"From Monaco to the Maldives, this addictive mystery exposes the corruption, desperation and emotional exploitation of the super-rich through the eyes of a tutor to the daughter of a Russian oligarch."
Moving from the indulgence of Courchevel 1850 ski resort, to ostentatious Monaco, to a showdown on a super-yacht in the Maldives, Sarah Thomas’ Queen K debut tingles with the audacious corruption of billionaires, exposing the cruel lengths people will go to in pursuit of money, power and adoration.
A mystery of sorts, with a clever plot hinting that something is brewing, the novel also reveals how some people can never flee their past, and how some circles can never be infiltrated, no matter how much new money you have. It’s a rollercoaster ride through a decadent, dirty world — a garishly dazzling landscape in which grimy business, manipulation and humiliation brim beneath pristine veneers.
The story is told from the perspective of Mel, private tutor to Alex, the daughter of a Russian oligarch whose wife is desperate for their daughter to get into an English school favoured by the wealthy elite. It doesn’t take Mel long to see how dysfunctional this family is. Alex is frail, desperate to be shown love and affection. She’s a little girl in a teenager’s body whose parents make her feel like she doesn’t exist: “Bony and weak and unfit for the world, a prehistoric hatchling, a sad and stunted bird”. At the same time, Alex’s mother is desperate to please her unpredictable husband, desperate to have friends and enter society’s elite circles. Both women are eager, nervous puppies.
At gatherings, while Mel might be lowest in the pecking order, “when it comes to information, I have the bird’s eye view”. Though she has this unique perspective, and suspects dirty schemes are afoot, Mel is sometimes seduced by the dazzling wealth and luxuries she gets to enjoy — can we trust her account?
What a page-turner this is, with a showy firecracker of a climax revealing that some people will do anything to maintain their upper hand.
| Primary Genre | Crime and Mystery |
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'A classy thriller that will appeal to fans of Leila Slimani's Lullaby... A hot holiday read' Sunday Times 'A superb debut novel... Anyone who enjoyed The White Lotus will love Thomas's scalpel-sharp skewering of the mores and idiocies of the idle rich' Observer 'A dark and brilliant read . . . our bet is that this is going to be on the small or big screen' Glamour On a balmy evening in late March, an oligarch's wife hosts a party on a superyacht moored in the Maldives. Tables cover the massive deck, adorned with orchids, champagne bottles, name cards of celebrities. This is what Kata has wanted for a long time: acceptance into the glittering world of high society. But there are those who aim to come between Kata and her goal, and they are closer to home than she could have imagined. Witness to the corruption and violence underneath the shiny surfaces is Mel, a young English woman employed to tutor Kata's precocious daughter and navigate her through the class codes of English privilege. Now the closest Mel gets to such privilege is as hired help to the wealthy, and she is deeply resentful. Exquisitely written and deliciously unreliable, Queen K takes the reader to some of the most luxurious places in the world. But a dark refrain sounds from the very beginning of the story and grows towards its operatic finale: a novel about insatiable material desire can only ever be a tragedy.
Queen K features in the following genres: Crime and Mystery, Debuts, General Fiction, Modern and Contemporary Fiction, Fiction, Recommendations
Queen K is available in Paperback, Hardback
Queen K was written by Sarah Thomas and published by Serpent's Tail an imprint of Profile
Queen K has 271 pages
£8.09
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