Before becoming an author, Neil Lancaster served for more than 25 years in the police force, mainly as a detective, leading and conducting investigations into serious crime across the UK and beyond. Who better to give us their top five crime thrillers?
Running Blind by Desmond Bagley
I’m cheating here a bit, as it’s something of a spy thriller, but for me this book, published in 1970, is the perfect novel that I read as a 12-year-old. It planted in me a deep love of fast-paced thrillers.
Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent
This is just an astonishing book, written by one of the best, most original writers in the business. Liz usually introduces us to thoroughly unpleasant characters that fascinate us, but in Sally Diamond she delivers a troubled, somewhat odd character that she describes beautifully. All at once it’s heartbreaking, gripping, and troubling.
Black and Blue by Ian Rankin
Rankin’s best novel, and one that redefined the crime genre. It’s impossible to put it down once you start, as he uses Rebus’s warrant card to lift the veil on the seedy underbelly of Edinburgh and beyond.
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Killing Floor by Lee Child
I just had to include a Reacher book, didn’t I? The first outing for one of the generation’s most memorable and fascinating characters. The beginning of an unforgettable era.
The Murder Bag by Tony Parsons
Max Wolfe is an unforgettable character, written with characteristic style by Parsons. All at once Wolfe is tough, intelligent, driven and yet curiously sensitive. This is a skilfully told crime story, that both fascinates and shocks.
