"This shrewd, seductive Berlin-set thriller sees a struggling novelist hijack someone else’s story, with uncertainty and misdirection mounting at every turn."
Telling the gripping tale of a Berlin-based writer’s appropriation of a stranger’s story, Chris Power’s A Lonely Man misdirects and seduces with a magician’s sleight of hand. Readers will teeter on the very edge of their seats as they - and the protagonist - are lured into a snare of distrust, with the novel simmering to an entirely unexpected end.
Robert has moved from London to Berlin with his wife and two young daughters. While struggling to find his creative mojo, he meets drunk, charismatic, nervy Patrick. Patrick was ghost-writing a no-holds-barred book on behalf of an exiled Russian oligarch who was recently found hanged. Patrick believes it was murder, that he’s now being followed.
Robert notes early on that “he had never known when to stop” and, true to form, despite deciding he’d only meet Patrick for one drink, it doesn’t stop there. Beers, whiskeys, and more for the road flow as Patricks explains how he met the mega-rich oligarch and the high-level secrets his book was due to expose. Though Robert he felt “like he had spent the evening walking into some kind of trap” and he’s not sure if it’s true, Patrick’s story has slithered under his skin and he secretly sets about transforming it into a novel.
Highly recommend for readers who like their thrillers laced with chilling intrigue, the novel operates as a kind of puzzle, raising questions around the ownership of stories, and uncertainty planted with elegant aplomb.
A New Statesman Book of the Year 2021A Metro Book of the Year 2021A Washington Post '10 Best Thriller and Mystery Books of 2021''Gripping.' FINANCIAL TIMES'A classy page-turner.' MAIL ON SUNDAY'A taut, subtle, postmodern literary thriller.' SUNDAY TIMESWhen two men meet in a bookshop in Berlin they begin an uneasy friendship. Patrick has a sensational story to tell: a ghostwriter for a Russian oligarch recently found hanged, he says the people who killed his boss are now following him...A twist on the cat-and-mouse narrative, A Lonely Man is about the search for identity and the elastic nature of truth. As the two men's association hurtles towards tragedy, Robert is forced to confront whether actual events are the only things that give a story life, and if some stories are too dangerous to tell.'A remarkable debut; an accomplished and intricately plotted story.'-JON McGREGOR'A Lonely Man is a delicate snare of a novel.'-BRANDON TAYLOR'A thrilling, unnerving novel. a page-turner with exacting syntax and emotional heft.'-CATHERINE LACEY
| Primary Genre | Thriller and Suspense |
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Closing date: 15/10/2026
A New Statesman Book of the Year 2021A Metro Book of the Year 2021A Washington Post '10 Best Thriller and Mystery Books of 2021''Gripping.' FINANCIAL TIMES'A classy page-turner.' MAIL ON SUNDAY'A taut, subtle, postmodern literary thriller.' SUNDAY TIMESWhen two men meet in a bookshop in Berlin they begin an uneasy friendship. Patrick has a sensational story to tell: a ghostwriter for a Russian oligarch recently found hanged, he says the people who killed his boss are now following him...A twist on the cat-and-mouse narrative, A Lonely Man is about the search for identity and the elastic nature of truth.
A Lonely Man features in the following genres: Thriller and Suspense, Debut Books of the Month, Debuts, Modern and Contemporary Fiction, Political / Legal Thrillers, Fiction, Recommendations, General Fiction
Paperback, Hardback, CD-Audio. £9.89, down from the £10.99 cover price. In Stock.
A Lonely Man was written by Chris Power and published by Faber & Faber
A Lonely Man has 320 pages
£9.89, reduced from £10.99. In Stock.
