Black Thorn: A slow-burning, multi-layered mystery about families and their secrets and lies
Jul 2023 · Pan Macmillan
Ebook
400
Pages
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About this ebook
Sarah Hilary, Theakston’s Crime Novel of the Year winner and author of Fragile, returns with Black Thorn, a slow-burn psychological mystery set against the abandonment of an exclusive housing development and devastation of the families that lived there . . .
'An astonishingly gifted writer' – Marian Keyes
‘Immersive, claustrophobic, unbearably tense and quite brilliant' – Ann Cleeves
How much do you really know about the people next door?
Blackthorn Ashes was meant to be their forever home. For the first six families moving into the exclusive new housing development, it was a chance to live a peaceful life on the cliffs overlooking the Cornish sea, safe in the knowledge that it had been created just for them.
But six weeks later, paradise is lost. Six people are dead. And Blackthorn Ashes is left abandoned and unfinished, its dark shadows hiding all manner of secrets.
One of its surviving residents, exiled to a local caravan park in the wake of the tragedy, is Agnes Gale, an autistic woman trying to survive the fallout with her family. She is determined to find out the truth about what happened. Even if that truth is deadlier than she could have ever believed possible . . .
With a compelling, diverse cast of characters, and moving back-and-forth between time periods with an increasingly pervasive sense of unease, Black Thorn is perfect for book clubs and fans of Belinda Bauer.
‘A creepy and atmospheric tale, beautifully and sensitively written’ – The Guardian
Readers love Black Thorn:
‘Grips so hard you can't stop reading’
‘Clever, haunting and beautifully written’
‘An author that never puts a foot wrong’
'An astonishingly gifted writer' – Marian Keyes
‘Immersive, claustrophobic, unbearably tense and quite brilliant' – Ann Cleeves
How much do you really know about the people next door?
Blackthorn Ashes was meant to be their forever home. For the first six families moving into the exclusive new housing development, it was a chance to live a peaceful life on the cliffs overlooking the Cornish sea, safe in the knowledge that it had been created just for them.
But six weeks later, paradise is lost. Six people are dead. And Blackthorn Ashes is left abandoned and unfinished, its dark shadows hiding all manner of secrets.
One of its surviving residents, exiled to a local caravan park in the wake of the tragedy, is Agnes Gale, an autistic woman trying to survive the fallout with her family. She is determined to find out the truth about what happened. Even if that truth is deadlier than she could have ever believed possible . . .
With a compelling, diverse cast of characters, and moving back-and-forth between time periods with an increasingly pervasive sense of unease, Black Thorn is perfect for book clubs and fans of Belinda Bauer.
‘A creepy and atmospheric tale, beautifully and sensitively written’ – The Guardian
Readers love Black Thorn:
‘Grips so hard you can't stop reading’
‘Clever, haunting and beautifully written’
‘An author that never puts a foot wrong’
About the author
Sarah Hilary’s debut novel, Someone Else’s Skin, won the 2015 Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year and was a World Book Night selection. The Observer’s Book of the Month (‘superbly disturbing’) and a Richard and Judy Book Club bestseller, it has been published worldwide. No Other Darkness, the second in the series, was shortlisted for a Barry Award in the US. Her DI Marnie Rome series continues with Tastes Like Fear, Quieter Than Killing, Come and Find Me, and Never Be Broken. Black Thorn is her second standalone novel, following Fragile.
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