THERE may still be ten months of 2005 to go, but publishers Headline are convinced that Honeymoon, the latest James Patterson novel, deserves the branding "Worldwide Thriller Of The Year". They may well be right.

Interior decorator Nora Sinclair is intelligent, charming and beautiful. She is desired by every man and envied by every woman. But she has a deadly secret. She is a black widow.

Mysterious things happen to the men in her life. Her first husband died in strange circumstances at 42, then her rich fiance has a fatal "heart attack", aged 40.

The FBI has suspicions, especially when vast sums of money are transferred from off-shore bank accounts.

Enter undercover agent John O'Hara. Posing as insurance salesman Craig Reynolds, O'Hara manages to get close to Sinclair; too close, in fact.

Soon, he too is lured into her deadly web. But can he escape in time?

Patterson, who is best known for his explosive crime series featuring Detective Dr Alex Cross (Along Came A Spider, Kiss The Girls, Big Bad Wolf and so on), has co-written Honeymoon with Howard Roughan.

I'm not sure how the collaboration works, but it does so with stunning effect. Short, snappy chapters (hundreds of them!), strong characters, a fast and furious pace and a plot to die for.

As with most Patterson books, Honeymoon (Headline, £17.99) won't tax the old grey matter too much. It's an easy read, but one you can't help but enjoy.

But will it be Worldwide Thriller Of The Year? Well, let's wait until the next Patterson book comes along which, if history is anything to go by, won't be long.

Now from one serial killer to another and David Baldacci's brilliant Hour Game (MacMillan, £17.99)

The small US community of Wrightsburg is in a grip of a maniac.

The unidentified body of woman turns up in woods; two high school students, one shot in the back the other in the head, are found dead in their car; and a leading lawyer is stabbed to death in her home.

The murderer kills in the manner of famous US killers of the past, and is careful to leave a stopped watch at each crime scene - either on the hour, or one tick off.

The body count at the town morgue keeps growing - and boy does it grow, especially when it looks like there's a killer copying the copycat killer.

Hot on the trail are former Secret Service agents Michelle Maxwell and Sean King, the heroes of Baldacci's last book, Split Second.

They are now working together as private detectives trying to clear the name of a handyman accused of stealing secret documents from the home of a rich family, the Battles. But as the killing spree in Wrightsburg escalates it seems that the Battle family are somehow involved. Slick, stylish and scary. A terrifyingly good read.

Now for something a little different. The Double Eagle by James Twining (HarperCollins, £12.99) is a sophisticated crime caper which has shades of James Bond and The Thomas Crown Affair.

A priest is murdered in Paris and his mutilated body is dumped into the Seine. The autopsy reveals a secret of a 70-year-old robbery which he has taken with him to his grave.

Jennifer Browne, a young FBI agent, is assigned to the case and her investigation uncovers a daring robbery from Fort Knox of an extremely valuable Double Eagle coin.

The prime suspect is Tom Kirk, the world's greatest art thief who, caught between his desire to finally get out of the game and his partner's insistence that he complete one last job for the criminal mastermind Cassius, races to clear his name and find the real thieves of the Double Eagle. Edge of your seat stuff.

Now back to Britain and Strange Affair (MacMillan, £17.99) by Yorkshire-born author Peter Robinson.

His latest Inspector Banks saga sees our hero in London searching for his brother, Roy.

Meanwhile, his colleague, DI Annie Cabbot is called to a murder scene on a quiet stretch of road just outside the fictitious Yorkshire town of Eastvale. A young woman has been found dead in her car with Banks's name and address written on a slip of paper in the back pocket of her trousers.

While Banks stays in his brother's empty house, digging into his life and uncovering more and more surprises about the brother he didn't really know, Annie tracks down the female victim's friends and colleagues. Both trails lead to an horrific climax.

Fans of Banks will not be disappointed.

Updated: 09:07 Saturday, February 12, 2005