Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Mar 2009
480 pages
Genre: Thrillers
Publication Information
When the savagely beaten body of a Muslim student is discovered in a rundown area of Newcastle, blame falls on the far right National Unity Party—but for once they appear to be innocent. In fact, with elections looming, they are poised to make significant gains. Not the best time for Trevor Whitman, ex-70s radical, to return to his native northeast. Haunted by his violent past, he's receiving death threats over the murder of a policeman years ago.
Joe Donovan, the hero of Martyn Waites' acclaimed trilogy of thrillers, is called in to investigate. After the death of a supposed suicide bomber, the investigation takes a more dangerous turn as Donovan and his team find themselves the targets of a ruthless killer unlike any they have faced before. A killer who will do anything to ensure an explosive thirty-year-old secret remains buried. Anything—even orchestrating a brutal race war that will tear the city apart, with Donovan caught in the middle.
Starred Review. "Waites masterfully pulls together a cohesive story about fanatical politics filled with surprises and suspense." - Publishers Weekly.
"Though the pitch may be too feverish for some, the climax will pay off for the engaged." - Kirkus Reviews.
"White Riot is written in the sort of bovver-boots-and-dustbin-lids staccato prose that doesn't so much leap off the page as threaten to smack the reader in the mouth. That said, the suspense is fuelled as much by pathos as by sound and fury, and it will reward those who linger to savour its subtleties." - The Guardian (UK).
This information about White Riot was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Martyn Waites is one of crime fiction's leading writers of neo-noir. This is his third Joe Donovan novel following The Mercy Seat and Bone Machine. He lives in London. An interview with the author at the British Independent newspaper.
The Flower Sisters
by Michelle Collins Anderson
From the new Fannie Flagg of the Ozarks, a richly-woven story of family, forgiveness, and reinvention.
The House on Biscayne Bay
by Chanel Cleeton
As death stalks a gothic mansion in Miami, the lives of two women intertwine as the past and present collide.
The Funeral Cryer by Wenyan Lu
Debut novelist Wenyan Lu brings us this witty yet profound story about one woman's midlife reawakening in contemporary rural China.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
