Sand Dancer

Semilla Rachman, an internationally-renowned performer, goes missing in front of a packed theatre audience on a return visit to her home town. Has she staged the whole thing - or are forces more sinister at play?

The girl's mother believes it's the latter, with her ex-husband topping her suspect list. Detective Sergeant Ryan Jarrod, struggling with a sick grandmother and a heavily-pregnant girlfriend, hopes it's the former. When a ransom note arrives, followed by menacing threats of the darkest kind, Jarrod knows his luck is out.
The search for the missing girl takes Jarrod and his accomplices into a world of politics and performance, jealousy and adoration, friends and stalkers - any one of whom could be the centre point of this heart-stopping, page-turning mystery.

Think of Ann Cleeves or LJ Ross with the gritty, urban twist of Ian Rankin and Peter James - that's the Ryan Jarrod series: explosive crime fiction in the mould of traditional dark thrillers.

What people are saying about the Ryan Jarrod series:

'Narrative so rich you can smell the Tyne'
'Crying out to be a TV series or motion picture!'
'The pace of James Patterson'
'Just when you think you've seen all the plot twists, another one comes along!'
'A Geordie Rebus'
'Felt every pain and anguish. Story line excellent and what an ending'
'Wow! Colin Youngman you've done it again! You've penned another blinder of a novel'
'A real page-turner'
'Excellent twists and turns. More Ryan Jarrod, please'
'A rollicking, edge-of-the-seat read.'

The Ryan Jarrod novels are standalone stories though are best enjoyed when read in sequential order.