Launch Code

Description

November 1983: Three hundred feet beneath the Atlantic, submarine Lieutenant Bill Guth and his fellow officers suddenly receive the order they've long-dreaded - to launch their nuclear missiles in a retaliatory strike against the USSR. But in the unexpected chaos that follows, one person on board lies dead... Norfolk, 2019: Bill Guth's annual family gathering is interrupted when a historian turns up unannounced to ask about the near-apocalyptic incident back in 1983. Bill refuses to answer. But that night, the historian is brutally murdered. Bill and his family are thrown under suspicion. What happened all those years ago? Just how much is Bill to blame for events in the past, and indeed the present? As the layers of history reveal themselves, it becomes clear there is a killer at work who will stop at nothing to keep the secrets of 1983 where they belong...

Michael Ridpath spent eight years as a bond trader in the city before giving up his job to write full time. He lives in north London with his wife and three children. Visit his website at www.michaelridpath.com.

Ridpath has that read-on factor that sets bestsellers apart. * Guardian * An entertaining mix of techno-thriller, spy novel and domestic noir. * The Times * Hugely enjoyable and thought-provoking, Launch Code brings to mind the classic thrillers of Alister Maclean and Jack Higgins. A well-crafted ingenious mystery, tightly plotted, compelling and contemporary, this could well be Michael Ridpath's best novel yet. * Stav Sherez, author of the Carrigan & Miller series * Taut, gripping and relevant - the secret history of a narrowly-avoided nuclear Armageddon form the background to this classic thriller. * William Ryan, author of A House of Ghosts * Deadly state secrets and deadlier family secrets - perfectly crafted, scrupulously researched Launch Code weaves an ingeniously dark and tangled web that will keep you gripped and guessing to the very end. Ridpath is one of the best thriller writers around. * Craig Russell, author of The Devil Aspect * Launch Code is seamlessly smart and horribly convincing. Ridpath shifts effortlessly between the paranoid claustrophobia of Cold War subs and the resonances of nuclear near-disaster in the present day, telling a tale that kept me gripped and guessing to the very end. An effortless slice of storytelling from one of the genre's deftest exponents. * Tom Chatfield, author of This is Gomorrah * Ridpath is a singular writer and a brave one, because he takes his novels to so many different places, each immaculately researched. * Frances Fyfield, author of Gold Digger * Enjoyable, fast-paced... From start to finish, the story was full of twists and turns... Not only is it a well-written story, but it's also a very thought-provoking one. * New Books Magazine * Could it happen? Did it happen? Launch Code, is in equal parts, a gripping, terrifying, and compelling read. Don't miss it! * Mystery People *