Fade to Black

Fade to Black, the electric new thriller by journalist Steve Mullins published on 28 January, is a rollercoaster ride of murder and intimidation that exposes the dark underbelly of London’s media scene.

The mysterious return of a ‘deceased’ film icon forces media man Root Wilson – the director’s obituarist – to hit the capital’s streets in search of the truth.

But powerful forces and henchmen are determined to stop Root, and he soon finds that he’s a murder suspect himself … not to mention a likely next victim.

Moving swiftly between iconic London locations – from Peckham to Parliament Hill, from Stoke Newington to Soho – Fade to Black is intricately plotted and shot through with the mood of a basement jazz club at 1am.

This stylish thriller, inspired by classic cinema, transforms London into 
a noir landscape full of fast-talking antagonists, matchless and smart-as-whip femmes fatales, and a River Thames that plays as big a part in the action as any other character.

Author Steve Mullins said: “Fade to Black saturates London in so much noir-ish ink you can pretty much see it coursing under the capital’s bridges.”

“It’s best to think of Fade to Black as The Third Man-on-Thames — Root Wilson even goes so far as to do a rewrite of Graham Greene’s screenplay!”

“I channelled an awful lot of Orson Welles and Carol Reed and I trust that pays off for the film’s aficionados.”