Lionel Davidson

Brilliant and cynical Johnny Porter ventures into a remote and frozen former gulag in Northern Siberia and finds an explosive Russian secret

Kolymsky Heights

'The best thriller I've ever read.' Philip Pullman Kolymsky Heights. A Siberian permafrost hell lost in endless night, the perfect setting for an underground Russian research station. It's a place so secret it doesn't officially exist; once there, the scientists are forbidden to leave. But one scientist is desperate to get a message to the outside world. So desperate, he sends a plea across the wildness to the West in order to summon the one man alive capable of achieving the impossible... 'Excellent... Kolymsky Heights is up there with The Silence of the Lambs, Casino Royale and Smiley's People.' Toby Young, Spectator 'A breathless story of fear and courage.' Daily Telegraph

The Rose of Tibet

Under Plum Lake

The Night of Wenceslas

MONTES KOLIMÁ, SIBÉRIA. Enterrada nos gelos eternos esconde-se uma estação científica tão secreta que nem sequer existe oficialmente. Quem lá entra, nunca mais sai. Mas Efraim Rogachev tem um plano.UNIVERSIDADE DE OXFORD. O pacato professor Lazenby recebe uma mensagem encriptada. O autor é um brilhante cientista soviético desaparecido há décadas sem deixar rasto.LANGLEY, SEDE DA CIA. Os satélites americanos captam uma explosão num bunker siberiano até ali desconhecido; as imagens são aterradoras.Nos serviços secretos soam os alarmes. É preciso infiltrar um agente nos Montes Kolimá, um inacessível inferno de glaciares onde a temperatura ronda os 50 oC negativos. Só um homem parece apto para a missão: Johnny Porter, poliglota, antropólogo, professor universitário e da etnia Gitksan. Os gitksan partilham com os nativos siberianos a mesma língua, a mesma cor de pele, a mesma sobre-humana resistência ao frio. E só um nativo conseguirá atravessar quilómetros de gelo, fintar tribos hostis, chegar ao coração do mistério.O Espião da Sibéria, um dos mais trepidantes thrillers do século XX, esteve durante décadas “adormecido”. Mas um editor redescobriu-o e voltou a publicá-lo timidamente. O que se seguiu foi um regresso fulgurante às listas de livros mais vendidos e às listas de “melhores livros do ano”. Hoje assistimos ao renascimento crítico de um autor de culto – Lionel Davidson – e de toda uma obra onde se cruza o melhor de dois géneros: a grande aventura e o romance de espionagem.“O melhor thriller que li até hoje.”Philip Pullman

O Espião da Sibéria

Lionel Davidson (Canada)

The Chelsea Murders (1978) was Lionel Davidson's seventh novel, earning him the Crime Writer's Association Gold Dagger Award and prompting the Daily Telegraph to declare, 'Lionel Davidson is one of the best and most versatile thriller writers we have.' A terrifying, grotesque figure bursts into a young art student's room. Head covered with a clown's wig, face concealed by a smiling mask, it wears the rubber gloves of a surgeon. The girl is seized, chloroformed, suffocated and - horrifyingly - beheaded. This is only the beginning of a series of murders terrorising London's fashionable bohemia. The police target three avant-garde filmmakers. One of them is mocking the other two, and openly taunting the police as well. But which of them is behind these appalling crimes? Fast paced, terrifying and gripping, this is a page-turning thriller from a master.

The Chelsea Murders

The Menorah Men

The award-winning debut thriller from the bestselling author of Kolymsky Heights 'Quite simply the best thriller writer around.' Spectator Nicolas Whistler is young, bored and in debt. When an opportunity to make some money arises, he can't turn it down. He is sent to Prague to carry out a simple assignment, but he soon finds himself trapped between the secret police and the clutches of the mysterious Vlasta. Whether he likes it or not, Nicolas is now a spy. 'Fast-moving, exciting, often extraordinarily funny.' Sunday Times 'Brilliant. Don't miss it.' Observer

'Beautiful, lyrical, sensitive and meaningful . . . It deserves to be read and re-read.' Los Angeles Times Two deadly enemies - a young Arab rebel and a Jewish runaway - meet in a remote valley to begin a quest. Both have been taught since infancy to hate; to attack for self-defence. But something incredible is happening to them, something that not even the fierce shelling of the Six-Day War can intrude upon. For they are on a fantastic mission, a mission both believe has been set for them by God . . . Gripping, exciting and incredibly poignant, Smith's Gazelle is an intriguing thriller from a master of the genre.

