Oktober

"Ranks among the best thriller/horror novels not just of this year, but of any year" (Mystery Scene)

An apparently fatal incident occurs when schoolteacher Jim Harper is skiing near a small research station owned by the giant multinational Risinger-Genoud. Even treatment with their new, untried and experimental superdrug cannot save his life.

Or so it seems. For Jim Harper, though left for dead, has survived. But in the long haul back to health and sanity, he begins to realise that something terrible has happened to him. Now the only way in which he can unravel the mystery in his mind is to go back to the point where it began to develop - back to Risinger-Genoud and their Oktober programme. And Risinger Genoud are going to be very interested to see him.

Oktober is a frightening journey into a world of greed and lies, a world in which the cover-up is not only a way of life, but something planned ahead of time. Step by horrifying step, Jim Harper unravels what has been done to him, and then designs the perfect act of vengeance, an act that teeters on the brink of madness...

The ITV miniseries adaptation of Oktober stars Stephen Tompkinson.

"In the best tradition of the international thriller and horror fields, Gallagher, author of the fine Valley of Lights, has created another blend of genres that shouldn't disappoint the deicated reader of either. Is it still paranoia when everybody really is after you? Gallagher answers that question with style, insight, and a riveting sense of suspense... Oktober ranks among the best thriller/horror novels of not just this year, but any year." (Mystery Scene)

"His prose is clear and diamond-sharp, his imagination dark and vivid... a beautifully crafted novel of paranoia and shadowy horror." (Starburst)

"If thriller reading were a sin, Stephen Gallagher would be responsible for my ultimate damnation. His work is fast-paced, well-written, infused with a sense of dark wonder, and altogether fresh." (Dean R Koontz)

"The finest British writer of bestselling popular fiction since le Carre." (The Independent)