V2 by Robert Harris is among this week’s top thrillers

V2

by Robert Harris (Hutchinson £20, 320 pp)

Once again the richly talented Harris returns to his favourite period of history — before, during and after World War II.

This time he charts the launch of the German V2 vengeance rockets against London in November 1944, and the efforts of eight members of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) to find their launch sites in the Belgian forests, using only slide rules and logarithmic tables.

At the same time he depicts the German team, struggling to launch as many of the missiles as the Fuhrer demands to try to stem the tide of defeat sweeping Germany.

Told with Harris’s meticulous eye for detail, and his appetite for the human story at the heart of any drama, it is as compelling as one of the great British black-and-white war films, with a sprinkling of contemporary detail to add colour.

AN INCONVENIENT WOMAN

by Stephanie Buelens (Quercus £12.99, 320 pp)

This debut is one of the most striking I have come across this year.

Los Angeles-based Claire Fontaine discovers that ex-husband Simon is getting married again, to a woman with a teenage daughter.

Claire’s own teenage daughter drowned after telling her mother that her father had abused her.

She did not believe her, and has been racked with guilt ever since. Now Claire is convinced history is set to repeat itself. Is she mad, as her ex insists, or could she be telling the truth while he is a clever liar?

Simon hires Sloane Wilson — a former cop turned ‘sin-eater’ — to handle Claire’s accusations without getting the police involved.

Packed with suspense and surprises, it is hard to put down.

SQUEEZE ME

by Carl Hiaasen (Sphere £18.99, 352 pp)

Hiaasen has been writing fabulous black comedies with compelling characters for three decades and has lost none of his touch with this — his 15th.

Set in his native Florida, the book opens with the disappearance of rich dowager Kiki Pew at a Palm Beach charity gala.

She is a founding member of the POTUSSIES, devoted fans of the U.S. president, who spends a great deal of time at his Florida retreat.

Then a 20ft-long Burmese Python with an enormous bulge in its stomach is discovered during the outdoor gala.

Enter the intrepid Angie Armstrong, who specialises in handling wild animals and who did prison time for putting a colleague’s hand in the mouth of an alligator.

Beautifully observed and full of swipes at the inhabitant of the White House, it is hugely entertaining.