The Blood of Angels -- Michael Marshall

Michael Marshall is the best writer of serial-killer action action since Thomas Harris -- and like him, his plots sometimes run away with themselves.

But this second follow-up to bestseller The Straw Men is still a terrific page-turner even if it sometimes reads more like the Da Vinci Code than Hannibal.

Again the villains are a group of psycho killers whose roots go back deep in human history, as they repeatedly try to bring down civilisation.

There is a "black widow" killing her dates; an old paedophile on a final mission; two teenage drug dealers drawn into something more sinister; and two former government agents from powerful enemies.

These seemingly unrelated story strands eventually collide -- more satisfyingly than in previous novel The Lonely Dead -- bringing Marshall's trilogy to a close.

David Knights