<a href="http://davidhewson.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/6a00d8341c7d9d53ef011168ca96aa970c-pi.jpg"><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-7676" title="6a00d8341c7d9d53ef011168ca96aa970c-pi" src="http://davidhewson.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/6a00d8341c7d9d53ef011168ca96aa970c-pi-198x300.jpg" alt="" width="116" height="177" /></a>A young woman sits on the London Tube. A foreign man next to her behaves very oddly then says, 'They will remember my name.'

<a href="http://davidhewson.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/mammoth+book+of+best+British+crime+8+Maxim+Jakubowski.jpg"><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-7679" title="mammoth+book+of+best+British+crime+8,+Maxim+Jakubowski" src="http://davidhewson.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/mammoth+book+of+best+British+crime+8+Maxim+Jakubowski-196x300.jpg" alt="" width="104" height="160" /></a><em>The Circle</em> is a story set in a city beset by fear. Of terrorism. Of the people sitting next to you on the train. It first appeared in <em>Thriller 2</em> edited by Clive Cussler. I'm very flattered to say it's in <em>The Mammoth Book of Best of British Crime </em>for 2011 too, edited by Maxim Jakubowski.

Here's a review of it from <a href="http://thethinkpot.co.uk/blog/2010/10/17/thriller-2/" target="_blank">the Thinkpot</a>...
<blockquote>The paranoia of London’s underground bombing is revived in Hewson’s  story of Melissa Darma. The tension of entrapment, strangers and  paranoia is interspersed with terrific description. The power of the  thriller short story is highlighted here: exposition is married with  character, dialogue is sparse yet informative.

“The Circle” feels as though it’s one of those episodes of “Prime  Suspect”, gritty, British and real. That’s hardly surprising as Hewson  stems from Kent, England. Although I’ve only ever been on the London  Tube once, his description of claustrophobia rung a bell for me.</blockquote>