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gervase_fenAs I was devouring my current shortlistee, a debut novel in the Steel category (slick, fast, gory fun) I was struck by the thought that one of the reasons I was enjoying it so much was that it was a debut, not bringing along with it any baggage of previous books in a series, or seemingly setting up the characters and furniture for a sequel or two. A lot of my reading up to the announcement of the shortlist has been stand alones or debuts (A S Hatch, Ruth Ware, Alex Marwood). Now however my summer will be spent pursuing the next in ongoing series - or the first in a new series. For example....
Gold
Good Girl, Bad Girl - the sequel came out July 2020
Joe Country - book 6 in the Slough House series
What You Pay For - sequel to All the Hidden Truths
Forced Confessions - ''Benson and De Vere", book 3
Death in the East - Sam Wyndham, book 4
November Road - an original and a standalone, finally!
Steel
A bit more originality here, as we have
Cold Storage - debutante author, veteran screenwriter
November Road again
This is Gomorrah - debutante author
but then....
Between Two Evils - Zagic and Ferreira book 5
One Way Out - Harry Virdee, book 4
The Whisper Man - sequel came out July 2020.
Of course, there's a whole category of originals, and only one seems to have generated a sequel (One Way Street will follow The Man in the Street in October.2020).
How much prior knowledge is needed reading the Historical shortlist? Well...
In Two Minds - Teifi Valley Coroner, book 2
The Anarchists Club - Leo Stanhope, book 2
The Paper Tree Mystery - Crown Colony book 3
The Bear Pit - Damian Seeker book 4
Death in the East again (4)
Metropolis - Bernie Gunther book 14
It turns out that there was only one book on the longlist that wasn't a sequel, this one. (No sign of a sequel yet either).
What have I learned from this number crunching? Apart from the fact that one of the authors is the niece of Alastair MacLean, I will probably de-randomise my choices to alternate originals (New Blood mainly) with serials as I read on into the autumn.
Gold
Good Girl, Bad Girl - the sequel came out July 2020
Joe Country - book 6 in the Slough House series
What You Pay For - sequel to All the Hidden Truths
Forced Confessions - ''Benson and De Vere", book 3
Death in the East - Sam Wyndham, book 4
November Road - an original and a standalone, finally!
Steel
A bit more originality here, as we have
Cold Storage - debutante author, veteran screenwriter
November Road again
This is Gomorrah - debutante author
but then....
Between Two Evils - Zagic and Ferreira book 5
One Way Out - Harry Virdee, book 4
The Whisper Man - sequel came out July 2020.
Of course, there's a whole category of originals, and only one seems to have generated a sequel (One Way Street will follow The Man in the Street in October.2020).
How much prior knowledge is needed reading the Historical shortlist? Well...
In Two Minds - Teifi Valley Coroner, book 2
The Anarchists Club - Leo Stanhope, book 2
The Paper Tree Mystery - Crown Colony book 3
The Bear Pit - Damian Seeker book 4
Death in the East again (4)
Metropolis - Bernie Gunther book 14
It turns out that there was only one book on the longlist that wasn't a sequel, this one. (No sign of a sequel yet either).
What have I learned from this number crunching? Apart from the fact that one of the authors is the niece of Alastair MacLean, I will probably de-randomise my choices to alternate originals (New Blood mainly) with serials as I read on into the autumn.
