Dick Francis's legion of admirers can relax: his year off from writing is over and a new vigour has entered his style. Longtime readers will be happy to find the customary racetrack skulduggery, galvanised by some fascinating new elements. The very opening of Second Wind signals something new, with Francis's protagonist fighting for his life in a Caribbean storm at sea: "But now, as near dead as dammit, I tumbled like a rag-doll piece of flotsam in towering gale-driven seas that sucked unimaginable tons of water from the deeps …" In flashback, we are catapulted into the world of meteorologist Perry Stuart who agrees to fly through the eye of storm on Trox Island, a blighted place steeped in guano and harbouring a nasty secret. When the reader encounters details of the racing world in Francis's earlier thrillers, it had the satisfying ring of authenticity. The same is true in Second Wind, as Stuart's character was developed with the help of BBC weatherman John Kettley. Although a new venue for Francis, he still has the knack of quickening the readers' pulse with a few carefully chosen words: "Despair was too strong a word for it. Perhaps despondency was better. When they came for me, they came with guns. " -Barry Forshaw.

let it bleed ian rankin read by samuel gillies audiobook on 9cds running time approx 10. 75 It's a bitter winter in Edinburgh, and Rebus has found himself wrapped in a case that Provides more questions than answers. Was Lord Provost's daughter kidnapped or a runaway? Why is a city councillor shredding documents that should have been destroyed years ago? And more importantly, why has Rebus been invited to a pigeon shoot at the home of the Scottish Office's Permanent secretary? Rebus must contend with the fact that in modern Scotland, some of his enemies may be beyond justice.

Success has a price, and the remarkable acclaim (both critical and commercial) that greeted the gritty Edinburgh-set crime novels of Ian Rankin has set the author a considerable problem. How does he maintain the freshness of detail and atmosphere that have made his books such riveting reading? And how does he keep his tough detective DI John Rebus from degenerating into a series of mannerisms? If Raymond Chandler grew tired of Philip Marlowe and Conan Doyle of Holmes, Rankin would have been in good company if he gave up on Rebus. Fortunately, his belief in the character clearly remains as powerful as ever, and The Falls is the most impressive Rebus novel in many a moon. The detective's personal problems-overused of late-are wisely sidelined in order to concentrate on a highly intriguing (and topical) plot. When a student vanishes in Edinburgh, there is pressure on Rebus to find her, particularly as she is the scion of a family of extremely rich bankers. Needless to say, this is more than just the case of a spoilt rich girl breaking out of the cage of family responsibilities, and a carved wooden doll in a coffin found in her home village leads Rebus to the Internet role-playing game that she was involved in. And when DC Siobhan Clarke, a key member of Rebus' team, tackles the Virtual Quizmaster, Rankin finds himself struggling to save her from the same fate as the missing girl. Consummate plotting has always been Rankin's trademark, and that skill is put to maximum use here. The balance between developing the characterisation of the ill-assorted team of coppers that Rebus assembles and the labyrinthine twists of the plot is maintained with an iron hand, and Rankin's mordant eye remains as keen as ever: "You okay, John?" Curt reached out a hand and touched his shoulder. Rebus shook his head slowly, eyes squeezed shut. [+]

Lee Child has inexorably pulled himself into the upper echelons of thriller writing with a series of tough, lean and perfectly crafted novels featuring ex-US military cop Jack Reacher. Without Fail is the sixth outing for the resourceful Reacher, and far from showing any signs of incipient fatigue, the series just goes from strength to strength as Child hones his abilities. As in such previous books as Die Trying and The Killing Floor, Jack Reacher is a maverick. He carries no ID, and any place he hangs his hat is home. And while he's more than capable of dealing out massive violence to the bad guys who take him on, he's a sucker for a plea for help-particularly from a woman. This time, he's asked by the persuasive Ms Froelich to help her protect the Vice-President of the United States from an assassination attempt that's on the cards. So Reacher, with only the clothes he stands up in, finds himself deep in the rarefied world of the United States Secret Service in Washington, where his problems come from the stiff-necked bureaucrats as much as from the utterly ruthless killer who soon has Reacher in his sights as much as the Vice-President. If the plot here is a tad reminiscent of the Clint Eastwood movie In the Line of Fire, that's no coincidence-Child has his characters discuss the echoes of their situation with that film at length. But, boy, does Child ring some powerful variations of his own on the theme: this the most kinetic Reacher novel yet, full of the brilliantly orchestrated set-pieces that are a specialité de la maison with the author (the final climax in a snowy ravine is a pip). The action here is relentless, but never at the expense of character-Child is canny enough to keep dark shadows from Reacher's past a key part of his motivation. [+]