From the author of The Killing, a stunning new standalone thriller set in the far reaches of the Venetian Lagoon…Author Tom Honeyman has locked himself away on a tiny, remote island in the Venetian lagoon in the hope of finding the inspiration to save his career. Instead, he has an unwanted intruder, and a threatening deadline. Tom made his money naming the killer in a vicious murder in his … home town Prosper in upstate New York. But the individual who’s infiltrated himself onto Tom’s island says he fingered the wrong man. Without access to the outside world, no phone, no internet, no means of escape, Tom must write a new book naming the real villain… or lose his life.
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I greatly enjoyed “the killing” series by this author that I read earlier this year. I jumped at the occasion to see if I like the rest of his work. So, I expected much of this new book and OMG, I was not disappointed.
Thomas Honeyman, an American writer with dwindling success, arrives on his island in the marshes around Venice to finish his latest novel. He made his fortune with a true crime book about a nasty fire that happened in his home town but could never reach that level again. His island home is primitive, remote and contains the derelict remains of an asylum/leper colony. There’s an armed stranger waiting for him who has somehow got hold of Tom’s estranged daughter. They haven’t spoken since her mother committed suicide 4 years earlier, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t love her. The kidnapper uses Lauren as leverage to make the author write a new book about the fire. A book where he admits to the lies he fabricated and reveals information he withheld and most of all where he reveals the real murderer. All this has to be done in the next 4 days before the feast of the redeemer starts or he and his daughter will be torched.
In the book, there’s already a parallel made to Scheherazade and 1001 nights and it befits this book like a glove. Tom has to keep writing, not only to save his life but that of his daughter as well. And that what he writes has to please the kidnapper.
It’s an interesting way to look at murder. There’s a murder mystery, it’s a cold case (although a supposedly solved one) that has to be solved far from the scene and the people involved, solely based on old interviews and tapes with no possibility to acquire new information
The story is told in 2 different time frames. There’s the here and now with the hostage situation and problems of writing under duress. But there’s also the story of the events leading to the tragedy of 2008 in America. A fire wherein a teacher and her student died. You’ve got the events as everybody believes them to be because that’s how they’re put in his book but now new evidence points to another possibility.
It’s really masterly done how the doubt and suspicions slowly creep into the story. At first, you believe that the writer has done nothing wrong but being overconfident in his findings, then you start looking for another possible killer until they lead to a chilling realisation. And every time you think “that’s it, we know all now” there’s another twist or turn that steer you in another direction. The end is really mind-blowing. I had expected early on that the teacher must have had a female lover as well, but the different corners the story turns after that was established, aren’t foreseeable in a million years. It’s really creepy and baffling at times. Well done! It’s more than mere crime fiction; it certainly deserves the title of a psychological thriller as well.
I thank BooksGoSocial and Netgalley for the free ARC they gave me; this is my unbiased, honest review of it.
Very creepy in so many ways. Didn’t see the ending coming after pages & pages of raunchy writing.
Tom Honeyman made his name cracking a horrific double murder in his hometown of Prosper, New York. He got an international best seller out of it, made a small fortune, and left his newspaper reporting days behind. More than a decade after his one and only success, Honeyman’s life is in tatters. His wife committed suicide, his daughter hasn’t spoken to him in years, and his books don’t sell. He’s sequestered himself in his wreck of a retreat on an island in Venice, desperate to find the inspiration that will revive his career.
The author is a must read for me so I expected to enjoy this book & it didn’t disappoint. Twists, turns keep you guessing as everything is gradually revealed throughout the book, but is everything as it seems? Strong characters & a well plotted story kept me engrossed all the way through
My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read