Recent crime books that broke the mould, by Aga Lesiewicz.
These three ingeniously plotted and hugely entertaining novels stand out from the usual crowd of escapist cosy crime and traditional thriller fiction.
Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister
Deservedly holding the title of the Sunday Times Thriller of the Year 2022 this mystery thriller subverts the genre and toys with the reader’s assumptions.
A riveting story of a mother who witnesses her teenage son murder a complete stranger. The boy is in custody, his future shattered. That awful night she falls asleep in despair, but when she wakes up… it’s yesterday. As she fights to prevent her son’s terrible crime, she keeps waking up each morning to find herself further back in the past. Somewhere in the past lie all the answers…
Blood Sugar by Sascha Rothchild
A clever, twisty debut thriller from a memoirist and an Emmy-nominated screenwriter for shows such as “The Bold Type,” “The Baby-Sitters Club” and “GLOW.”
Ruby is is an animal-loving therapist with a thriving practice and a husband, whom she adores. She also may be… a murderer. When we meet her, she is in a police interrogation room, being accused of her husband’s murder. As the narrative alternates between Ruby's memories of her past crimes and her present-day fight to clear her name, we can’t help but root for her.
The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett
Hallett’s chart-topping 2021 debut, The Appeal, was a thriller about a murder in a sleepy town, told in a mix of texts, emails and documents. The Twyford Code, is equally innovative: it’s in a form of a transcript of 200 audio files found on an iPhone.
An ex-convict becomes increasingly obsessed with the disappearance of his former teacher 40 years earlier, and decides to investigate. What follows is mind-bending story of a children’s writer (a brilliant pastiche of Enid Blyton) who put coded secrets in her books during the second world war. It’s a fiendishly clever puzzle mystery with real clues to be solved by the reader, told by a protagonist who isn’t always reliable.
Aga's two psychological thrillers ‘Rebound’ and ‘Exposure’ have been published by Pan Macmillan.
In her crime fiction she is particularly interested in strong, independent and unconventional female characters who stray into the uncomfortable grey area between good and evil, and right and wrong. A feature animated film based on Aga’s screenplay is currently in pre-production. She writes full time and is now working on her third London-based psychological thriller, as well as a historical novel.
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