JUDGEMENT IN JUNE: CRIME BOOKS I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO READING IN JUNE 2024

There are some real treats coming out for crime and thriller aficionados in June, including new books by leading figures in the genre such as John Grisham, Michael Robotham, Louise Candlish and Riley Sager, a couple of thrilling reads by some lesser known authors, and a blockbuster by Michael Crichton and James Patterson.

Without further ado, here is my pick of the books that I am most keen on reading.

Undoubtedly the biggest popular release of June 2024, and possibly the year, is Eruption (Century, 4 June 2024), by James Patterson and the late Michael Crichton.

The book is apparently based on an unfinished manuscript and research left by Crichton, who died in 2008, and has been completed by the James Patterson writing machine. The book revolves around a history-making volcanic eruption that is about to effect the Big Island of Hawaii. As the team at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory prepare for the volcanic blast and its consequences, they become aware of a decades old military secret about the dumping of nuclear waste, and some very dangerous biological material, in a lava tube on the island. If the volcanic eruption affects this poorly stored material the outcome could be devastating for Hawaii and the world.

This is a classic, fast moving disaster thriller with plenty of action and easily digestible science. There are plenty of Crichton’s touches throughout the book, particularly the lead character and the the volcanic detail, but the pacing is pure Patterson. Fans of big action thrillers that scream out to be filmed will love this one.

I have already read Eruption and will be doing a short review in a couple of days. The book is released in Australia on 4 June 2024 and in the United States on 3 June 2024.

Also in the bestseller category is the latest legal thriller by John Grisham, Camino Ghosts (Hodder & Stoughton, 28 May 2024).

This third installment of Grisham’s Camino Island opens with author Mercer Mann, friend of bookshop owner Bruce Cable, struggling to find a good idea for her next book. Her writing block is overcome when Bruce tells her the story of 80-year-old local resident, Lovely Jackson. Lovely, the descendent of slaves who settled on Dark Island off the coast of Camino Island, has resided on the bigger island since 1955, leaving the smaller one uninhabited. Yet, as the last inhabitant, she claims Dark Island is hers and when a big, unscrupulous corporation wants to develop Dark Island, including installing a casino, she decides to fight it. Aided by Mercer and small time environment lawyer Steven Mahon, Lovely takes on the might of the developers.

Camino Island is a typical Grisham tale about nice people taking on a big corporation and the corruption that goes with. There is good courtroom drama, nasty tactics and plenty of interesting historical detail about slavery. There are also touches of humour with the names.

Camino Island is released in Australia on 28 May 2024.

Fans of legal thrillers can also look forward to James Comey’s Westport (below). A sequel to Central Park West from last year, Westport (Head of Zeus, 4 June 2024) seems to offer plenty of twists and realistic courtroom scenes from an author with real legal experience.

Holidays are dangerous things in popular fiction. One of the fast growing sub-genres in crime fiction is the destination thriller, which basically involves people travelling to a holiday location where they are killed off one by one until the identity of the killer is finally revealed. Sarah Clarke’s The Ski Trip (HQ Paperback, 5 June 2024) is one of the more recent entrants (see below), and Louise Candlish plays a variation on it with her domestic thriller Our Holiday (HQ, 19 June 2024).

Charlotte and Perry long for summers at Cliff View, their gorgeous holiday home overlooking the turquoise waters of Pine Ridge and across the Channel to France. And now that city friends Amy and Linus have bought a property nearby, they plan lazy weeks of sun, sea and sipping rosé on Charlotte’s summerhouse veranda.

But there’s trouble in paradise. A rising tide of resentment towards second-home owners is heading their way and small acts of criminal damage are escalating into something more menacing. By the end of the summer, families and friendships will be torn apart and Pine Ridge will be known for more than its sun-drenched beaches. It will be known for murder.

Louise Candlish excels at this sort of domestic thriller and crime novel mix, and her books are notable for their sharp eyed view of modern society and unstable relationships. Fans of her earlier novels will be pleased with this latest addition.

Our Holiday is released in Australia on 19 June 2024 and in the United Kingdom and the United States on 4 July 2024.

Riley Sager’s books also traverse the line between domestic suspense, crime and something a bit darker, and always feature good, well plotted stories. His second novel, The Last Time I Lied (2018), is a personal favourite of mine, and most of his other books have also been very good.