Smith's Gazelle

Under Plum Lake is a kid's book that also wowed the adults that read it. Right from the opening lines the reader is pulled into a world suffused with a sense of loss and then dazzled by a pyrotechnic display of storytelling. 'I went down again last night. I go every night now. It's August again, the same time of year, and I know it can still all happen again.' Lionel Davidson (1922-2009) was much admired by his his fellow writers - Graham Greene, Rebecca West, Frederick Forsyth and Philip Pullman among them. Davidson won the Golden Dagger award for crime thrillers an unprecedented three times, as well as scripting several films. Yet the eerily evocative Under Plum Lake remains an enigma, the only childrens book he wrote under his own name. It's a genuine one-off.

Long Way to Shiloh

A terrifying, grotesque figure bursts into a young art student's room. Head covered with a clown's wig, face concealed by a smiling mask, it wears the rubber gloves of a surgeon. The girl is seized, chloroformed, suffocated and - horrifyingly - beheaded. This is only the beginning of a series of murders terrorising London's fashionable bohemia.

From the bestselling author of Kolymsky Heights 'I devoured it.' Anthony Horowitz With an introduction by Anthony Horowitz A filmmaker is reported dead near Mount Everest. His brother, Charles Houston, is convinced he's alive and is determined to find him. It's a dangerous expedition. He travels from India to the forbidden land of Tibet. In the Yamdring monastery, he discovers an emerald treasure guarded by a woman with a deadly secret. But the Chinese army is coming... 'I hadn't realised how much I had missed the genuine adventure story until I read The Rose of Tibet.' Graham Greene 'Thrilling . . . a perilous journey across Tibet in search of a missing brother.' Jake Kerridge, Telegraph

'Beyond question the book of the year.' "Spectator" "" Chaim Weizmann was a great man, one of the founders of modern Israel. He was also a chemist of international repute. His work in the thirties led him to a cheap way of synthesising oil. But politics took over and it seemed Weizmann had died without passing on his revolutionary knowledge. In the oil-starved seventies, it falls to Igor Druyanov to reconstruct that magic formula. And the chase is on, for the news will overturn the Middle East . . . Tense, intelligent and stylish, The Sun Chemist is gripping spy thriller from a true master of the genre.

The Sun Chemist

«Como relato puro de aventuras, esta novela tiene muy pocos rivales. Como historia de amor, valentía, peligro y un frío colosal, es una obra maestra. Ahora bien, el breve episodio que tiene lugar en el corazón del misterio eleva Bajo los montes de Kolima por encima de cualquier otro thriller que yo haya leído.» Philip Pullman Azotados por vientos implacables y sumidos en noches eternas, los montes de Kolima se encuentran en uno de los parajes más inhóspitos del planeta. En plena tundra siberiana, en la misma estepa helada donde los gulags fueron escenario de la brutal represión soviética, el nuevo tiempo político ha dado paso a otro tipo de horrores: un centro clandestino de investigación que prohíbe la salida a los operarios y donde, bajo extremas medidas de seguridad, las autoridades realizan turbios experimentos en el más absoluto de los secretos. La trama se desarrollasin pausa en paralelo a las peripecias del protagonista, que mientras cruza fronteras de forma ilegal, fingiendo acentos extranjeros, debe improvisar vías de escape imposibles, lidiar con toda clase de enemigos y, en definitiva, jugarse el pellejo para acceder a la remota base. Reseñas: «Nunca he leído un thriller que haya sido capaz de transportarme de forma tan eficaz a un lugar imaginario [...]. La trama no da un respiro hasta el final.» The Guardian «Davidson fue uno de esos contados escritores capaces de aunar la aventura y la inteligencia de altos vuelos.» The Telegraph «El estilo y el ritmo son soberbios.» The Independent «Excelente... Bajo los montes de Kolima está ahí arriba junto a El silencio de los corderos, Casino Royale y La gente de Smiley.» The Spectator «Una historia sobre el miedo y el coraje, que te deja sin aliento.» Daily Telegraph «Un thriller fantástico.» The Observer

Bajo los montes de Kolima

Casper Laing, the young, fiery and brilliant Professor of Semitic Languages, is asked to decipher an ancient parchment found in Israel. Piecing together its mysterious fragments, his translation soon reveals directions to a shrouded location. Believed to be the secret hiding place of the True Menorah, an ancient and priceless Jewish candelabrum, the Jordanians and Israelis begin a frantic race to claim the prize. Surrounded by violent and treacherous rivals, Casper is enjoined on a deadly adventure deep into the burning Negev desert. A Long Way to Shiloh (1966), Lionel Davidson's third novel, was a Book Society Choice and won the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger Award as well as the Crime Critics' Award for Best Thriller of the Year. Published in the USA as The Menorah Men, it was a no. 1 bestseller on both sides of the Atlantic. It further cemented his reputation as one of the pre-eminent genre writers of his generation, and was described by the Guardian as 'first-rate' and by the New York Times as 'a supple delight in which learning, wit and style are beautifully integrated.'

Lionel Davidson

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