Author:Richard Shaw
When Victoria is called in to investigate the theft of valuable marble statues from a north London cemetery, she soon finds out the lives of the cemetery staff are as tangled as the undergrowth which surrounds them. Vic’s plan is to nail the thieves and stay out of harm’s way, but things don’t work out as she expects. A lot of surveillance work takes place at night-a time when the cemetery becomes dangerous. A maniac is on the loose, but nobody thinks to tell Victoria. Also, one of the management is having perverse liaisons among the gravestones with the security staff, and the rest of the workers are up to no good.
What begins as a routine job soon turns into a murder inquiry. A body is found which shouldn’t be in the ground yet. Unfortunately, the police are less than co-operative and when one of the grave diggers is charged with murder, Vic is convinced they’ve got the wrong man. To add to this, her current lover is getting friendly with the manipulative Chloe, the cemetery assistant manageress, and her family problems are escalating. How can Vic find time to see that justice is done and wrap up her own investigation?
A thrilling debut that locks you in and loads up the tension!
—— SIMON KERNICKSean Black writes with the pace of Lee Child and the heart of Harlan Coben.
—— JOSEPH FINDERFunny, tough, and furiously paced, Lockdown explodes off the page.
—— JESSE KELLERMANHold on tight-this one burns like a lit fuse.
—— GREGG HURWITZAn action movie on the printed page. Throw into this mayhem Ryan Lock, a protagonist tough enough to take on the Jacks of this world (thats Bauer and Reacher) and you've got an adrenaline-rush read that you're not going to forget any time soon.
—— Russel McLeanMurder, kidnapping, explosions ... mix in Sean Black's no-nonsense all-action hero, Ryan Lock, and you have all the right ingredients for a top-notch thriller.
—— Zoe SharpClearly influenced by Child and Joseph Finder, Black drives his hero into the tightest of spots with a force and energy that jump off the page. Lock is clearly going to be around for a long time. With a spine-tingling finale that reminded me of Die Hard, this is a writer, and a hero, to watch.
—— Geoffrey Wansell, DAILY MAILAn excellent first novel...Black's style is supremely slick.
—— TELEGRAPH REVIEWClassic thriller start of a series.
—— LEICESTER MERCURYA seamless debut...funnier and more self-depreciating than Reacher.
—— DAILY TELEGRAPH REVIEWIrresistibly dramatic... Susan Hill has done the genre real honour
—— Chicago TribuneThe Woman in Black won’t fail to have you looking over your shoulder!
—— KettleStill gives us nightmares.
—— Jonathan Hatfull , SciFiNowIt is bursting with classic Gothic horror motifs and Susan Hill is a master of atmospheric descriptions. She evokes so cleverly the decrepit Eel Marsh House, the mention of its name enough to make the locals pause, their faces darken in unspoken wariness… The Woman in Black gives a thrilling sense of unease and provides just the right level of things that go bump in the night for a spine-tingling good read.
—— KhoollectThis spine-tingling novel… will certainly keep your nerves jangling
—— Woman's WeeklyAn excellent ghost story...magnificently eerie...compulsive reading
—— Evening StandardShe writes with great power, authentically chilling
—— Daily TelegraphOne of the most popular British ghost stories of modern times
—— Observer