Matt Bates

Professor Hans Rekke: born into a wealthy Stockholm family, world authority on interrogation techniques, capable of vertiginous feats of logic and observation... But he might just fall apart when the going gets tough, leading to substance abuse and despair.

Micaela Vargas: community police officer, born to Chilean political refugees in a tough suburb, with two brothers on the shady side of the law.

Vargas feels she has something to prove. She's tenacious and uncompromising, but she needs Rekke's unique mind to help her solve the case. Rekke has it all - wealth, reputation - but also a tendency to throw it all away. He needs Vargas to help him get back on an even keel so he can focus his mind on finding the killer before they're both silenced for good.

Professor Hans Rekke: born into a wealthy Stockholm family, world authority on interrogation techniques, capable of vertiginous feats of logic and observation... But he might just fall apart when the going gets tough, leading to substance abuse and despair.

Micaela Vargas: community police officer, born to Chilean political refugees in a tough suburb, with two brothers on the shady side of the law.

Vargas feels she has something to prove. She's tenacious and uncompromising, but she needs Rekke's unique mind to help her solve the case. Rekke has it all - wealth, reputation - but also a tendency to throw it all away. He needs Vargas to help him get back on an even keel so he can focus his mind on finding the killer before they're both silenced for good.

Beyond the familiar online world that most of us inhabit – a world of Google, Hotmail, Facebook and Amazon – lies a vast and often hidden network of sites, communities and cultures where freedom is pushed to its limits, and where people can be anyone, or do anything, they want. A world that is as creative and complex as it is dangerous and disturbing. A world that is much closer than you think.

The ruler of Mercia is dying, leaving no apparent heir. An empty throne leaves the kingdom exposed to rival West Saxons and to the Vikings, who are on a bloody rampage once more. A hero is needed, a hero who has been in battle all his life, who can destroy the double threat to Mercia. A hero who will ultimately decide the fate of a nation...  Book 8 of series.

Nick Duerden has spent many years interviewing the most famous musicians on the planet. Without exception, they are at their most interesting when they've peaked, and when they are on their way down. In many ways, this is when these former idols are at their most heroic, too, because they reveal themselves not only to be humane and sensitive, but also still driven to create, to fulfil their lingering dreams, to refuse to live quietly. 

Some sustain themselves on the nostalgia circuit. Others continue to beaver away in the studio, no longer Abbey Road so much as the garden shed. The desire for adulation is a light that never goes out. We live in a culture obsessed by the notion of fame - the heedless pursuit of it, the almost obligatory subsequent fallout. But what's it like to actually achieve it, and what's it like when fame abruptly passes, and shifts, as it does, onto someone else?

These are tales of heroin addiction, bankruptcy, depression, divorce - but also of optimism, a genuine love of the craft, humility and hope. All of which makes Exit Stage Left a fascinating, laugh-out-loud funny and often shocking look at what happens when the brightest of stars fall down to earth.

Claire Lidman died fourteen years ago. So why does she appear in the background of a recent holiday snap taken in Venice?

Her husband brings the anomaly to Hans Rekke and Micaela Vargas. Initial scepticism gives way to cautious belief, but Rekke is falling apart again and Vargas has her own problems.

Meanwhile, Rekke's daughter Julia has a new boyfriend she's determined to keep secret. He sees something in her she can't see herself, but there are hints of a darker side.

Most troubling of all, Rekke is hearing whispers of a name he hasn't heard for years. A rival from his youth whose restless evil links all the threads in this incipient case. The pieces are laid and he's already one move ahead. The name of the game is revenge.

Britain is in a state of uneasy peace and so England’s greatest warrior, Uhtred of Bebbanburg, finally has the chance to take back Bebbanburg. But the enemies Uhtred has made distract him and he will need all the skills he has learned in a lifetime of war to make his dream come true.   Book 10 of series.

