Brilliantly constructed speculative crime fiction A classic whodunit Dark psychological suspense Doug Johnstone returns with his most explosive and original thriller yet...
Short, sharp, punchy. As a reimagined Edinburgh sits with a volcano on the doorstep, volcanologist Surtsey discovers the very dead body of her lover, and a split-second decision turns her entire world upside down. Doug Johnstone sets the pace from the very beginning, fast moving chapters kept my thoughts whirring. Surtsey is a fascinating character, living her life in the moment, her actions reverberated across the surface of the pages. I could feel her shock, her confusion, yet she didn’t allow me close enough to form a bond, consequently I found myself evaluating, sifting, perhaps even judging. It feels as though a reckoning is thundering towards Surtsey, and I sat waiting, expectantly tense, ready to view the outcome. ‘Fault Lines’ cranks up the volume on original, yet feels intensely raw, earthy, and real, for a short book, it packs a mighty wallop.
| Primary Genre | Thriller and Suspense |
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| Recommendations: |
Fault lines is a great murder mystery that has you page turning from the start. A classic who done it with intrigue, love and an unknown motive. Great read!
Fault Lines is a great read that has you hooked from the first few pages.
The main character Surtsey is a volcanologist working on an amazing Island called the Inch but she has fallen for a married colleague and an incident on the Inch causes a series of lies and traumas that almost end it all for Surtsey.
I love crime dramas and was impressed with the way that Doug Johnstone weaved the personal family drama of Surtsey with a shocking incident that casts her morality in doubt.... Read Full Review
Fault Lines is a gripping novel with secrets as dark as the black volcanic sand and rock of The Inch itself.
Set in an alternative Edinburgh where a volcanic island has sprung up in the Firth of Forth, we meet Surtsey, a volcanologist, whose life is about to implode in ways she could never have imagined.
She sets out on her boat to secretly meet her lover, Tom, a married professor. But when she gets to the island of The Inch, their usual meeting spot, hidden from prying eyes, she discovers his body, his head caved in, being eaten by birds.
Panic setting in, she rows herself back to the mainland and tells no one what she saw.
But someone saw her.
“I know you were there”, said the text message.
Like a message from the island itself.... Read Full Review
A rich dark emotional thriller with so many twists and turns that will keep you guessing right to the end.
Fault Lines is a well constructed psychological thriller that I couldn't put down and kept me guessing right to the end.
The story opens with a young volcanologist called Surtsey travelling to a new volcanic island in the Firth of Forth to meet Tom, her boss and much older married lover with whom she had been having a clandestine affair for several months. Instead she finds his murdered body and makes the decision to keep her discovery and their affair a secret. She finds and pockets his phone that was only used for calls between them. However she is horrified to receive a text on this phone from someone who claims to know she was there on the island. After the body is discovered, she and the rest of the team are interviewed by the police and this is the start of lies to protect her secret.... Read Full Review
When volcanologist Surtsey finds her married lover dead, she pockets his phone and makes the fatal decision to keep her discovery secret ... but someone has been watching... 'A cracking and highly original thriller' Mark Billingham 'You don't read Fault Lines so much as you white-knuckle your way through its twists and turns' Megan Abbott 'A superb, highly original psychological chiller' Steve Cavanagh ____________________ In a reimagined contemporary Edinburgh, where a tectonic fault has opened up to produce a new volcano in the Firth of Forth, and where tremors are an everyday occurrence, volcanologist Surtsey makes a shocking discovery. On a clandestine trip to new volcanic island The Inch, to meet Tom, her lover and her boss, she finds his lifeless body, and makes the fatal decision to keep their affair, and her discovery, a secret. Desperate to know how he died, but also terrified she'll be exposed, Surtsey's life quickly spirals into a nightmare when someone makes contact - someone who claims to know what she's done... ____________________ 'An explosive thriller' Daily Record 'A cracking-good thriller with some seriously good writing and some beautifully designed characters ... Here's a writer pushing the thriller envelope, giving the reader not just a good novel, but also a unique one' David Pitt, Booklist 'Novel and elegant ... it is the book's thought-provoking and heart-breaking moments that carry the reader through the story and which resonate most at the end' Scotsman 'Both a meditation on the volatility of human nature and a gripping thriller with plenty of twists and turns ... An original and addictive thriller, as intelligent as it is shocking' Foreword Reviews 'Richly characterised, beautifully crafted, this is a book that you truly inhabit' Emma Kavanagh 'Scotland's truest exponent of noir' Chris Brookmyre 'A subtly off-kilter speculative thriller that builds to a truly explosive ending' Eva Dolan 'A pacey, gripping read' Louise Voss 'Sexy, fearless and addictive' Helen FitzGerald 'Johnstone weaves his compelling and original tale with great skill and elegance from the gripping beginning to a tense and explosive ending' Amanda Jennings 'Brilliantly unputdownable' Martyn Waites 'Superb' Luca Veste 'Blending powerful imagination and plotting, this is the work of a writer at the top of his game' Stuart Neville 'Plays with every single emotion' Susi Holliday 'This had me hooked from the first page' Cass Green 'Poignant, gripping and packed with seismic shocks' Paddy Magrane 'Incisive, intelligent and imaginative' Michael J. Malone 'I was completely swept away' Caroline Mitchell 'Hits you lie a seismic shock' Douglas Skelton 'Grabs you by the throat in the first chapter' Neil Broadfoot
Fault Lines features in the following genres: Thriller and Suspense, Shorter Reads, eBooks of the Month, Fiction, Fiction: special features, Recommendations
Fault Lines is available in Ebook, Paperback
Fault Lines was written by Doug Johnstone and published by Orenda Books
£6.73
