Incredible crime thriller is ‘book of 2025’ – fans can’t put it down | Books | Entertainment

This crime thriller has been crowned as “book of the year” in its category by the Bookseller, and fans say it is “incredible”. Hunted by Abir Mukherjee is the author’s first standalone thriller, and it is set during the final week of a toxic presidential campaign, which sees the parents of two political extremists trying to extricate their children from the violence set to occur.

The book’s synopsis reads: “It’s a week until the US presidential elections when a bomb goes off in an LA shopping mall. In London, the police storm Heathrow Airport to bring in a father for questioning about his missing daughter. In Florida, a mother makes a connection between her son and the bomber, fearing he has been radicalised. And in Oregon, an unknown organisation’s conspiracy to bring America to its knees unfolds… On the run from the authorities, the two parents are thrown together in a race against time to stop a catastrophe that will derail the country’s future forever. But can they find their kids before it’s too late?”

Mukerjee’s book was published in May 2024 by Harvill Secker who set out to make his first contemporary crime and thriller novel a hit, and they definitely delivered as it became his most successful hardback publication ever.

The Bookseller said Hunted was a “brave” book to write” adding: “More people should be reading it”.

The judges agreed that Harvill Secker’s “bold” strategy was an example of “superb publishing”.

One reviewer wrote on Goodreads: “An intense action-packed political thriller. I was hooked from start to finish with a gasp out loud ending. I wanted more.”

Another added: “This book has an incredible plot and the characters are fantastic. The journeys they all go on are so well thought out and interwoven, it all just felt so real. This book has brilliant plot twists and you will be kept guessing until the very end!”

“I found the author’s notes extremely enlightening. Brilliant and heart stopping. I couldn’t put it down. I was enthralled and read into the wee small hours,” a third Goodreads reviewer added.

Hunted by Abir Mukherjee is available in most bookshops and online via Amazon.