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THE SECRET SPEECH
By Tom Rob Smith, Grand Central, 405 pages, $27.99

Tom Rob Smith's debut novel, Child 44 , was a surprise bestseller, a critical and financial success, and is already sold to the movies. The Secret Speech brings back that book's main character, disillusioned former state security officer Leo Demidov, in a story that's even better. It's 1956 and the Boss, Joseph Stalin, has died. There is going to be change in the Soviet Union. But what kind of change? Who will be the new Boss?

Child 44 took full advantage of the terrors and paranoia of Stalin's final years. The Secret Speech takes us into a Soviet Union riven by fear after his death. The “speech” is Khrushchev's famous public admission of Stalin's crimes. How it was delivered and its reception by Soviet citizens forms the backdrop to this wonderful novel, and the plot is built around the fantasies and madness of the Soviet Union in those years.

Smith also picks up Demidov's vexed relationship with his wife and the two children he acquired at the end of Child 44 , children as damaged as he is by the system that nurtured them all. You will learn a lot about the Soviet system as you read. The Secret Speech is a compelling and scary novel about terrible and frightening times.

HARD STOP
By Chris Knopf, Random House Canada, 326 pages, $29.95

Some series characters begin, after a while, to seem like old friends. Each new novel is a visit. We catch up on the gossip, hear about the family, solve a case, then step back until the next instalment. After four books, Sam Acquillo, the tough Long Island protagonist of Chris Knopf's excellent series, has become one of my pals.

This book fills in some more of Sam's backstory. Fans know he is a carpenter, living in small-town Long Island in a world far removed from the big-money estates in the nearby Hamptons. Sam and his friends are the folks who cut the grass, catch the fish, farm the land, do the physical work and live year-round in the shadow of extreme wealth.

Sam is an engineer. He once ran a division for a huge multinational firm. He was laid off, his marriage crashed and he got and stayed drunk for a long time. Now the multinational, Global Consolidated, has big-footed back into Sam's life. His ex-boss and mentor, the man who sold out him and his division, has a problem: His girlfriend is missing. He wants to know what's happened and he doesn't want his wife or his business colleagues to know he's looking. His solution is Sam Acquillo.

Sam takes the job for complex personal reasons, and it leads him back into places he doesn't want to go and to people he'd rather forget.

GONE TOMORROW
By Lee Child, Delacorte, 421 pages, $32

Jack Reacher is one of those series characters that fans adore. He's solid, reliable and eccentric, and he doesn't change. But after 14 novels, all the things that made him solid were beginning to make him predictable – and, dare I say it, a bit boring. That's why Gone Tomorrow is the best Jack Reacher novel in a while.

This time out, Reacher is on a subway when he spots a woman who fits a profile in his head. He confronts the woman, expecting her to have a bomb in her purse. Instead, there's a gun, and she uses it not on her fellow passengers, but on herself.

That confrontation puts Reacher, working with a batch of very secret agents, on the trail of some very dangerous people who may have plans for another attack on Manhattan. The chase is on.

This book has all of Reacher's quirks and secret talents, but it also has a tighter plot than some recent Child novels. Those who thought his best days were over can return to the fold.

THE LAST CHILD
By John Hart, St. Martin's, 384 pages, $27.95

The Last Child is a spellbinding novel by the Edgar Award-winning John Hart, whose forte is building characters so strong they can carry the most complicated plots.

In this case, the central character is 13. Johnny Merrimon has his demons. A year ago, his twin sister, Alyssa, disappeared. Shortly afterward, his father left, abandoning his family. Johnny's mother sank into depression and despair, dependent on drugs and the goodwill of a man Johnny neither likes nor trusts. With the help of a friend, Johnny combs the back streets of his hometown, searching endlessly for a clue, a message, anything that will tell him Alyssa's fate.

Johnny isn't alone in his quest. Detective Clyde Hunt was the cop in charge of the Alyssa Merrimon case. He knows Alyssa is dead; everyone knows she is dead. But Hunt longs to bring an end to the torment her mother faces daily just by waking up.

Then another young girl disappears, abducted in broad daylight just like Alyssa. If Hunt can save the second girl, he may find out the secret to the end of Alyssa Merrimon.

You may think you know who the bad guys are, but there are twists galore in this excellent novel.

THE CASE OF THE MISSING SERVANT
By Tarquin Hall, McClelland & Stewart, 256 pages, $29.99

Another writer was bound to try to occupy the niche dedicated to Precious Ramotswe and her creator, Alexander McCall Smith. This debut novel by Tarquin Hall is a shameless imitation, but it's also a clever and witty little story.

Instead of Precious and the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, we have Vish Puri, founder of Most Private Investigators Ltd. The setting is Delhi, not Botswana. Mr. Puri is plump and persistent and very, very Punjabi.

He doesn't work alone. There are assorted colourful characters assisting him in his work and adding to the flavour of the setting.

Mr. Puri has a murder on his hands. His client is a local litigator accused of killing a maidservant. The police think they've solved the crime. Mr. Puri's job is to find the evidence that they're wrong.

RIVER OF THE DEAD
By Barbara Nadel, Headline, 304 pages, $24.95

I love this wonderful series set in Istanbul and featuring Inspector Cetin Ikmen. Twelve novels on, characters usually get tiresome and plots begin to weaken, but Nadel's setting and Ikmen's clever and demanding family keep this series fresh.

This time out, Ikmen has major problems. A murderous drug baron named Yusuf Kaya has escaped from prison, and it's clear he had inside help. Ikmen not only has to find a ruthless killer, but uncover who helped him and how far into the justice system the corruption goes. Then the case of the deadly drug baron takes a whole new turn.

There's also the return of Ikmen's prodigal son. His wife is ecstatic, but Cetin is less enchanted.