Baker’s daughter vanished in Finland. Now, in Lincoln, Elea has been called by her former partner Swann to help with an investigation as history appears to be repeating itself. Girls are disappearing, and when one is discovered on the cathedral steps with a chilling link to the past, Elea is forced to confront the nightmare that has been her life for years. 

This is a dark, atmospheric thriller, beautifully layered with emotional depth. The author excels at characterisation, Elea is flawed, raw and utterly believable, driven as much by guilt and grief as by justice. Her pain feels real.

The Finnish scenes are particularly striking. The cold is almost a character in its own right, creeping under your skin and tightening the tension with every page. I could practically feel the frost forming as the narrative moves between past and present, slowly knitting together the mystery.

The pacing does occasionally ease, and this allows the emotional threads to sink in. However, the story never loses its grip. There are twists, dark turns and moments that really unsettled me, with a strong sense of place and a feeling of dread that keeps you reading 'just one more chapter'. 

The Ice Angels is an impressive start to a new series. Chilling, emotional and thoughtfully constructed, it is both a gripping mystery and a haunting exploration of a mother’s love. Dark crime readers are in very safe hands here, and I’m definitely looking forward to what comes next.

Caroline Mitchell is a New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post and international
#No. 1 bestselling author who has sold over 2 million books . She originates from Ireland and now lives in a woodland village outside the city of Lincoln. A former police detective, she has worked in CID and specialised in roles dealing with vulnerable victims, high-risk victims of domestic abuse, and serious sexual offences. She now writes full time.

Her books have won first place as ‘Best Psychological Thriller’ in the US Reader’s’ Favourite Award Contest, been shortlisted for the International Thriller Writer Awards in New York and been shortlisted for ‘Best Procedural’ in the Killer Nashville awards and the Audie awards. Her crime thriller, Truth And Lies is a No.1 New York Times bestseller and has been optioned for TV.

X @Caroline_writes

www.caroline-mitchell.com

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The Barbecue at No 9 by Jennie Godfrey #TheBarbecueatNo9 @jenniegauthor.bsky.social @HutchHeinemann @PenguinUKBooks @charlottebush2 #BookReview

 

FROM THE NUMBER ONE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE LIST OF SUSPICIOUS THINGS . . .

It's the summer of 1985 and the residents of Delmont Close are preparing a neighbourhood barbecue to watch the biggest music event in history: Live Aid. A day like no other that will end having reached millions and changing the lives of all who attend.

House-proud Lydia Gordon, whose idols are Princess Di and Delia Smith, is determined to put on a show that will impress everyone - with her posh garden and state-of-the-art television, and her sweet husband and two children, Hanna and David.

But as the guests flood into number nine, so do all of the secrets that have been kept in the close.

Rita, a new neighbour from Australia, is hoping for a fresh start but harbours a shocking event in her past; Steve, a young Falklands veteran, battles his own demons; and Mr Wilson is surely too good-looking to ever be trusted.

But as the hours count down to the last performance of the night, it's Lydia who faces the heart-breaking truth that her immaculate home and flawless family might not be so perfect after all.

And if each of their neighbours is guilty of hiding something, so are the Gordons at number nine ...

The Barbecue at No. 9 by Jennie Godfrey is published on 12 February 2026 by Hutchinson Heinemann/ Penguin. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review. 

I was lucky enough to read a very early copy of Jennie Godfrey's debut novel; The List of Suspicious Things and reviewed it on Random Things in December 2023.  I predicted then that the book would be a massive success and I'm delighted to have been proved correct, winning awards and becoming a best seller, it has been huge. 

The 'difficult second novel' is a well known thing, and I sometimes think that it can be as worrisome for readers as well as authors!  We've loved the first book and expectations are high for book two. 

There is no need to worry!  The Barbecue at No. 9 is absolutely wonderful, and dare I say it?  It is, in my view, even better than its predecessor.

This time the story is set in the 1980s, it is the day of the Live Aid concert. A blistering hot summer day in 1985, and the whole world seemed to be waiting for the big event. A fund raising concert taking place in both London and in the USA. I was almost nineteen-years-old at the time and I remember that day so well. The anticipation of watching your favourite bands, being allowed to have music on the TV,  all day long, it was like a hugely extended version of Top of the Pops.  What a day! 

The residents of Delmont Close are all invited to a barbecue at Number 9; the home of the Gordons. House proud Lydia, her quiet husband Peter, and their two children Hanna and David - along with the dog Prince. 

This is the story of one day in the lives of an eclectic group of people who are only connected because they happen to live on the same street. Each and every one of them is a wonderful, carefully created character with their own voice. The author tells her story through alternating chapters, narrated by each characters. This is a fabulous way of story-telling, allowing the reader to know far more about the residents than they know about each other. 

As with her first novel, the author deals with some delicate and emotionally challenging subjects, but the subtle hints of humour and the overwhelming feeling of warmth make these so easy to digest. They are dealt with empathically and with a sensitivity that we've come to expect from Jennie Godfrey. 

Packed full of secrets, with some suspense and hints of danger along with way, this is a novel that totally took my heart. It is a really beautiful story of family, community, friendship and love. Highly recommended. 

Jennie Godfrey was raised in West Yorkshire in a mill-working family and her debut
novel, The List of Suspicious Things, was inspired by her childhood there in the 1970s. 

In 2020, Jennie gave up her corporate career to build a life around books. 

She is now a writer and part-time bookseller who lives, and writes, in the Somerset countryside

Instagram @jennie.godfrey

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The Cut Throat Trial by The Secret Barrister #TheCutThroatTrial @BarristerSecret @picadorbooks @barristersecret.bsky.social #BookReview

 

It is one of the biggest trials of the year. Three seventeen-year-old boys are accused of the brutal murder of an elderly teacher on New Year's Eve.

