One hen weekend, seven secrets… but only one worth killing for
Jen's hen party is going to be out of control…
She's rented a luxury getaway on its own private island. The helicopter won't be back for seventy-two hours. They are alone. They think.
As well as Jen, there's the pop diva and the estranged ex-bandmate, the tennis pro and the fashion guru, the embittered ex-sister-in-law and the mouthy future sister-in-law.
It's a combustible cocktail, one that takes little time to ignite, and in the midst of the drunken chaos, one of them disappears. Then a message tells them that unless someone confesses her terrible secret to the others, their missing friend will be killed.
Problem is, everybody has a secret. And nobody wants to tell.
The entertaining, moving, and unpredictable new thriller from multi-award-winning bestseller Chris Brookmyre is a wholly original masterpiece.
Millie Spark can kill anyone.
A special effects make-up artist, her talent is to create realistic scenes of bloody violence.
Then, one day, she wakes to find her lover dead in her bed.
Twenty-five years later, her sentence for murder served, Millicent is ready to give up on her broken life - until she meets troubled film student and reluctant petty thief Jerry.
Together, they begin to discover that all was not what it seemed on that fateful night . . . and someone doesn't want them to find out why.
Chris Brookmyre was a journalist before becoming a full-time novelist with the publication of his award-winning debut Quite Ugly One Morning, which established him as one of Britain's leading crime novelists. His 2016 novel Black Widow won both the McIlvanney Prize and the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year award. Brookmyre's novels novels have sold more than two million copies in the UK alone.
PRAISE FOR CHRIS BROOKMYRE
'Guaranteed to keep you guessing'
Ian Rankin
'Extremely sophisticated crime'
Sunday Times
'Exceptionally good'
Guardian
'In the pantheon of great crime writers'
Elly Griffiths
'Scales new heights of invention'
Times Literary Supplement
'Brookmyre writes beautifully . . . I was hooked'
Literary Review
From Chris Brookmyre, winner of the Theakstons and McIllvanney awards for Black Widow, comes a standalone psychological thriller full of twists, lies and betrayal.
One family, two holidays, one devastating secret. To new nanny Amanda, the Temple family seem to have it all: the former actress; the famous professor; their three successful grown-up children. But like any family, beneath the smiles and hugs there lurks far darker emotions. Sixteen years earlier, little Niamh Temple died while they were on holiday in Portugal. Now, as Amanda joins the family for a reunion at their seaside villa, she begins to suspect one of them might be hiding something terrible... And suspicion is a dangerous thing.
Praise for the Author: "In the pantheon of great crime writers." ELLY GRIFFITHS
A propulsive science fiction tale of murder and memory, all set on a futuristic space station. Hundreds of miles above Earth, the space station Ciudad de Cielo--The City in the Sky--is a beacon of hope for humanity's expansion into the stars. But not everyone aboard shares such noble ideals. Bootlegging, booze, and prostitution form a lucrative underground economy for rival gangs, which the authorities are happy to turn a blind eye to until a disassembled corpse is found dancing in the micro-gravity. In charge of the murder investigation is Nikki "Fix" Freeman, who is not thrilled to have Alice Blake, an uptight government goody-two-shoes, riding shotgun. As the bodies pile up, and the partners are forced to question their own memories, Nikki and Alice begin to realize that gang warfare may not be the only cause for the violence.
Sam Morpeth is left to fend for her younger sister when their mother goes to prison. But when a stranger begins to blackmail her online, she's drawn her into a trap she may not escape alive. Reporter, Jack Parlabane, is indebted to a volatile source and now that debt is being called in, it could cost him everything. Thrown together by a common enemy, Sam and Jack are about to discover they have more in common than they realise - and might be each other's only hope.
There is no perfect marriage. There is no perfect murder. Diana Jager's life crumbles when her details are released on the internet as revenge for her anti-sexism blog. Then she meets Peter. Within six months, they are married. Within six more, Peter is dead in a road accident; a nightmare end to their fairy-tale romance. But Peter's sister Lucy doesn't believe in fairy-tales, tasking maverick reporter Jack Parlabane with discovering the dark truth behind the woman the media is calling 'Black Widow.'
Civil servant Kendra has spent her whole life struggling against the Etonian powers-that-be. So when she realises her boss is up to no good, she turns whistleblower, calling a journalist who is looking for a way to fight back himself. Jack Parlabane is a hack who will go to desperate lengths for a good story. Reduced to peddling PR puff pieces, he is delighted when Kendra's information threatens to blow up a national corruption case. But Parlabane soon realises this story might prove dangerous to both of them.
Their eyes met across a crowded room. She was just a poor servant girl and he was the son of a rich industrialist. Er, no, this is a Christopher Brookmyre novel, although the eyes meeting across a crowded room part is true. Where it differs from the fairy tales is that the room in question was crowded with hostages and armed bank-robbers, and his eyes were the only part of him she could see behind the mask...
Back when they were students Simon and his friend Ray had dreams to become rock stars. Fifteen years later, their mid-thirties are bearing down fast and they're having to accept a less glamorous life. Ray takes refuge from his responsibilities by living a virtual existence in online games. People say he needs to grow up, but everybody finds their own way of coping. But for Simon it's serial murder, mass slaughter and professional assassination.
Gavin is creating a unique 'holiday experience,' every facility any tourist who hates abroad will ever want, will all be available on a converted North Sea oil rig. To test the facilities he's hosting a reunion for his old school friends. He is so busy showing off that he doesn't notice that another group have invited themselves along - a collection of terrorist mercenaries who are occasionally of more danger to themselves than to the public.
Do we really live on in some conscious form after we die, and is that form capable of communicating with the world of the living? "Aye, right..." was journalist Jack Parlabane's stance on the matter. But this was before he found himself in the compromising position of being not only dead himself, but dead with an exclusive still to file. One thing he knows for certain - death is not the end - it's the ultimate undercover assignment.
We could tell you about the bodies. We could tell you their names, where they were found, the state they were in. We could tell you about the suspects too, the evidence, the investigators; join a few dots, even throw you a motive. But what would be the point? After all, you know these people. You went to school with them. We all did. So if you really knew them then, you'll already have all the answers...
