By: Sarah Summer
By the time readers reach the opening chapters of Murderous Beauty, it’s clear that Belgian novelist Philip Arklow isn’t interested in polite suspense. His crime fiction moves fast, cuts between points of view, and leans hard into institutional pressure, pharmaceutical research, corporate power, and security systems that fail under stress. The result is a thriller that treats global stakes and personal consequences as inseparable.
Arklow describes his approach as “factional” crime fiction: stories built on real-world systems and facts, then shaped into fictional narratives. That framework is evident throughout Murderous Beauty and its follow-up, Murderous Beauty: The Sequel and the End (out Jan. 8, 2026). Set primarily between London and Sierra Leone, the two-part story centers on a pharmaceutical breakthrough in Alzheimer’s research, and the violence that erupts once money and power enter the equation.
At the heart of the series is CytoSerum, a pharmaceutical company on the brink of a discovery that could change lives. The promise of a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease is presented not as a miracle, but as a catalyst. Once rival interests become aware of the research, threats escalate quickly, pulling scientists and their families into danger. The novels move from corporate maneuvering to kidnappings and targeted attacks, making clear that innovation rarely exists in a vacuum.
Arklow’s writing style mirrors the subject matter. Scenes are cut with the efficiency of a procedural, moving between boardrooms, streets, and crisis points with little downtime. In early chapters, a seemingly ordinary arrival at London’s St Pancras station gives way to a sudden assassination attempt and a city-wide pursuit. Elsewhere, surveillance and abduction unfold with a methodical calm that underscores the seriousness of the threat. The pacing is deliberate, but relentless.
What distinguishes Murderous Beauty from many contemporary thrillers is its emphasis on systems rather than spectacle. The danger doesn’t come from a single mastermind delivering monologues; it comes from layered decisions—corporate, financial, and security-related—that compound until violence becomes inevitable. Characters are shaped by their roles within these systems, whether as executives, scientists, or protectors, and the narrative repeatedly asks what responsibility looks like when innovation carries a price tag.
The sequel deepens those questions. Murderous Beauty: The Sequel and the End expands the emotional and psychological stakes, following the consequences of earlier choices rather than resetting the board. An attack in London’s Greenwich Foot Tunnel marks a tonal shift, pushing the story away from pursuit and toward reckoning. The second book doesn’t simply escalate the action; it interrogates the costs of survival once the damage is done.
Critical response has highlighted the balance of momentum and plausibility. The series has received multiple five-star reviews from Readers’ Favorite, which praised the books for pacing, research depth, and believable characters. Reviewers have noted the novels’ willingness to engage with difficult subject matter—violence, exploitation, and ethical compromise—without softening the edges for comfort. The content is not light, and Arklow does not present it as such.
That seriousness extends to the way the books are positioned. Published by Olympia Publishers, the Murderous Beauty novels sit firmly in the crime and thriller space, rather than crossing into speculative science fiction. Alzheimer’s research is treated as a real and present field with ethical implications, not as a fantastical device. The fiction asks how far corporations might go to protect intellectual property—and what happens to individuals caught in the middle.
Arklow’s background in the security and pharmaceutical worlds informs that realism. While the novels are fictional, the procedures, pressures, and institutional responses depicted are drawn from lived knowledge. That grounding allows the story to explore moral dilemmas without tipping into caricature. Heroes and villains alike are portrayed as products of their environments, shaped by incentives as much as intent.
The international scope also matters. By moving the story between Europe and West Africa, Arklow avoids a purely domestic lens. The global reach of pharmaceutical research—and the inequalities that can arise from it—becomes part of the narrative texture. Settings are not decorative backdrops; they shape the risks characters face and the options available to them.
For readers accustomed to thrillers driven by twist-for-twist plotting, Murderous Beauty offers a different appeal. The tension comes less from surprise than from inevitability: the sense that once certain lines are crossed, consequences will follow. That approach may not be designed for casual consumption, but it rewards attention.
Arklow, a full-time author in his mid-fifties, lives primarily in Belgium and writes with an eye toward international readership. His interviews often focus on realism in crime fiction and the ethics of storytelling when real-world suffering—such as neurodegenerative disease—is part of the narrative landscape. He doesn’t present his work as comfort reading, and he doesn’t promise easy answers.
As the second book brings the series to a close in early 2026, Murderous Beauty stands as a cohesive two-part exploration of how progress, profit, and protection collide. In a genre crowded with high concepts and escalating spectacle, Arklow’s novels make a quieter, more unsettling argument: the most dangerous crimes are often the ones that look rational on paper.
For readers looking for crime fiction that treats its subject matter with weight—and for those interested in stories where the systems themselves are under examination—Murderous Beauty offers a sharp, unflinching entry point.
Murderous Beauty (Book 1)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Murderous-Beauty-Philip-Arklow-ebook/dp/B0CK16LN6S
Murderous Beauty: The Sequel and the End (Book 2)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Murderous-Beauty-Sequel-Philip-Arklow/dp/183543519X