Alfred the Great is dead and Edward his son reigns as king, but peace cannot hold. The Danes in the north, led by Viking Cnut Longsword, stand ready to invade and will never rest until the emerald crown is theirs. Loyalties will be divided and men will fall, as every Saxon kingdom is drawn into the bloodiest battle yet with the Danes.  Book 7 of series.

The modern era saw the emergence of individuals who had command over a terrifying array of instruments of control, persuasion and death. Whole societies were re-shaped and wars fought, often with a merciless contempt for the most basic norms. At the summit of these societies were leaders whose personalities had somehow given them the ability to do whatever they wished. Ian Kershaw's new book is a compelling, lucid and challenging attempt to understand these rulers, whether those operating on the widest stage (Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini) or with a more national impact (Tito, Franco). What was it about these leaders and the times they lived in that allowed them such untrammelled and murderous power? And what brought that era to an end? In a contrasting group of profiles (Churchill, de Gaulle, Adenauer, Gorbachev, Thatcher, Kohl) Kershaw uses his exceptional skills to think through how other, strikingly different figures wielded power.

A teenage girl on holiday has gone missing in the hills at the heart of England. The villagers are called up to join the search, fanning out across the moors. Meanwhile, there is work that must still be done. As the seasons unfold there are secrets kept and exposed, small kindnesses and unanticipated betrayals.

From the infamous 1944 desert campaign to the unforgiving terrain of the Vosges Mountains; from a perilous escape across Europe aided by Resistance networks to three Captains fleeing an Italian Prisoner of War camp in 1943, and a death-defying return to Britain via boat, tunnel and train.

These inspirational true stories bring to life the do-or-die spirit of the SAS, as they faced an enemy hell-bent on wreaking vengeance.

Damien Lewis has worked closely with World War Two veterans and the families of those portrayed, accessing never-before-seen wartime diaries, letters, mission reports, interrogation transcripts and more, to reveal terrifying yet astounding feats of survival from the band of elite soldiers.

SAS Great Escapes Three recounts how warriors of the world's most famous fighting force, the SAS, carried out five of the most daring escapes of World War Two.

Ranging from the very birth of the SAS, to the post D-Day battles for Nazi-occupied Europe, these gripping true stories cover some of the most iconic operations of the regiment, and its key characters, while also including untold tales of courage and endurance beyond compare.

In this new volume of incredible special forces feats, bestselling author Damien Lewis has worked closely with World War Two veterans and the families of those portrayed, accessing wartime diaries, letters, mission reports, interrogation transcripts and more, to relate how the men of the SAS were hunted by the enemy and forced to fight their way out of certain death or capture.

In the hard-fought winter of 1944, the Allies advanced northwards through Italy but stalled on the fearsome mountainous defences of the Gothic Line. Two men were parachuted in, in an effort to break the deadlock. Their mission: to penetrate deep into enemy territory and lay waste to the Germans' impregnable headquarters. At the 11th hour, mission commanders radioed for David 'The Mad Piper' Kilpatrick to be flown in, resplendent in his tartan kilt. They wanted this fearless war hero to lead the assault, piping 'Highland Laddie' as he went - so leaving an indelible British signature to deter Nazi reprisals. As the column of raiders formed up, there was shocking news. High command radioed through an order to stand down, having assessed the chances of success at little more than zero. But in defiance of orders, and come hell or high water, they were going in.

In the winter of 1941 an alien-seeming object was captured in a death-defying dash by an RAF reconnaissance pilot flying a lone unarmed Spitfire across the French coast. Balanced upon the cliffs near Le Havre was what appeared to be a giant convex dish, directed across the Channel at the war-torn British coastline. A top-secret mission was devised to steal what had become known as the 'Wurzburg Dish' after Enigma intercepted coded German messages. Appropriately christened Operation Biting, this was to be the first-ever Allied raid using airborne forces. Relying on files declassified for the purposes of writing this book, eyewitness testimony and working with the families of key figures involved, Lewis reveals an untold epic of daring, ruthless rule-breaking and ferocity, coupled with bravery and ingenuity beyond measure.

