From the author of the acclaimed Girl with a Clock for a Heart--hailed by the Washington Post as crime fiction's best first novel of 2014--comes a devious tale of psychological suspense involving sex, deception, and an accidental encounter that leads to murder that is a modern reimagining of Patricia Highsmith's classic Strangers on a Train.
On a night flight from London to Boston, Ted Severson meets the stunning and mysterious Lily Kintner. Sharing one too many martinis, the strangers begin to play a game of truth, revealing very intimate details about themselves. Ted talks about his marriage that's going stale and his wife, Miranda, who he's sure is cheating on him. Ted and his wife were a mismatch from the start--he the rich businessman, she the artistic free spirit--a contrast that once inflamed their passion but has now become a clich├(R).
But their game turns a little darker when Ted jokes that he could kill Miranda for what she's done. Lily, without missing a beat, says calmly, I'd like to help. After all, some people are the kind worth killing, like a lying, stinking, cheating spouse.
Back in Boston, Ted and Lily's twisted bond grows stronger as they begin to plot Miranda's demise. But there are a few things about Lily's past that she hasn't shared with Ted, namely her experience in the art and craft of murder, a journey that began in her very precocious youth.
Suddenly these coconspirators are embroiled in a chilling game of cat and mouse, one they both cannot survive ... with a shrewd and very determined detective on their tail.
About the Author :
Peter Swanson is a novelist whose books have won the New England Society Book Award and made the finals for the Los Angeles Book Award and the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger award.
Johnny Heller, winner of dozens of AudioFile Earphones Awards, is a two-time winner of the prestigious Audie Award for best narration and was named a top voice of 2008 and 2009 and selected as one of the Top 50 Narrators of the Twentieth Century by AudioFile magazine. He has been a Publishers Weekly Listen-Up Award winner from 2008 through 2013.
Karen White is a classically trained actress who has been recording audiobooks since 1999. An Audie Award finalist, she has earned eight AudioFile Earphones Awards. Her reading of The Hemingses of Monticello by Annette Gordon-Reed was named one of AudioFile's Best Audiobooks of 2009.
Kathleen Early, a five-time winner of the Earphones Award for audiobook narration, is also a television, film, and stage actress. She studied at the University of Oklahoma, the Oxford School of Drama, and the Actors Theatre of Louisville before moving to New York City, where she understudied on Broadway and toured nationally. Her television credits include recurring roles on Miami Medical and Grey's Anatomy.
Keith Szarabajka has appeared in many films, including The Dark Knight, Missing, and A Perfect World, and on such television shows as The Equalizer, Angel, Cold Case, Golden Years, and Profit. Szarabajka has also appeared in several episodes of Selected Shorts for National Public Radio. He won the 2001 Audie Award for Unabridged Fiction for his reading of Tom Robbins' Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates and has won several Earphones Awards.
Review :
"Chilling and hypnotically suspenseful."
-- "Lee Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author"
"Extraordinarily well written...A harrowing journey through the hearts and minds of a cast of characters who seem normal on the outside but are deliciously abnormal on the inside. The twists are not just in the plot; they are also in the heads of the plotters."
-- "Nelson DeMille, #1 New York Times bestselling author"
"Gripping, elegantly and stylishly written, and extremely hard to put down!"
-- "Sophie Hannah, New York Times bestselling author"
"This is an audiobook that grips the listener from the opening sentence and gets even better as the story progresses, all because the engaging performances of [the] narrators...While an ensemble cast could have overwhelmed this book, these narrators enhance the story by creating distinct and memorable personas of its many psychopaths...It's hard to say which performance is best; however, Kathleen Early's seemingly emotionless presentation of Lily Swanson's complex character stands out among the narrators' stellar presentations. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award."
-- "AudioFile"
"Paints a riveting, disturbing picture of marriage gone horribly awry, with no shortage of startling surprises."
-- "Chris Pavone, New York Times bestselling author"
"There aren't just two unreliable narrators, there are four. There isn't just one enormous, game-changing twist. Try three...You'll also lose count of all the sociopaths...they're each deranged but oh so compelling."
-- "Entertainment Weekly"
"Revenge has rarely been served colder than in Swanson's exceptional thriller...With scalpel-sharp prose, Swanson probes the nature of coldblooded evil. Few will be prepared for the crushing climax."
-- "Publishers Weekly (starred review)"
"A twisty tale of warring sociopaths."
-- "Booklist"
