Coben and Arlidge among Richard and Judy's winter book club picks

Harlan Coben joins the six-strong line-up for the Richard & Judy Book Club this winter for the second year in a row. 

Coben’s latest I Will Find You (Century) follows David who wakes to find himself covered in his son’s blood. Five years into his prison sentence and following a visit from his sister-in-law, David revives his mission to find the truth and clear his name. Judy Finnigan marks this as “another Coben cracker” while Richard Madeley praised the way Coben “whipcracks his characters through sudden, dramatic changes of fortune”. 

Up next is M J Arlidge, returning to the book club with Eye for An Eye (Orion). “As the title suggests there’s a powerful Old Testament theme running through the spine of M J Arlidge’s often gruesome tale” Madeley said. Are some crimes so horrific that they can never be forgiven; the bloodied slate impossible to wipe clean other than by an equally violent reckoning? Vigilante justice. Can it – should it – be stopped?  

The next recommendation in this season’s Book Club is a “genuinely creepy tale which is both atmospheric and haunting”, The Escape by Ruth Kelly (Pan). Adele and Jack, a young, hard-up British couple are "gifted" a beautiful chateau in the south of France by a mysterious billionaire benefactor. They know the offer is too good to be true, but they can’t resist temptation. At first all seems well – nine bedrooms, gorgeous gardens, sumptuous swimming pool – but then? They disappear. Into thin air. Adele’s desperately-worried sister drives to France to investigate. Finnigan said it is “an electrifying winter read”. 

Heidi Perks’ The Last Resort (Penguin) has also been selected. “Troubled couple Erin and Will look to therapist Maggie Day to save their marriage. How very mistaken they are” the synopsis says. Madeley praised it as “ a gripping psychological drama”. 

The penultimate title joining this season’s Book Club is Kate Simants’s novel, Freeze (Viper) “an all-too-believable and incredibly tense portrait of the reality behind a reality TV show". Madeley said Simants’ “take on today’s television is spot on – the sharp elbows, the rampant egos, the bitter rivalries, the betrayals and, yes, the screw-ups.” Set in the icy Arctic and totally cut off, Freeze sees eight contestants in a leadership challenge with a £100,000 prize. And then the murders begin.  

Wrapping up this Winter Book Club collection is This Could Be Everything, by author Eva Rice (Simon & Schuster) about a young woman finding happiness again after her life is shattered by grief. It’s 1990 in glamorous Notting Hill, a London alive with pop music, models and film stars. At 19, February Kingdom is knocked sideways by tragedy, but her journey back to joy is tenderly chronicled in this enchanting feel-good novel. Finnigan said: “This is such a wise, tender book about the bond between sisters, full of warmth, sadness and joy.” 

W H Smith customers can purchase exclusive special editions of the book club titles with bonus content.