Sager’s latest book, Middle Of The Night (Dutton, 18 June 2024), has an interesting premise that suggests a move into Harlan Coben territory, but with a darker twist:

“The worst thing to ever happen on Hemlock Circle occurred in Ethan Marsh’s backyard. One July night, ten-year-old Ethan and his best friend and neighbor, Billy, fell asleep in a tent set up on a manicured lawn in a quiet, quaint New Jersey cul de sac. In the morning, Ethan woke up alone. During the night, someone had sliced the tent open with a knife and taken Billy. He was never seen again.

Thirty years later, Ethan has reluctantly returned to his childhood home. Plagued by bad dreams and insomnia, he begins to notice strange things happening in the middle of the night. Someone seems to be roaming the cul de sac at odd hours, and signs of Billy’s presence keep appearing in Ethan’s backyard. Is someone playing a cruel prank? Or has Billy, long thought to be dead, somehow returned to Hemlock Circle?

The mysterious occurrences prompt Ethan to investigate what really happened that night, a quest that reunites him with former friends and neighbors and leads him into the woods that surround Hemlock Circle. Woods where Billy claimed monsters roamed and where a mysterious institute does clandestine research on a crumbling estate.

The closer Ethan gets to the truth, the more he realizes that no place—be it quiet forest or suburban street—is completely safe. And that the past has a way of haunting the present.”

Sager is a very unpredictable author and it will be interesting to see where he goes with his new book. Middle Of The Night is high on my ‘to read’ list.

Note: Middle Of The Night is released in the United States on 18 June 2024. It will be released in Australia by Hachette in early July 2024.

For those who enjoy good, intelligent spy fiction Oliver Harris’ The Shame Archive, (Abacus, 4 June 2024), certainly delivers the goods.

This is the third in Harris’ series about MI6 agent Elliot Kane, who has now left the service and is running a private security business. He is called back into the agency when someone starts leaking details from MI6’s Shame Archive, which contains the misdeeds of politicians, royalty, business leaders and the service’s own personnel. There are seven decades’ worth of images and recordings, usually acquired for the sake of assessing risk, sometimes as a guard against betrayal, often engineered by MI6 for their own purposes. The leaked material causes havoc and personal disaster, but more importantly it places some of Britain’s foreign assets under great risk. It is up to Kane to try and find out who is leaking it and stop it.

Harris’ dark spy thrillers are in the same league as Mick Herron’s Slow Horses books and The Shame Archive is another very contemporary and gripping thriller from an author who deserves greater recognition.

The Shame Archive is released in the United Kingdom on 4 June 2024. Release in Australia seems to be delayed until September 2024.

Leading off a strong selection of books by Australian authors is Storm Child, (Hachette, 26 June 2024), by Michael Robotham. Storm Child is the long awaited fourth book in his Evie Cormac and Cyrus Haven series and sounds like a fantastic read.

“The most painful of Evie Cormac’s memories have been locked away, ever since she was held prisoner as a child – a child whose rescue captured hearts and headlines.

Forensic psychologist Cyrus Haven‘s mission is to guide her to something near normality. But today, on a British beach, seventeen bodies wash up in front of them. There is only one survivor, with two women still missing. And Evie’s nightmares come roaring back.

Whatever happened all those years ago lies at the core of this new tragedy. Because these deaths are no accident. The same dark forces are reaching out, dragging her back into the storm.

Evie must now call upon Cyrus’s unique skills, and her own, in their search for the missing pieces of this complex and haunting puzzle. But will that be enough to save them? And who will pay for the past?”

Robotham’s novels are always a highlight of the reading year and I am really looking forward to this one.

Storm Child will be released in Australia and the United Kingdom on 26 June 2024 and in the United States on 2 July 2024.

While we are waiting for the latest Ernest Cunningham novel by Benjamin Stevenson, Everyone This Christmas Has A Secret, due out later this year, we can make do with his enjoyable novella duology, Fool Me Twice (Penguin, 28 May 2024).

The two stories in the collection, Find Us and Last One To Leave, were originally released as Audible Originals and are now available for the first time in print. I have listened to the two stories and they are very clever and highly enjoyable. Find Us in particular, has some clever sleight of hand and it will be interesting to see how well the stories translate into the written form.

Fool Me Twice is available in Australia on 28 May 2024 and in the United Kingdom on 28 July 2024.

Fool Me Twice is a double cover book and can be flipped and read in any order. The reverse cover is below.

Finally, coming in early July is the first book in a new series by Sherryl Clark, Woman, Missing (HQ, 3 July 2024).

Featuring former police woman turned private eye, Lou Alcott, it has a very contemporary plot and a good cast of characters. I will be looking at it in more detail in a later post, but it looks like being one to put high on your ‘to read list’. It also has a great eye-catching cover.

So some good reading to consider. Which ones appeal the most?