Columnist Charlotte Griffiths shares a trio of thrillers by local authors to sink your teeth into this month
Words Charlotte Griffiths
Dead To Me by Gytha Lodge
Double points for this one: not only is it the first stand-alone thriller from best-selling local author Gytha, but the action of this novel takes place in our city as well, during those last few exam-filled weeks of summer term before the colleges’ celebrations begin.
Dead To Me by Gytha Lodge
Dead to Me follows two entwined protagonists: Anna – an American journalist who is pretending to be an elite rower while investigating the mysterious death of a student – and Reid, a local DI who also happens to be Anna’s ex. The two didn’t part on good terms, but as Anna’s investigation deepens, the only person who might be able to help her is Reid. She decides to reach out and sets everything out in a long email – but will Reid be too late to rescue her?
Come for the perfectly paced thriller, told through a combination of slowly uncovered emails and gripping live action – it’s clear that this isn’t Lodge’s first rodeo – but stay for the pitch-perfect representation of late-summer life at Cambridge and the heady, intoxicating allure of super-rich students gliding through their frictionless world without a care. Like the swans that rowers scull past on the river, there’s lots of paddling going on beneath the surface.
The text is peppered with familiar landmarks: try to stop yourself cheering when Midsummer House, Bould Brothers Coffee and Restaurant Twenty-Two appear in the action. Gytha’s detail-laden, shimmering descriptions of balmy summer life in our city, particularly the parts set out on the river as Anna trains, will leave you longing for the warmer months to come – and crossing your fingers that we get some good weather. Pre-order now ahead of its July release and you’re guaranteed a memorable summer read landing on your doorstep.
The Man She Married by Alison Stockham
The Man She Married by Alison Stockham
Beth has regained consciousness in hospital after an awful car accident and head injury: but though she’s never left Australia, she’s woken up in Cambridge. Her husband is on the way to her bedside, but she’s not married, so have the doctors made a mistake? Beth thinks it’s 2019, but it’s 2024 and she’s being told that she’s lost her memories of the past five years. Could she have travelled and found a husband during that time? Surely her parents can straighten this out? But from what the husband at the end of her bed says, they won’t be any help at all: she and Rob got locked down together during the pandemic and jumped into marriage, much to her parents’ horror, and they’ve cut off all contact. Beth and her family have always been so close; how could they no longer be speaking to each other? Is there more to this than everyone is letting on? The scenario is the stuff of nightmares, expertly handled by Alison’s taut and suspense-laden prose: you’ll be powering on into the small hours just to find out the truth of the situation.
Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton
First published in 2023, this is the third book from Cambridge-based author and Booker Prize winner Eleanor Catton. Here, Birnam Wood isn’t a Scottish forest, but a collective of eco-activists focused on founding guerrilla gardens in borrowed space across their corner of New Zealand. The group finds itself at a crossroads, as Mira, the group’s passionate and charismatic founder, has discovered an abandoned homestead that’s been cut off from the world by a recent landslide, thinking it the perfect site for the collective’s next chapter. However, Robert Lemoine – an eccentric American billionaire who made his fortune in drone technology – is interested in the same property, on which he wants to build a personal fortress in the event of the end of the world.
Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton
Robert and Mira think they can come to an agreement, and the collective sets off for its new home – but is either party truly being honest about its plans, and can such utterly dichotomous philosophies ever co-exist peacefully? As anyone who studied GCSE English will already be wondering: which one of the cast of characters is Macbeth, and who’s about to be vanquished by Birnam Wood’s arrival? This turns out to be a fascinating, nail-biting thriller about interpersonal relationships, finding yourself in hell despite the best intentions and the inarguable fact that no matter how secure, rich or successful you might be, no bunker in the world can protect you from yourself.
Women’s Prize for Fiction longest
Great escapism served up by some of the top female authors of the year
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
A British-Cambodian civil servant has just started their job as a bridge, helping time travellers adjust to life in this century. Her first charge: Graham Gore, who died in the Arctic in 1845. It’s an office romance and a time-twisting thriller; a fantastic debut.
Birding by Rose Ruane
Two women on a seaside promenade: one an ageing pop star, uncomfortable with her past and adrift in her present, the other in a coercive relationship with her elderly mother. The once-glamorous resort is the perfect setting for this beautifully written novel.
All Fours by Miranda July
A middle-aged artist drives across America in pursuit of creativity. But, having left her young child and husband behind, she finds the inspiration she’s been looking for closer to home. An extraordinary, bewildering novel not to be missed.
Check out March’s Book Club to look at a world of mystery and suspense