Each boy denies it.
Each points the finger at the other two.
But they can’t all be innocent.

The three defence barristers have only one job: to persuade the jury that their client is not guilty. But they’re up against a prosecutor who needs to win the case, no matter the cost.

Written with an expert insider’s knowledge, in The Cut Throat Trial a dramatic courtroom drama unfolds.

And you have a front row seat.

The Cut Throat Trial by The Secret Barrister, writing as S J Fleet was published on 28 August by Picador. I bought my copy at the airport when I flew out to Corfu in September. 

There’s something deliciously compulsive about a courtroom drama done well, and The Cut Throat Trial from The Secret Barrister absolutely had me hooked from the opening pages.

With three seventeen-year-old boys accused of the brutal murder of a retired teacher, the novel drops us straight into moral murkiness and never really lets us get comfortable. Each boy denies the charge, they all point the finger elsewhere, and the reader is  left constantly questioning not only who did it, but how justice can possibly emerge from such a tangle of mixed up stories. 

We get to hear from two of the accused in the dock, and are privy to all of their innermost thoughts too. We also listen the judge hearing the case and the barristers doing their utmost to defend their clients. There are flashbacks to the event and we hear witness accounts too. 

What really elevates this book is the insider knowledge. The legal system is laid bare in a way that feels authentic, sharp, and occasionally chilling. The defence barristers aren’t there to find the truth, they’re there to win for their clients, and the their determination to win, whatever the cost mentality adds a real edge. It’s tense, claustrophobic, and often unsettling, with moments that made me pause and reflect on how fragile the idea of 'justice' can be. 

Whilst the plotting is clever and the courtroom scenes are gripping, there were moments where the pacing dipped slightly for me, and I found some characters more fully rounded than others. Still, this is a thoughtful, gripping legal thriller that entertains while also asking some uncomfortable questions. If you enjoy intelligent crime fiction with substance and a strong sense of place, I recommend this, and I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for what The Secret Barrister does next.

The bestselling author, The Secret Barrister, writes fiction as S. J. Fleet. 

A junior barrister specialising in criminal law, they write for many publications and are the author of the award-winning The Secret Barrister blog. 

Their first book, The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It’s Broken, was a Sunday Times number-one bestseller and spent more than a year in the top-ten bestseller list; it won the Books Are My Bag Non-Fiction Award and was shortlisted for Waterstones Book of the Year and the Specsavers Non-Fiction Book of the Year. 

Fake Law: The Truth About Justice in an Age of Lies and Nothing But the Truth: The Memoir of an Unlikely Lawyer were instant Sunday Times top-ten bestsellers on publication. 

The Cut Throat Trial is their first novel.

www.thesecretbarrister.com

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Five By Five by Claire Wilson #FiveByFive @ByClaireWilson @MichaelJBooks @PenguinUKBooks #ScottishCrimeFiction @byclairewilson.bsky.social #BookReview

 

Just because the most dangerous criminals in society are caught and locked up, doesn’t mean they stop committing crime.

That’s where Kennedy Allardyce comes in – monitoring not just the prisoners, but also the staff.

And she’s just stumbled across her most dangerous foe yet – rumours of a corrupt guard with lethal influence. And what’s worst, it seems they’ve already realised Kennedy is on their tail.

At least one thing is giving her joy – a blossoming relationship with Molly, a beautiful, enigmatic new guard.

Wouldn’t it be awful if the killer she’s hunting turned out to be the woman she’s falling for?

Five By Five by Claire Wilson was published on 14 August 2025 by Michael Joseph / Penguin. I was thrilled to meet the author at a crime fiction event in Scotland last year, where she kindly signed a copy for me. 

Claire Wilson works as an Intelligence Analyst within the Scottish prison system. She pitched her debut novel at the Pitch Perfect event during the Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival in 2022, and in 2023 she went on to win the Penguin Michael Joseph Undiscovered Writers Prize. Five by Five was published by Penguin Michael Joseph in 2024.

Five by Five is a fast-paced, gripping thriller set deep inside the Scottish prison system. I was particularly appreciative of the glossary of Scottish prison terminology included at the beginning of the book. These terms add authenticity and depth to the story while also teaching the reader a thing or two, whether we’ll ever need to know them in real life is another matter entirely!

The lead character, Kennedy Allardyce, is a brilliantly crafted protagonist. Flawed and vulnerable at times, she is nonetheless fiercely dedicated to her work as an intelligence analyst and determined not to let the prisoners run the prison. Kennedy is essentially a spy: listening in on prisoners’ phone calls, decoding their coded language, and trying to prevent trouble before it erupts.

Drugs are circulating inside the prison, and Kennedy knows the supplier goes by the name Scout. After a violent incident leaves her both physically and psychologically scarred, she comes to a chilling realisation; Scout is an insider, a fellow officer.

Struggling to trust anyone, Kennedy grows close to officer Molly Rana. There is undeniable attraction between them, but the question lingers: is Kennedy opening herself up to something genuine, or walking straight into a trap? Only time will tell.

Claustrophobic, dark, and brimming with tension, this is the kind of novel that has you holding your breath for pages at a time. A triumph of sharp writing and clever plotting, Five by Five is a compelling, masterfully executed thriller that I highly recommend. Bring on book two!

Claire Wilson is from central Scotland. 

Her debut novel Five by Five was the inaugural winner of the Penguin Michael Joseph Undiscovered Writers' Prize. 

The book is based on her day job as an Intelligence Analyst in a Scottish Prison and has gone on to be shortlisted for the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize, the CrimeFest Specsavers Debut Crime Novel Award, Capital Crime's Debut Award and longlisted for the CWA New Blood Dagger.

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