Detective Nick Belsey, of Hampstead CID was first introduced in The Hollow Man. A fascinating crooked cop who manages to survive against all the odds in a London that is no less tainted. In his 2nd appearance, we now finally see his dogged talent as an actual sleuth in action when he stumbles across a car chase, provokes the abduction of a potential girlfriend and his staff sergeant and is drawn into a powerfully-evoked network of underground tunnels below North London and the City that conceal a huge plot whose roots lie in the past and the shadowy world of intelligence. Squirm with delight as you follow Nick wriggle his way out of impossible situations and fight the forces of evil by never following the rules. Huge fun.
'Makes the capital as eerie as Le Carré's Berlin' Evening Standard Monday 10 June, end of a hot day. The city had started drinking at lunchtime and by 3 or 4pm crime seemed the only appropriate response to the beauty of the afternoon...At quarter to five he felt his contribution to law and order had been made. He parked off the high street, sunk two shots of pure grain vodka into iced Nicaraguan espresso and put his seat back. In an hour he'd be off duty, and in a couple more he'd be on a date with an art student he'd recently arrested for drugs possession. London is steaming under a summer of filthy heat and sudden storms - and Detective Nick Belsey, of Hampstead CID, is trying to stay out of trouble. But then somebody sets him a riddle. How does a man walk into a dead-end alley and never come out? And then reappear - to snatch a girl, to dump a body beneath a London skyscraper, to send Belsey a package of human hair. The answer lies underground, where the secrets degenerating beneath the city's sickly glitter are about to see the light of day. Praise for Deep Shelter 'Relentless...explosive' Mail on Sunday 'The coolest cop you'll have come across in ages. London through his eyes is as atmospheric as a drawing by Gustave Doré... This demands to be read before the television adaptation' Kate Saunders
