Christian Louboutins,Amia Kimonos,Anya Hindmarchs,Manolo Blahniks. Theres a hint of American Psycho-perverse parody in the feverish incantations of these brand names,uttered both by rapist-murderers and the prey they stalk in Dead Like You by Peter James (Pan Macmillan,Rs 299),a thriller in which killers and their pretty targets are brought together by the expensive designer stilettos they fetishise. While one is drawn to a drunk,coked-up,clubber who is headed home in the vertiginous Kurt Geigers she snapped up on sale,another,a slightly slow-witted cabbie,Yac,provokes his beautiful,auburn-tressed passenger to squeal in proud delight by recognising her strappy black suede stilettos as Jimmy Choos. Close on the heels of the killers is Detective Superintendent Roy Grace,who thinks the shoeless,brutalised beauties they leave behind can be traced back to an elusive Shoe Man,thought to be responsible for four rapes and a murder which he investigated earlier in 1997. If you like culprits with sordid histories,and lots of shoe porn,then this police procedural set in Brighton is for you. History of a more ancient vintage is to be found in Empire of Silver by Conn Iggulden (HarperCollins, Rs 299). The fourth in the authors Conqueror series,it treats the tumultuous,epic history of Genghis Khan,whose descendants now continue his sanguinary empire-expanding ways. Karakoram,the 13th century Mongol capital,is vividly evoked,from the palace at its centre,with a tower that rose above the city like a white sword,down to the poverty in the goat-herders settlements on its fringes,and from whence it rose. The book follows the conquering Khans trajectory from their palace in the plains towards west. Led by their indomitable general Tsubodai,they sweep through Russia,the Carpathian mountains and Hungary. Finally,after defeating Knights Templar,they come to a halt at the edge of Europe,the northern mountains of Italy; a halt which determined the course of history. In the imitable tradition of Dan Brown,The Emperors Tomb by Steve Berry (Hachette,Rs 295) liberally draws from history to animate a modern-day caper,with dangerous conspiracies and a sinister,ruthless brotherhood being the constant blockbusting element. The star of this particular blockbuster,who falls foul of the conspiratorial brotherhood,is Cassiopeia Vitt. Whilst being kidnapped and waterboarded for an artefact shes stolen,she claims it is in the possession of Cotton Malone,an ex-Justice Department agent who owes her some favours,as readers of previous books by Berry might be aware. So,Cotton finds himself drawn into Cassiopeias magnetic field,running from mercenaries,through Vietnam,and finally landing up in China,and right in the clutches of his Russian nemesis Viktor Tomas.
