Description

‘Great characterisation and plenty of genuine suspense in a psychological thriller par excellence’ Guardian

‘Absorbing and original … The writing is pitch perfect. A very smart tale packed with jeopardy’ Daily Mail

‘Terrifying and amusing … keeps you guessing till the very end’ The Times

A nephew. An uncle. A psychopath – but which of them is it?

Gil knows his nephew Matthew is dangerous. The signs were there early – on a family holiday Gil’s daughter was discovered nearly drowning at the bottom of a swimming pool, while Matthew looked on from the deck.

Now seventeen, Matthew is orphaned when his parents die in a car crash. He must leave his life on the Upper East Side of Manhattan behind, to live with Gil, his wife and daughters in rural Vermont. He is insolent, bored, disconnected. At least that’s Gil’s take. To the women in the family he is charming, intelligent, wry.

But when he disdainfully joins Gil’s writing classes at the local university, Matthew’s fiction shows a vivid and macabre imagination spilling onto the page. Matthew is clearly announcing his intentions to Gil, taunting him before he does something awful to his family. But why is Gil the only one who can see this? As Gil begins to follow Matthew around, his own behaviour becomes increasingly unstable. Is he losing his mind? Could it be that he is really the one his family need to fear?

Publisher Review

Not only a deep dive into the things that can rock the cradle of a family, but also an absolute page-turner. I read it in a single sitting. * Miranda Cowley Heller, author of The Paper Palace * This is SO up my street. Gil is estranged from his wealthy sister, as her son once tried to drown Gil's daughter when they were kids. But when his sister dies, Gil adopts the would-be-murderer. LOVE IT * Joanna Cannon, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep * Phenomenal. A highly enjoyable Russian doll of a story. Impossible to put down. A remarkable debut * Lisa Ballantyne, bestselling author of The Guilty One *