Title: Deep Shelter
Author: Harris, Oliver
Published by: Vintage
Year: 2015
First published: Jonathan Cape, 2014
Date reviewed: 11.15
ISBN: 9780099552758

This is the second of Harris’s books set in present-day London and featuring DC Nick Belsey, described on the cover by Val McDermid as “a beguiling bastard of a hero”. As in the first book “The Hollow Man“ it doesn’t take long for Belsey to get into trouble which will probably end his police career, or even his life.

I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say this fast-moving and tightly-written story is about the mysterious and half-forgotten world of underground London. The plot may seem far-fetched, but I know some of the locations to be genuine and the small bibliography of sources at the back of the book suggests more of the story is based on actual events than you might think.

This is a good second novel, if anything slightly better than the first, so I hope Harris has more Belsey stories to tell. Just one suggestion – I grew up in London, but for readers who aren’t as familiar with the city a map would help!