SET in a London epidemic, Louise Welsh’s first psychological thriller in her Plague Times trilogy chronicles a state of desperation and fear as a virus sweeps across the capital.

Stevie Flint is a journalist-turnedshopping channel TV presenter, who turns from a happy young woman into a determined detective when her boyfriend Simon dies and she is convinced it has nothing to do with the ferocious infection.

Stevie herself does catch The Sweats, and after discovering that Simon had hidden a laptop in her loft, she is plunged into a world of medical secrets that people are willing to kill to protect. Welsh’s fantastically written mystery keeps you hanging on to every word and which will leave you dreaming – or having nightmares – of apocalyptic London for weeks.

Emily Pawson