The Death of Us by Abigail Dean. Isabel is a lead protagonist in this story, who throughout much of the book directly addresses the intruder who perpetrated a home invasion on her and her husband Edward when they were 30 years old and happily married, but those days are long gone. More than 20 years later, they reunite to attend the trial of a man finally charged with the crime, trying to reconcile their lives before, and after. This is gripping psychological drama.

A Spy at War by Charles Beaumont. Simon Sharman is a former British spy gone rogue to track down the Chechen assassin who murdered his friend and business partner Evie. He’s a man alone, but his friends and former colleagues in Whitehall are never far away and it turns out there’s much more going on than his solitary pursuit of the bad guy – British intelligence has its fingers in several pies and it takes Simon a while to figure out his place in their schemes. Set amidst the war in Ukraine and the kind of news headlines we’ve seen for three years now, this story takes you right up close to some of the action and its commentary on US and European politics could be said to be prescient. It’s terrific espionage and if, like me, you love David McCloskey and I.S.Berry, this one’s for you. 

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