Xion Island Zero by Katherine Black - Out Now!

Posted by insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Wed, 12 Nov 2025

I'm very pleased to announce that Katherine Black (our very own Sooz Simpson) has just published Xion Island Zero, the sixth in her Inspector Nash series. 

Here's a review by celticman and a link to buy:

 

 

 

Xion Island Zero is the sixth in the Inspector Nash series. You don’t need to know much about Nash as each book is a standalone. Five serial killers down. One to go.

What remains consistent is place—Barrow (where the author lives).

Nash also has to stay consistently inconsistent. True to himself, the criminal justice system and its values.

When he’s outed as being gay the distance between what he believes and what he does lengthens. Those who track and catch killers are traditionally depicted as mavericks.

Clarice Sterling, for example, a new recruit hoping to join the boy’s club of the FBI in Silence of the Lambs.  

The reader knows she will win, but it’s what she loses and the journey itself which holds our interest.

The hook or inciting incident in Xion Island Zero is a declaration of war against humanity.

Travis Bernstein, aged 30, filled with hate.

He’s all things bright and beautiful. A perfectly psychopathic and brilliant biochemist. He works in  the Fort Know-how—of biological engineering, Xion Island research facility.

His weapon of choice  Ammybloma Americanum, the Lone Star tic. ‘My beautiful monster’.

24 hours, nausea, vomiting, cramps. 72 hours—death.

Hazmat paper suits, masks, shoe cover. All the things we’re familiar with from the Covid crisis.

There will be blood. Deaths. Misunderstandings. The life of the protagonist will be in the hands of the killer—no backup, no support—as Clarice Sterling’s was, so shall Nash’s in this genre be.

The ugly truth will be revealed. Justice will be served hot and cold. You will keep turning the pages until as sated as the Lone Star tic. Read on.   

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FXXW76R1(link is external)

 

 

 

Comments

Submitted by Sooz006 on

Thanks, Insert and Jack ... you are both fantastic.  I really appreciate this. 

Here's the blurb for Xion Island Zero. 
 

Deck the halls with boughs of murder.

He was never supposed to exist. Now he wants everyone to remember.

When the coastal town of Barrow-in-Furness is rocked by a wave of unexplained deaths, DCI Nash must decipher the truth of this world-ending case. How is a tiny island off the coast of America linked to the dead? The victims come from different backgrounds, but they must be connected. How?

As the body count rises, nationwide panic increases. News of a deadly virus grips the public, but this isn’t an outbreak—it’s a culling. One man walks among them, with a brilliant mind and a vengeful plan.

Dr Travis Bernstein has one mission, and he’s just getting started.

Meanwhile, Nash’s home is breached. Everything he loves is under attack. His Christmas wedding is looming, and he must protect his fiancé.

With government agencies circling and the media closing in, time is running out. Conflict between detectives Brown and Norton is the least of Nash’s worries as the team races to uncover the twisted science behind the murders before the contagion spreads.

But some experiments don’t stay buried. And the past is about to bring its victims home.

 

If people prefer, they can get the entire series in two DCI Nash boxsets (I've been waiting for Xion to get the second one out). They each comprise 3 books that can stand alone or be read in sequence. They are available on Kindle Unlimited as well as the standard formats. 

DCI Silas Nash: Volume 1 https://books2read.com/u/bWAko7?store=amazon

DCI Nash Volume 2 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FYR6DKLN/

Thank you again.