Up today, it’s Hull’s very own Nick Quantrill. Author of the brilliant Joe Geraghty trilogy, he is a writer of great repute. An exceptional short story writer also, Quantrill is a name to watch out for in future. Here, he chooses his top 5 reads of 2013…

“My top five reads of 2013” by Nick Quantrill

In alphabetical order…

GRAVELAND (Alan Glynn)

When the daughter of recession-hit architect, Frank Bishop, goes missing from her college campus, he finds himself drawn to Investigative Reporter, Ellen Dorsey, for help. When their search takes them into a whirlwind of international business and politics, GRAVELAND perfectly captures the point where big finance meets power and control whilst questioning our understanding of terrorism and the power of Social Media. A perfect example of how a page-turning crime novel can help explain the world around us.

TOUCHING DISTANCE (Graham Hurley)

After the highly successful DI Faraday series, establishing a new character away from the urban chaos and villainy of Portsmouth was always going to be a challenge for Hurley. Moving to the more rural setting of Devon, DS Suttle finds himself involved in a fast-moving case connected to the fringes of the war in Afghanistan. As razor-sharp as ever when looking at social issues, this is vintage Hurley.

TUNE IN (Mark Lewisohn)

Think you know everything about The Beatles? Think again. In this dense exploration of their pre-fame days, Lewisohn succeeds because he simply sets their story in its contemporary context and ignores what they ultimately became. From their schooldays in post-WW2 Liverpool through the hard graft of Hamburg, Lewisohn shows that their fame was never pre-destined. This is the story of young men struggling to find their path and often on the brink of giving up. Lewisohn’s account is as much a social history as it is a rock biography.

SWEARDOWN (Russ Litten)

When a young gang leader is stabbed to death on the streets of London, DS Ndekwe is in the unusual position of having two people confess to the murder. At first glance, the confession from McKenzie, a youth from the same inner-city estate is the most compelling. But why does his workmate, Jack Shepherdson, a sixty year old former seaman from Hull also confess? In part, this is a great police procedural novel, but the portrayal of McKenzie rings powerfully true and offers genuine insight into a little-glimpsed world.

RATLINES (Stuart Neville)

Taking real-life events as its backdrop, Neville’s superb novel looks at the fate of senior Nazis who used Ireland post-World War Two as a bolt-hole to evade justice. Set in 1963, Lieutenant Albert Ryan finds himself under pressure to solve a series of murders linking back to the War before a high-profile visit from John F. Kennedy, leaving him to choose between his duty and his conscience. Offering no easy answers, Neville paints an all too vivid ‘alternative history’ scenario and one that looks unflinchingly at a difficult and ignored subject.

Choosing five was difficult, so honourable mentions must go to… THE KILLING POOL (Kevin Sampson), ELEVEN DAYS (Stav Sherez) and NEVER COMING BACK (Tim Weaver), all excellent reads. And that’s before I read new novels by Michael Connelly, George Pelecanos and Ian Rankin. It’s been a good year for reading…

Nick Quantrill was born and raised in Hull, an isolated industrial city in the north east of England. His Joe Geraghty novels are published by Caffeine Nights. A prolific short story writer, Nick’s work has appeared in various volumes of “The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime”. www.nickquantrill.co.uk