I’m Jane Jesmond, author of the thriller On The Edge, which features daredevil climber Jen Shaw. The second in the series, Cut Adrift, is out this month, and I’m excited for people to read how Jen battles her way through danger and tragedy in Malta and on the Mediterranean. There’ll be risky climbing, of course, and a lethal fire with fatal consequences, as well as a secret that seems to be killing everyone who knows it. Although I write thriller and mystery fiction, my own reading taste is eclectic. Since I first worked out that C-A-T spelled CAT, I’ve been an avid reader of anything with a great story, and characters you don’t want to say goodbye to.
Not the Ones Dead by Dana Stabenow – 13th April, Head of Zeus
My first pick for 2023 is Dana Stabenow’s twenty-third Kate Shugak book, Not the Ones Dead. I always look forward to the next book in this crime thriller sequence, so hats off to Stabenow. Keeping a long-running series fresh and exciting is an amazing achievement. The plotting is tight, and Kate Shugak is a formidable character, but the star of the books is Alaska, not only because of its stunning and perilous geography and extreme climate, but because of the insight into the Alaskan way of life, both traditional and modern. Utterly gripping in every way.
This Family by Kate Sawyer – 11th May, Hachette
I’m a big Kate Sawyer fan. I loved her first novel, The Stranding – a truly original story of survival after disaster wipes out most of the world’s population. She has a gift for writing about big issues in an intimate and engrossing way, and I couldn’t put The Stranding down. This Family promises to be equally page-turning. It starts with a fractured family coming together for the first time in years. I think we can all guess where it’s going…
Mother Sea by Lorraine Wilson – 18th May, Fairlight Books
I love the mixture of folklore, myth, future worlds and science that underpins Lorraine Wilson’s exquisite writing, and Mother Sea looks as wonderful as her previous novels. Set in an island community threatened with extinction by climate change, it’s the story of a young scientist’s fight for herself and her people to survive. I know I’ll love reading this, but I’ll also enjoy thinking about it afterwards.
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang – 25th May, HarperCollins
Yellowface sounds like a book set to satisfy my wide-ranging taste. It’s a thriller, darkly comic and satirical, brilliantly entertaining, and featuring a stolen manuscript published under another name. What more could I want!
Sunburn by Chloe Michelle Howarth – 22nd June, VERVE Books
My final pick for 2023 is Sunburn by Chloe Michelle Howarth. I love an atmospheric coming-of-age tale, and this looks like a cracker! Set in a small village in Ireland, it tells the story of Lucy’s struggle to reconcile her identity with the rigid mores of her hometown as she falls overwhelmingly in love with her friend Susannah. I’m expecting to experience the full gamut of emotions when I finally get my hands on it.
On The Edge by Jane Jesmond is out now, and you can order your copy here. Cut Adrift is now available for pre-order!