Yes, you heard that rightly. After a lengthy break, imposed on us by unforeseen circumstances, the DS Mark Heckenburg saga resumes.
The next book, ROGUE, which picks up the story only a couple of months after the last one ended, will be available in paperback and ebook from early October. Be assured, we will shout the actual publication date from the rooftops and post the pre-order details all over the place just as soon as that info is available.
If anyone’s a bit concerned by that, perhaps worried that they can’t remember what had happened or where we were up to, don’t worry, we’ll have a quick recap further down this column.
In addition today, though I don’t tend to do my very fulsome book reviews anymore - sadly, they were taking too much time - I’ll be covering a few titles I’ve recently read and enjoyed, but much more briefly and succinctly than before. As usual, you’ll find that at the bottom end of today’s blogpost.
First though, let’s talk about ...
Heck
Before anything else, here’s the official blurb:
A ONE-WAY TICKET ALONG A ROAD OF NO RETURN
They shot everyone. His friends, his colleagues, the woman he loved. And then they vanished into the night. But they left one clue. A clue by which he knows he can track them to their lair. And when he gets there, he’s going to kill them all. Or die in the effort.
Detective Sergeant Mark ‘Heck’ Heckenburg has a reputation for bending the rules, but when a ruthless gun attack on a North London pub leaves 26 of his closest workmates dead, he throws the rulebook away.
Devastated beyond recovery, he goes rogue.
But Heck himself is a suspect. Suspended from duty and watched day and night, it isn’t just a matter of eluding the surveillance net in London, and so when he makes his move, he becomes a fugitive, an outlaw now infamous across the whole of the UK.
And yet that’s the least of his problems. Because as Heck heads north through the wintry badlands of industrial England, and from there into the mountainous wilds of the Scottish Highlands, the killers and their acolytes, who know full well that he is coming, have prepared accordingly, and some deadly and deranged individuals are lying in wait …
Another hard-as-nails addition to the hugely popular crime series. Ideal reading for fans of MW Craven, Stuart MacBride and Lee Child ...
*
If any newcomers to the Heck novel series are reading this, you’d be advised, being honest, to start at the beginning. But don’t get me wrong. You can read ROGUE as a stand-alone thriller, though you’d probably get more enjoyment out of it if you had some backstory.
The Heck series follows the investigations of a ‘lone wolf’ copper who is reassigned from the Greater Manchester Police to the Metropolitan Police after a fall-out with his family, and who then blazes a trail with his unique brand of stop-at-nothing policing, finally ending up a detective sergeant in the National Crime Group’s elite Serial Crimes Unit (SCU), whose remit is pursuit and capture of the UK’s most dangerous and violent psychopaths.
Not yet counting ROGUE (published on October 1 this year), there are seven Mark Heckenburg novels: STALKERS, SACRIFICE, THE KILLING CLUB, DEAD MAN WALKING, HUNTED, ASHES TO ASHES and KISS OF DEATH.
The central arc of the Heck stories is his on/off romance with Gemma Piper, a young female detective he met on first arriving in London, and whom he commenced an intense relationship with. They were fire and water, to put it mildly, Gemma the ultimate by-the-book ‘straight bat’, Heck the rule-bender extraordinaire. This, though a constant bone of contention between them, wasn’t the main reason their relationship broke down. It was more the case that Heck, in the pig-headed fashion of all men everywhere, became frustrated by his girlfriend’s very fast ascent through the ranks, while he, through his famous lack of political acumen, remained anchored at the level of detective sergeant, though he himself would often admit (usually under pressure) that he’d turned down several offers of promotion because he’d ‘rather be an investigator than an administrator’.
Either way, the scene was set for a dramatic new stage in their relationship, when he arrived at the Serial Crimes Unit to find that Gemma, by this time a detective superintendent, was its senior supervisor. Despite all this baggage, their professional partnership would prove to be productive, Gemma constantly rollocking Heck but at the same time giving him plenty room to employ his eccentric, often high-risk methods, enabling him to snag some seriously nasty criminals.
But things came to a head in KISS OF DEATH ...
