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The Killing Lessons
On sale
22nd October 2015
Price: £10.99
‘Do not read this. No reader deserves to be terrified like this’ Linwood Barclay
‘Explosively exciting’ SUNDAY MIRROR
‘Brutally compelling serial killer thriller… told at blistering pace’ DAILY MAIL
‘Completely mesmerizing!’ Lisa Gardner
When the two strangers turn up at Rowena Cooper’s isolated Colorado farmhouse, she knows instantly that it’s the end of everything. For the two haunted and driven men, on the other hand, it’s just another stop on a long and bloody journey. And they still have many miles to go, and victims to sacrifice, before their work is done.
For San Francisco homicide detective Valerie Hart, their trail of corpses – women abducted, tortured and left with a seemingly random series of objects inside them – has brought her from obsession to the edge of physical and psychological destruction. And she’s losing hope of making a breakthrough before that happens.
But the slaughter at the Cooper farmhouse didn’t quite go according to plan. There was a survivor, Rowena’s 10-year-old daughter Nell, who now holds the key to the killings. