On Monday the crime book club met and discussed Fifty Fifty by Steve Cavanagh. There was much to discuss including the narrative around female serial killers. You can watch the discussion below, but be aware it contains full spoilers.
Next we are reading a spy thriller. Read the blurbs of the books below and leave your vote in the comments by the end of Saturday 7th March. The next meeting is Monday 30th March – as we meet every four weeks, not a particular Monday of a month – at 8.p.m. BST – please not the UK clocks will have changed by the next meeting.
I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes
Nomad by James Swallow
Nomad Marc Dane is a MI6 field agent at home behind a computer screen, one step away from the action. But when a brutal attack on his team leaves Marc as the only survivor – and with the shocking knowledge that there are traitors inside MI6 – he’s forced into the front line.However the evidence seems to point towards Marc as the perpetrator of the attack. Accused of betraying his country, he must race against time to clear his name. With nowhere to turn to for help and no one left to trust, Marc is forced to rely on the elusive Rubicon group and their operative Lucy Keyes. Ex US Army, Lucy also knows what it’s like to be an outsider, and she’s got the skills that Marc is sorely lacking.
A terrorist attack is coming, one bigger and more deadly than has ever been seen before. With the eyes of the security establishment elsewhere, only Lucy and Marc can stop the attack before it’s too late.
A Reluctant Spy by Jamie Goodman
Jamie Tulloch is a successful exec at a top tech company, a long way from the tough upbringing that drove him to rise so far and so quickly.But he has a secret…since the age of 23, he’s had a helping hand from the Legend Programme, a secret intelligence effort to prepare impenetrable backstories for undercover agents. Real people, living real lives, willing to hand over their identities for a few weeks in return for a helping hand with plum jobs, influence and access.
When his tap on the shoulder finally comes, it’s swiftly followed by the thud of a body. Arriving at a French airport ready to hand over his identity, Jamie finds his primary contact dead, the agent who’s supposed to step into his life AWOL and his options for escape non-existent.
Pitched into a deadly mission on hostile territory, Jamie must contend with a rogue Russian general, arms dealers, elite hackers, CIA tac-ops and the discovery of a brewing plan for war. Dangerously out of his depth, he must convince his sceptical mission handler he can do the job of a trained field agent while using his own life story as convincing cover.
Can Jamie play himself well enough to avoid being killed – and to avert a lethal global conflict?
Zoo Station by David Downing
Quantum of Menace by Vaseem Khan
Q is out of MI6 . . .. . . and in over his head
After Q (aka Major Boothroyd) is unexpectedly ousted from his role with British Intelligence developing technologies for MI6’s 00 agents, he finds himself back in his sleepy hometown of Wickstone-on-Water. His childhood friend, renowned quantum computer scientist Peter Napier, has died in mysterious circumstances, leaving behind a cryptic note. The police seem uninterested, but Q feels compelled to investigate and soon discovers that Napier’s ground-breaking work may have attracted sinister forces . . . Can Q decode the truth behind Napier’s death, even as danger closes in?
Can you commit the perfect crime?
By 1939, Anglo-American journalist John Russell has spent fifteen years in Berlin, where his German-born son lives. He writes human-interest pieces for British and American papers, avoiding the investigative journalism that could get him deported. But as war approaches, he faces the prospect of having to leave his son and his longtime girlfriend.


Hi Rebecca
I will vote for A Reluctant Spy please.
Thank you
Thanks, as ever, Rebecca. My vote’s for Quantum of Menace – thanks!
I am Pilgrim
Thank you Rebecca!
I am Pilgrim gets my vote.
See you all soon.
Gillian
My vote is for I Am Pilgrim
Hi Rebecca,
Thanks for another great meeting.
This time my vote goes to Quantum of menace.
Thanks!
Sorry to have missed the last meeting
Nomad for me
Thanks Rebecca
Hi Rebecca
Good meeting on Monday.
I vote for Quantum of Menace by Vaseem Khan
I Am Pilgrim with reservations because it is over 600 pages.
Quantum of Menace
So sad to have missed the last meeting.
My vote for the next book is ‘I am pilgrim’ !
Quantum Menace please.
Hi, I’d love to read A Quantum of Menace, please.
Hi! My vote is for Quantum of Menace. Thanks!
Nicki
Quantum of Menace for me, thanks
Craig