As two opposing kings gather their armies, fate drags Uhtred to London, and a struggle for control that must leave one king victorious, and one dead. But fate – as Uhtred has learned to his cost – is inexorable. Plunged into a world of shifting alliances and uncertain loyalties, he will need all his strength and guile to overcome the fiercest warrior of them all.  Book 12 of series.

Sergeant Lester Ferris is in need of a rest, and Afghanistan was the last stop on his road to exhaustion. The island of Mancreu is the perfect place for Lester to serve out his time – and the perfect place for shady business: money laundering, drug factories and deniable torture centres. Lester’s brief is to turn a blind eye. But then he makes a friend: a street kid who might, Lester hopes, become an adopted son. As Mancreu’s society tumbles into violence, the boy needs Lester to be more than just an observer. He needs him to be a hero.

Allan Jones brings stories - many previously unpublished - from the golden days of music reporting. Long nights of booze, drugs and unguarded conversations which include anecdotes, experiences and extravagant behaviour.

A band's aftershow party in San Francisco being gatecrashed by cocaine-hungry Hells Angels. Chrissie Hynde on how rock'n'roll killed The Pretenders. What happened when Nick Lowe and 20 of his mates flew off to Texas to join the Confederate Air Force. John Cale on his dark alliance with Lou Reed.

Allan Jones remembers a world that once was - one of dark excess and excitement, outrageous deeds and extraordinary talent, featuring legends at both the beginnings and ends of their careers.

AD 400. Rome and its Empire are failing . . .

Veteran cavalry commander Marcus Flavius Victor sets out with his regiment to make what may be his final tour of the forts along Hadrian's Wall.

Through a combination of military prowess, brutality and bribery, Marcus has spent twenty years keeping the savage Picts at bay. Feared by his enemies and hated by his superiors, his strength of will is the only thing that has held the disgruntled, poorly paid garrisons of the Wall in place as the failing Roman Empire's grip on Britannia weakened.

Yet as this tour of the wall progresses, it becomes increasingly clear that this is more than a routine inspection. Why is Marcus stripping the defences of cavalry to strengthen his own force? Is he negotiating with the Picts - or conspiring with them? And who is the mysterious figure who follows Marcus' every move and yet hides in the shadows?

Segeduno, Cilurno, Brocolitia, Vindolanda: each fort holds memories and friendships, hides rivals, or conceals enemies. But what exactly is Marcus Flavius Victor's ultimate objective? It would appear he is willing to risk bloody civil war in a bid to seize Britannia for himself? Or is he raising an army to save the province from the darkness that waits on the other side of the Wall?

Hailed as one of our very best historical novelists, Douglas Jackson returns to the world of ancient Rome with this epic novel of a failing empire and a world on the brink...

After years fighting to reclaim his rightful home, Uhtred of Bebbanburg has returned to Northumbria. With his loyal band of warriors and a new woman by his side, his household is secure – yet Uhtred is far from safe. Beyond the walls of his impregnable fortress, a battle for power rages. Only fate can decide the outcome.. Book 13 of series.

Uhtred of Bebbanburg has won back his ancestral home but, threatened by enemies both old and new, he doesn’t have long to enjoy the victory. In Mercia, rebellion is in the air as King Edward tries to seize control. In Wessex, rival parties scramble to settle on the identity of the next king. And across the country invading Norsemen continue their relentless incursion, ever hungry for land.   Book 11 of series.

A fragile peace governs the kingdoms of Wessex, East Anglia and Mercia. Uhtred controls the northern parts from the fortified city of Chester. But forces are rising up against him led by Viking warrior, Ragnall Iverson. Uhtred will stop at nothing to take back his corner of Northumbria and secure the future of Bebbanburg.  Book 9 of series.