Lockdown

Starred review from July 6, 2020
What would a crime thriller set in the middle of a devastating pandemic look like? May (the Enzo Macleod series) provides a grim but plausible answer in this superior effort, which he wrote in 2005. In the near future, the world has been devastated by a virus, leaving London on lockdown in ways similar to the current coronavirus pandemic—empty streets, people wearing masks, mass deaths, and an infected British prime minister. Det. Insp. Jack MacNeil, on his last day working for the Metropolitan Police, whose ranks have been gutted by the disease, gets one final case. A construction crew working to build an emergency hospital has dug up human bones. MacNeil investigates, aided by Amy, a forensic expert specializing in facial reconstruction, who identifies the remains as belonging to a 10-year-old girl who died recently. The author makes the challenges of seeking justice for the unknown child under extreme circumstances feel real, and creates psychologically plausible leads. This prescient novel is an impressive, if depressing, feat of imagination. Agent: David Higham, David Higham Assoc. (U.K.).

This prescient thriller was written in 2005 but turned down by publishers, who thought the story about a global pandemic that forces London into quarantine was "ludicrous." The Scottish author's frequent collaborator, Peter Forbes, narrates this chilling story with an edginess that perfectly mirrors the action. Centered on D.I. Jack MacNeil's efforts to track down the murderer of a young Asian child whose bones have been dumped at a construction site, the plot mushrooms into a search for the source of a virus that threatens millions. While some listeners may find the descriptions of London under martial law disturbing, Forbes captures MacNeil's gruff manner and Scottish accent, as well as those of the Londoners he interrogates and the Canadian epidemiologist who helps him solve the puzzle. L.W.S. � AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine