Clare Mackintosh - Author
About the Author
Clare Mackintosh spent twelve years in the police force, including time on CID, and as a public order commander. She left the police in 2011 to work as a freelance journalist and social media consultant, and now writes full time. She is the founder and director of Chipping Norton Literary Festival, and lives in the Cotswolds with her husband and their three children.
Author photo © Smart Photography
Featured books by Clare Mackintosh
Hostage
The less said the better about this latest nail-biter from Mackintosh. A kind of locked-room mystery aboard an intercontinental flight in which a flight attendant is given an impossible choice by terrorists: bring down the plane if you want your daughter at home to live. But there is a dark underbelly to this tale, and the stunning, unsettling conclusion will stick with you long after you’ve put that jaw of yours back in place. Selected by Linwood Barclay, Our Autumn 2021 Guest Editor. Click here to read the full Guest Editor Piece.
After the End
Prepare yourself for an emotional read… full of deep abiding love and hope, there are also parts of this book that caused an intensely physical ache long after I’d finished reading. I don’t want to give too much away, I want you to be able to enter as I did, and experience all that is on offer. So, let me just say that Max and Pip have to make an impossible decision, one that will affect them forever more. The prologue sets the scene perfectly, and I felt a fellow sharp intake of breath at the last sentence before moving to chapter one. This is one of those books where I didn’t make many notes as I read, I was completely caught up in the story. Each character is perfectly placed, their emotions reaching out from the page to touch my heart and soul. There are times when right and wrong do not exist in a clear, comprehensive format and this book successfully shreds presupposition into tiny confetti-like pieces. After I had finished reading, the note at the end by Clare Mackintosh sent goosebumps skittering down my arms. After the End is powerful, provocative, and I can wholeheartedly recommend this extraordinarily beautiful read. I have chosen it as one of my picks of the month and a LoveReading star book.
The Donor Quick Reads 2020
She gave you everything. But what does she want in return? When Lizzie's daughter Meg is given a life-saving heart transplant, Lizzie feels hugely grateful to the nameless donor. Then she receives a letter from the donor's mother, Karen, asking to meet, and it seems like the least she can do. But as soon as Karen is welcomed into their lives, Lizzie feels something isn't right. And before long, she can't help but worry that by inviting Karen in, she might have put Meg in danger . . .
Let Me Lie
The police say it was suicide. Anna says it was murder. They're both wrong. One year ago, Caroline Johnson chose to end her life brutally: a shocking suicide planned to match that of her husband just months before. Their daughter, Anna, has struggled to come to terms with their loss ever since. Now with a young baby of her own, Anna misses her mother more than ever and starts to ask questions about her parents' deaths. But by digging up the past, is she putting her future in danger? Sometimes it's safer to let things lie . . . Discover the sensational, gripping new page-turner and NUMBER ONE Sunday Times bestseller from Clare Mackintosh, award-winning author of breakout bestsellers I See You and I Let You Go
I See You
'A highly accomplished novel ...arresting ...ingenious' Sunday Times 'Wonderfully sinister' Fiona Barton, author of The Widow When Zoe Walker sees her photo in the classifieds section of a London newspaper, she is determined to find out why it's there. There's no explanation: just a grainy image, a website address and a phone number. She takes it home to her family, who are convinced it's just someone who looks like Zoe. But the next day the advert shows a photo of a different woman, and another the day after that. Is it a mistake? A coincidence? Or is someone keeping track of every move they make ...
I Let You Go
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLEROne of The New York Times Book Review's 10 Best Crime Novels of 2016!The next blockbuster thriller for those who lovedThe Girl on the Trainand Gone Girl...';a finely crafted novel with a killer twist.'(#1New York Timesbestselling authorPaula Hawkins) On a rainy afternoon, a mother's life is shattered as her son slips from her grip and runs into the street... I Let You Go follows Jenna Gray as she moves to a ramshackle cottage on the remote Welsh coast, trying to escape the memory of the car accident that plays again and again in her mind and desperate to heal from the loss of her child and the rest of her painful past. At the same time, the novel tracks the pair of Bristol police investigators trying to get to the bottom of this hit-and-run. As they chase down one hopeless lead after another, they find themselves as drawn to each other as they are to the frustrating, twist-filled case before them. Elizabeth Haynes, author of Into the Darkest Corner, says, ';I read I Let You Go in two sittings; it made me cry (at least twice), made me gasp out loud (once), and above all made me wish I'd written it...a stellar achievement.'
Other books by Clare Mackintosh
A Cotswold Family Life
Don't miss the powerful and page-turning new novel from Clare Mackintosh - AFTER THE END is out now ___________ From bestselling author Clare Mackintosh, A Cotswold Family Life is a humorous, warm memoir of family life in the countryside 'Insightful, funny, absorbing' Prue Leith 'Original yet totally recognisable' Katie Fforde 'Sheer bliss!' Jill Mansell 'Heartfelt and poignant' Sunday Express I have always loved the Cotswolds. I think I loved them even before I found them, in that half-formed ideal one has of where to put down roots. Somewhere peaceful, green, where the road meanders between drystone walls and from town to town, and a strip of blue bursts from brook to river and back again. For 8 years, Clare Mackintosh wrote for Cotswold Life about the ups and downs of life with a young family in the countryside. In this memoir she brings together all of those stories - and more - for the first time. From keeping chickens to getting the WI drunk, longing for an Aga to dealing with nits, Clare opens the door to family life with warmth and humour and heart.
Let Me Lie
Don't miss the powerful and page-turning new novel from Clare Mackintosh - AFTER THE END is the most hopeful book you'll read this year and it's out now ____________________ Read the addictive thriller and number one bestseller Let Me Lie - from the award-winning author of breakout sensations I See You and I Let You Go. 'Another one-more-chapter, stay-up-late sensation' Lee Child 'A work of genius' Joanna Cannon 'No one writes a twist like Clare Mackintosh' Paula Hawkins The police say it was suicide. Anna says it was murder. Who do you believe? One year ago, Caroline Johnson chose to end her life brutally: a shocking suicide planned to match that of her husband just months before. Their daughter, Anna, has struggled to come to terms with their loss ever since. Now with a young baby of her own, Anna misses her mother more than ever and starts to ask questions about her parents' deaths. But by digging up the past, is she putting her future in danger? Sometimes it's safer to let things lie . . . Praise for Let Me Lie 'A rollercoaster ride with a shocker of a final sentence' Good Housekeeping 'With twists aplenty, this is a belter of a novel' Heat 'As heartbreakingly sad as it is breakneck thrilling, Let Me Lie is a triumph for Clare Mackintosh' Louise Candlish, Sunday Times bestselling author of Our House 'Let Me Lie is absolutely BRILLIANT. I LOVED it. I think this is Clare Mackintosh's best yet' Marian Keyes 'Clare Mackintosh does it again. A brilliantly twisting tale of toxic families' Erin Kelly, Sunday Times bestselling author of He Said/She Said
Let Me Lie
The stunning new novel from Clare Mackintosh, the international bestselling author of I Let You Go and I See You.The police say it was suicide.Anna says it was murder.They're both wrong.Last year, Tom and Caroline Johnson chose to end their lives, one seemingly unable to live without the other. Their daughter, Anna, is struggling to come to terms with her parents' deaths, unwilling to accept the verdict of suicide.Now with a baby herself, Anna feels her mother's absence keenly and is determined to find out what really happened to her parents. But as she digs up the past, someone is trying to stop her.Sometimes it's safer to let things lie....
I See You
';[A] well-told suspense story...refreshingly realistic.'The New York Times Book Review ';Danger feels real in the brilliant I See YouMackintosh seems destined to do important work for many years to come.'The Washington Post ';Mackintosh allots her characters the perfect amount of back story, allowing them to carry their own weight throughout the investigation. She also casts enough extras to keep readers guessing who could be behind these attacksreaders may find themselves wanting to reread this one.'Associated Press';[A] deliciously creepy tale of urban paranoia.'Ruth Ware, New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in Cabin 10The author of the New York Times bestseller I Let You Go propels readers into a dark and claustrophobic thriller, in which a normal, everyday woman becomes trapped in the confines of her normal, everyday world... Every morning and evening, Zoe Walker takes the same route to the train station, waits at a certain place on the platform, finds her favorite spot in the car, never suspecting that someone is watching her... It all starts with a classified ad. During her commute home one night, while glancing through her local paper, Zoe sees her own face staring back at her; a grainy photo along with a phone number and a listing for a website called FindTheOne.com. Other women begin appearing in the same ad, a different one every day, and Zoe realizes they've become the victims of increasingly violent crimesincluding murder. With the help of a determined cop, she uncovers the ad's twisted purpose...A discovery that turns her paranoia into full-blown panic. Zoe is sure that someone close to her has set her up as the next target. And now that man on the trainthe one smiling at Zoe from across the carcould be more than just a friendly stranger. He could be someone who has deliberately chosen her and is ready to make his next move
I Let You Go
Winner of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award 2016. A hit-and-run in Bristol, a dead five year old and a CID police partnership with a spark between the partners. Good police procedural stuff. Then a first-person narrative girl, Jenna, goes into hiding in Wales and another first-person voice from her past tells a story too. There is so much left hanging, so much you assume and then find it not to be so that enables the mystery to ratchet up the tension. What starts slowly and pretty formulaically suddenly turns and becomes truly compulsive. Great stuff. ~ Sarah Broadhurst May 2015 Debut of the Month