Pile by the Bed reviews The Partisan by Patrick Worrall – a debut Cold War thriller with chess at its centre and roots back to World War 2.

Pile by the Bed reviews The Half Life of Valery K by Natasha Pulley, historical fiction set in the 1960s and based on the true story of a Soviet radiation research facility.

Pile by the Bed reviews Ordinary Monsters (The Talents #1) by JM Miro – a tense Victorian-era fantasy involving children with powers and an existential threat to the world.

Pile by the Bed reviews The Wrong Woman by JP Pomare, a well placed, well plotted twisty stand-alone thriller.

Pile by the Bed reviews The Accomplice by Steve Cavanagh, the seventh in his consistently enjoyable Eddie Flynn conman-turned-lawyer series .

Pile by the Bed reviews May God Forgive by Alan Parks, the fifth book is in his gritty Harry McCoy series set in 1970s Glasgow.

Pile by the Bed reviews and recommends The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, a reimnagining of the HG Wells classic set in 19th Century Mexico.

Pile by the Bed reviews Upgrade by Blake Crouch a fast paced thriller that takes on issues of genetic engineering, the responsibities of power and climate change.

Pile by the Bed reviews Enclave by Claire G Coleman, a dystopian thriler in which a young woman learns there is more to the world than her strictly controlled walled community.

Pile by the Bed reviews The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill – an amatuer sleuth mystery wrapped in a metatextual exploration of crime fiction.

Pile by the Bed reviews With a Mind to Kill, the third Ian Fleming-style James Bond thriller by Anthony Horowitz, this one set late in the famour agent’s career.

Pile by the Bed reviews Stone Town by Margaret Hickey – Australain crime fiction set in rural South Australia and follow up to her debut Cutter’s End.

Pile by the Bed reviews The Diplomat by Chris Womersley, a character study of a recovering addict dealing with the ghosts of his past and follow up to his 2013 novel Cairo.

Pile by the Bed reviews and recommends The Perfect Golden Circle by Benjamin Myers a story which reimagines the story of the men behind a series of complex British crop circles that appeared in the late 1980s.

Pile by the Bed reviews All the Lovers in the Night by Mieko Kawakami – a deep character piece that explores a woman seeking connection in modern Japan.

Pile by the Bed reviews The Cove by Alice Clark-Platts – an taut and effective domestic thriller set in a remote Malaysian resort.

Pile by the Bed reviews The Martyr, the second book in Anthony Ryan’s Covenant of Steel trilogy which provides a propulsive set up for the final volume.

Pile by the Bed reviews The Goodbye Coast in which Joe Ide reinvents classic hard boiled detective Philip Marlowe in present day Los Angeles.

Pile by the Bed reviews and recommends Lying Beside you by Michael Robotham the third book in his outstanding Cyrus Haven / Evie Cormack crime series

Pile by the Bed reviews Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister a crime novel with a time travel twist as a mother drifts back in time, reliving key moments in her life to try and discover why her son might have committed a crime.