Beyond Reach by Graham Hurley Orion, HK$91

More horror, murder and mutilated bodies for the new year. As if you don't get enough of that at home. Graham Hurley is 10 books into his increasingly impressive series of thrillers set in England (Portsmouth to be precise) and starring Detective Inspector Joe Faraday and Detective Constable Joe Winter. Their mission, which they have no choice but to accept, is to solve the case of a bad man meeting a grim end. Few people are mourning the demise of Kyle Munday. It certainly brings a smile to the face of Faraday, who believes Munday killed a teenager called Tim Morrissey. A thug, bully and probably a murderer, Munday is the prime target of Faraday's Operation Melody until he is targeted by someone's car; Munday is not a pretty sight. As Faraday starts to investigate the dead man's murky past, many other plots spring up. Haunted by a still unsolved 30-year-old rape case, Faraday's private life is on the skids: his lover has left and his son moved to London. Then his former nemesis, Bazza Mackenzie, asks Winter to stop his daughter sleeping with a high-ranking policeman. It is stark, sophisticated stuff, but very readable and very well done.