Breathe: a killer lurks in the worst fog London has ever known

Breathe: a killer lurks in the worst fog London has ever known

by Dominick Donald (Author), Dominick Donald (Author)

Synopsis

'Donald combines historical events and fictional characters to superb effect, in a novel that deserves to win prizes' The Sunday Times

A stunning debut crime novel for fans of Robert Harris, Philip Kerr and C.J. Sansom's Dominion.

London, 1952. Dick Bourton is not like the other probationer policemen in Notting Hill. He's older, having fought in Europe and then Korea. And he's no Londoner, being from Cotswold farming stock. Then there's Anna, the exotically beautiful White Russian fiancee he has brought back to these drab streets and empty bombsites. She may as well come from a different planet.

The new copper also has a mind of his own. After an older colleague is shot by a small-time gangster they are chasing in a pea-souper fog, something nags at Bourton's memory. He begins to make connections which his superiors don't want to see, linking a whole series of deaths and the fogs that stop the city in its tracks.

Desperate to prove himself and his theories, Bourton fails to notice the fear which his mysterious bride is doing her best to conceal - and overcome.

Soon both Anna and Bourton are taking dangerous paths into the worst fog London has ever known...


**********

London had gone. As he stepped through the wicket, a dry smoky chill puffing over the lintel, everything that made the city - skyline, street signs, crowds, scarlet double-deckers - had disappeared, lost in the murk. I can't see the kerb, for God's sake, let alone Barker's across the road. He looked both ways, the chill crawling down his neck . . . Coshing gangs will love this. And our man. But we're on your trail, sunshine. He raised his hat to Marling, locking up behind. Tomorrow we nab you.

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Quantity

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 528
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Published: 06 Sep 2018

ISBN 10: 1444775537
ISBN 13: 9781444775532
Book Overview: Like all great crime fiction, a brilliant combination of character, place and plot.

Media Reviews
A brilliant book, an extraordinary mix of fiction and fact so real it will make your skin crawl. The sights, sounds, grit and desperation of postwar London hang over every step into the poisonous mysteries of the fog. Close the windows, pull up the duvet and keep the light on. -- Tom Harper
Dominick Donald is an exceptional writer. His depiction of post-war London is beautifully detailed, as are his descriptions of the lethal fogs that left the city gasping for breath. On top of that he has peopled his nail-biting story with a rich variety of characters, many of them coppers, who might easily have stepped out of a Dickens novel. Gripping to the last page, it's a mystery unlike any other I've read. -- Rennie Airth
An outstanding debut . . . Donald combines historical events and fictional characters to superb effect, in a novel that deserves to win prizes. * The Sunday Times, Crime Book of the Month *
The combination of thriller plot with pervasive moral uncertainty reminded me at times of le Carre. Historically fascinating, too. All in all, this is one of the finest debuts I've read for a while. -- Andrew Taylor, author of Ashes of London
Author Bio
Dominick Donald was brought up in Britain and the US before studying at Oxford University. Stints as a soldier, a lecturer, a UN official and an editorial writer, plus a War Studies PhD, led eventually to political risk analysis for a large London firm, which he left in 2016 as its Head of Geopolitics. He has written editorials for The Times and US business magazine Red Herring, and reviews for the Guardian and the TLS. Now a freelance writer and political risk advisor, he is married with three children and lives on the Oxfordshire-Wiltshire border.