ARCHANGEL HAWTHORNE (A Thriller set in the 1960s)
With over a quarter of a million downloads, D. M. Mitchell has been compared to Dean Koontz, Stephen King, Ruth Rendell, M. R. James, Linwood Barclay, Umberto Eco, the Bronte sisters, Charles Dickens and many others. Discover for yourself why D. M. Mitchell is being regarded by some as one of the UK€s most original and exciting writers of psychological thrillers and supernatural fiction.
It is autumn 1962. A young married couple €“ Joshua and Trudy Garner €“ hiking in Wales on their honeymoon, stumble upon the isolated hideaway of a group of thieves who, only days before, have carried out a major robbery at Grainger Forges €“ a steel manufacturing plant in Sheffield. The encounter ends in tragedy for the young couple, the young man dying and Trudy Garner being taken prisoner. The gang is led by Callum Baxter and his psychopathic younger brother Jimmy, and from the moment of the accidental encounter, Trudy€s life is in great danger.
In Sheffield, the case is being investigated by DCI Hawthorne €“ a burly, brusque, no-nonsense, self-opinionated old-school police officer, who says what he thinks and lets his fists do the talking when that doesn€t work. He is aided by Inspector Donald Fraser, a Scottish newcomer sent to the squad by their superior, Superintendent Lloyd, in an effort to help inject new blood and bring it up-to-date. An appointment that doesn€t go down too well with Hawthorne.
From early on, Hawthorne suspects Callum Baxter is involved in the robbery, but no one will listen to him, thinking he is motivated, and blinded, by revenge. Fifteen years ago, Callum Baxter shot and killed Hawthorne€s only child. What€s more, Baxter has turned nark while in prison and spilled the beans on major Sheffield gang leaders, putting them behind bars and securing Baxter an early release €“ a fact that really makes Hawthorne€s blood boil. But Hawthorne is on his own: no one believes the recently released Callum Baxter would be involved in any robbery €“ he€s a wanted man by the Sheffield underworld, and he€s been given a new identity by the police and last they heard he was living in Spain.
Undeterred, Hawthorne begins to uncover what really happened at the Grainger Forges factory, leading him into conflict with gangland bosses and his superior officers, his career in danger of being ripped to shreds in the process. In the meantime, the captured Trudy Garner€s life hangs by a thread. Can DCI Hawthorne solve the case in time to save both his career and the young woman€s life?
In DCI Hawthorne, D. M. Mitchell has yet again created another memorable character, and the novel crackles and fizzes with his trademark plot twists and turns, its dramatic conclusion guaranteed to leave you gasping for breath!
