If Father’s Day passed you by this year, panic not, for help is at hand. Read on for all the best book buys for your dad. If you’re stuck for ideas – and let’s face it, men are difficult to buy for – go grab one of these . . .
Book of the Dead
Patricia Cornwell
Fresh from her battle with a psychopath in Florida, Scarpetta decides it’s time for a change of pace. Moving to the historic city of Charleston, South Carolina, she opens a unique forensic pathology practice offering expert crime scene investigation and autopsies. It seems like an ideal situation – until the murders begin.
A woman is ritualistically murdered in her expensive beach home. The body of an abused young boy is found dumped in a desolate marsh. A young tennis star is found nude and mutilated near Piazza Navona in Rome.
Scarpetta has dealt with many brutal and unusual crimes before, but never a string of them as baffling, or as terrifying, as the ones before her now . . .
‘The writing is taut and classy and the pace is fast . . . Cornwell is queen of suspense and thriller’ Sunday Express
Wild Fire
Nelson DeMille
Welcome to the Custer Hill Club – a secret society whose members include some of America’s most powerful men. On the surface, the club is a place to relax with old friends. But one weekend, the club gathers to talk about the tragedy of 9/11 – and finalise a deadly retaliation plan, known only by its code name: Wild Fire.
That same weekend, a member of the Federal Anti-Terrorist Task Force is found dead. Soon it’s up to Detective John Corey and his wife, FBI Agent Kate Mayfield, to unravel a fiendishly clever plot that starts with the Custer Hill Club and ends with a terrifying nuclear stand-off . . .
‘A true master’ Dan Brown
Barry
Steve Parrish and Nick Harris
This is the remarkable story of Barry Sheene, the cheeky cockney boy who grew up to become a sporting legend. He won the British motorcycling 125cc championship aged just twenty and twice became World Champion in the 500cc class, despite two life-threatening crashes. In an era when sport and its personalities rarely made it off the back pages, Barry Sheene crossed the bridge between sport and celebrity in a style that only George Best had achieved previously.
Barry is an intimate and revealing account told by three people who knew him better than most. Steve Parrish, fellow bike racer and now BBC commentator, Nick Harris, who wrote and broadcast on all Barry’s major successes, and Barry’s widow, Stephanie.
Frank and fascinating, Barry is an exclusive look into the extraordinary life of a charming and complex man.
‘A short life but a fantastic one, and his mates Steve Parrish – no mean biker himself – and Nick Harris have put the legend’s life together in a book that runs the gamut of emotions and makes you wonder if you’re putting enough into your own life.’ Daily Sport
Long Way Down
Ewan MacGregor and Charley Boorman
Eighteen countries. Five shock absorbers. Two bikers. One amazing adventure . . .
After their fantastic trip round the world in 2004, Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman couldn’t shake the travel bug. Inspired by their UNICEF visit to Africa, they knew they had to go back and experience this extraordinary continent in more depth.
And so they set off on their 15,000-mile adventure, experiencing some of the toughest terrain in the world – and meeting some of the friendliest people.
Riding through spectacular scenery, often in extreme temperatures, Ewan and Charley faced their hardest challenge yet. With their trademark humour and honesty they tell their story – the drama, the dangers and the sheer exhilaration of riding together again, through a continent filled with magic and wonder.
‘Both McGregor and Boorman prove themselves to be engaging, articulate and entertaining narrators . . . a highly readable and spiritually uplifting book about a dream come true’ Wanderlust
Iggy Pop: Open Up and Bleed
Paul Trynka
Iggy Pop’s life has been one of extraordinary highs and terrifying lows. Every ‘mad, bad, dangerous to know’ rock star owes a debt to him, and the stories of his shocking behaviour are legendary. But Iggy Pop is also the alter ego of Jim Osterberg: the kid voted ‘Most Likely to Succeed’ by his classmates. So what turned this charming, well-mannered, straight-A student into a poster child for rock ’n’ roll debauchery?
Paul Trynka tracked down hundreds of the star’s friends, family, lovers and fellow musicians, unearthing countless new stories about Iggy’s rollercoaster life, his music and his often misunderstood friendship with David Bowie. The result is a fascinating portrait of a man at war with the world and with himself.
‘For those who like their rock biogs thick with tales of heroic over-indulgence, Open Up and Bleed is hard to beat’
Sunday Times
Dreaming of Jupiter
Ted Simon
In 1974 Ted Simon set out on a round-the-world trip by motorbike. His extraordinary account of his four-year odyssey, Jupiter’s Travels, is now hailed as a classic.
At the age of sixty-nine he decided to retrace his journey. How much had the world changed? How much had he changed? Travelling through forty-eight countries via Europe, Africa, South and North America, he rediscovers the thrill of riding solo, experiencing new dramas, breaking some bones and even falling in love . . .
Dreaming of Jupiter is a fascinating read for bikers and armchair travellers alike – and proof that the world is still full of wonder, with adventure waiting around every corner.
‘Simon’s immaculate, knowing and unabashedly humble prose makes me wish I was a better writer . . . It is, by turns, sad, funny and immensely uplifting’
Daily Telegraph
Death Message
Mark Billingham
‘Delivering the death message.’ That’s what coppers call it when they have to tell someone that a loved one has been killed. Now DI Tom Thorne is receiving messages of his own. Photos of murder victims sent to his mobile phone.
The killer is quickly identified as a man just released from prison; someone who believes he has nothing left to live for. But why is he sending these pictures to Thorne? The answer lies in Thorne’s past, with a man he himself sent away for life. Even behind bars, the most vicious psychopath Thorne has ever faced is still a master at manipulating others to do his dirty work for him. Particularly his killings . . .
A gripping tour-de-force by one of Britain’s most compelling crime writers, Death Message is a chilling and unforgettable novel.