Peter Hanington Books In Order

Publication Order of William Carver Books

Peter Hanington is a British journalist and author best known for his thriller series of novels featuring William Carver. Hanington has been a print journalist and producer for BBC Radio for the last 25 years. He has also worked on Newshour on the World Service, GLR, World Tonight, and Radio 4. He has been influenced by the likes of Highsmith, Ambler, and Green and tries to write every day even if the ideas he has are only half-formed. He is married with two children one of whom is a political science student in Glasgow while the other is traveling the South American continent. Hanington published his debut novel “A Dying Breed” in 2016 and the novel went on to be named Sunday Times thriller of the month. He followed that up with “A Single Source” in 2019 that still featured the popular character of Carver as the lead. He currently lives in London and occasionally attends book clubs if beer will be served.

Peter Hanington started writing his debut on the Central Line on the London Underground heading home after a 14 hour night shift. During the time, he was a junior producer for Today Programme with BBC Radio 4 and he always knew his job provided enough content to write a novel. There were a lot of stories, anecdotes and characters to resist. Over time and as the number of his notebooks grew, he thought that maybe he could try to tell the stories through fiction. His working days and nights were dominated by wire services from the likes of AP, AFP, and Reuters and it is from these wires that he got the spark he needed. At work, wire copies would appear at the top of all BBC news computers and he was soon obsessed with them. There were more stories than he knew what to do with or which one to tell. The one that he decided to tell was a flash about a bomb blast in Kabul.

His debut novel “A Dying Breed” starts with the story of a bomb blast in an unremarkable street in Afghanistan. But what had seemed like an ordinary bombing turns into a complex conspiracy that could bring down several governments. Hanington also wanted to ask what criteria are used to determine what is newsworthy or not. At a time when serious journalism is under serious threat just who will ask the awkward questions that need to be asked? The answer cane in the form of the unpredictable, unlovable and unloved William Carver. While he has never seen an exact replica, he has worked with many journalists that had a lot of similarities to the character. As his work became entangled in the news from the ongoing war on terror, he introduced his character to those theaters too. Carver starts out in Iraq and then Afghanistan, reporting on horrors and facts on the ground. Through him, Hanington answers the questions of how to tell the truth during war and how mainstream media and the intelligence services work together. In an era where honesty rarely seems to have a chance over hyperbole and honesty, Carver is the only voice of reason and truth over fake news.

Hanington has a deep understanding of his subject and brings to bear a wealth of experience and knowledge that he got from years of experience working as a journalist. There have been many foreign reporters and correspondents that have tried their hand at international thrillers but few have ever come up with something so good. Hanington writes well-plotted intelligent and realistic novels written with a coherence that provides the punch that other similar novelists sorely lack. As a reporter, Hanington is not just recording what he sees but also asks why it is what it is. It is a quality he brings to “A Dying Breed” and “A Single Source” to a powerful effect. Some of the revelations are disturbing while some are shocking. The novels are reminiscent of the best of the Dan Fesperman’s novels given how the author digs up the story and makes it into a compelling read. He does this even as he informs and makes us more knowledgeable in international events that we thought we understood.

“A Dying Breed” the first novel by Peter Hanington is a brilliant modern thriller that echoes the works of John le Carre and Graham Greene. William Carver is an unpredictable veteran of the BBC who has to investigate a bomb that went off killing a town official In Kabul. The maverick reporter believes that this may be the work of a more secretive organization with British links rather than the Taliban. But when he tries to pursue the story, he is blocked by some powerful unknown people. He vows to never stop until he gets to the truth of the bombing and what seems to be a global conspiracy. The BBC sends down a young producer named Patrick to control Carver. This is Patrick’s first international assignment but he soon discovers that the real story is between the dark halls of Whitehall, the dangerous streets of Kabul and the ethereal corridors of the BBC. Set in the dark world of political treachery and dubious morality, it is a compelling novel about the struggle to tell the stories that journalists need to tell, even when they could just as well not.

William Carver the veteran BBC reporter makes a comeback in “A Single Source” but this time in Cairo where the Arab Spring is underway. According to his editor, there is no better story but Carver has found a story that could be potentially and significantly more dangerous and he is going to tell it whether his editor likes it or not. He had been one of the first to spot the Arab Spring and together with his producer Patrick had dashed across North Africa finally ending up in Egypt. He is now on the frontline of a fight between the new and corrupt old order and he knows that it is going to be definite though bloody. In the meantime, two brothers in Eritrea are making their journey up from the Horn of Africa looking to get into Europe in search of a better life. They face all manner of horrors that will test their humanity and endurance as they are passed between the hands of ruthless traffickers. Over several months, the two stories intertwine and in the age of short attention spans, it is up to Carver to bring the story to the public even as there are people who would rather it would not be told.