Warning for SPOILERS for the next three paragraphs.
... when at the end of a particularly difficult and dangerous enquiry, Operation Sledgehammer, the entire SCU team convene in a North London pub, the Ace of Diamonds, when two unknown gunmen open up on them with automatic weapons. A massacre results, with 26 killed and numerous others critically wounded. Heck survives, but Gemma is among the shot.
It was one of those horror endings, which usually leave readers gagging for more, but which in this case, through unavoidable circumstances (as outlined in earlier blogposts) became more than just a short-lived cliff-hanger as months and months, and then years and years passed, while I found myself working on other projects.
But, as I say, that wait is now over. ROGUE will be the eighth novel in the Heck series, arriving in October, and taking up the story just a couple of months down the line after KISS OF DEATH, with the fallout from the Ace of Diamonds shootings still descending everywhere, chaos in the upper echelons of the police, and one man absolutely determined that, come hell or high water, he will avenge the fallen.
THRILLERS, CHILLERS, SHOCKERS AND KILLERS
JUMP CUT by Helen Grant (2023)
What hellish secrets might ancient cans of film contain? When the quest for a lost movie leads a keen researcher to a remote Scottish mansion, she has a uniquely terrifying experience. Stately paced blood-curdler from our uncrowned queen of the supernatural. Exquisitely written, rising to some genuinely hair-raising chills, and packed with fearsome antagonists both living and dead.
THE HAUNTED by Bentley Little (2012)
A troubled family moves to New Mexico, and find themselves in a suburban house where terror dwells. The master of curious horror channels Amityville in what at first feels like a standard haunted houser but soon turns into a penetrating study of stress, torment and family collapse. Not exactly terrifying, but the scares work well enough, while the power lies in the deep emotional impact.
JULIA by Peter Straub (aka FULL CIRCLE) (1976)
An unhinged woman descends into total madness, convinced she is being stalked by a demonic child. Interesting first horror novel from Straub, and though it drags in parts, and is a tad cluttered with protracted description, there are moments of high horror, the tension builds to breaking point, and the question constantly nags: is this evil the real deal or the phantom of a despairing psyche?
THIS IS MIDNIGHT by Bernard Taylor (2019)
The US tourist in London who becomes too obsessed with the tale of serial killer, John Christie. The neglected baby who takes revenge on its slatternly young mother. The misguided scientist and his ill-advised work with a praying mantis. Excellent range of horror and suspense from one of Britain’s forgotten masters. More great work from Valancourt Books.
SEEKING WHOM HE MAY DEVOUR by Fred Vargas (2008)
When a mysterious predator in the French Alps switches from killing sheep to killing people, a detective par excellence is called in. Despite its hallmarks of the classic werewolf tale, we’re in firm crime thriller territory here. May have suffered a little in translation, but engaging all the same, at times uproariously funny and with a quality twist at the end. A fun read for dark fiction fans.
THE NIGHT CHURCH by Whitley Strieber (1983)
Young lovers try to break free from the Satanic cult who groomed them and now seek to replace mankind with a monstrous master race. Hit and miss horror thriller, but an effective blending of arcane mystery, demonic evil and modern day bio-terrorism. Despite uncharacteristically dull execution, a basically daft idea is handled convincingly and laced with shock moments.
ONCE A PILGRIM by James Deegan (2018)
In the post-Ceasefire era, a former IRA commander plots a long revenge on the ex-SAS man who killed his brothers, only for his opponent to slowly turn the tables. Hard-as-nails military thriller from a genuine SAS trooper, superbly written and reeking of authenticity. The horrific violence and ultra-dark undertone of unending hatred won’t suit everyone, but it’s compulsive reading.
ELEVEN KINDS OF LONELINESS by Richard Yates (1957)
Sobering collection of tales from ‘50s America, courtesy of a very fine author who never enjoyed real recognition during his life. The schoolkid who brings isolation on himself. The tough drill sergeant who can’t compete in a world of postwar bureaucracy. The wannabe writer conned into turning a cab-driver’s life into literature. Sad, funny and thought-provoking.
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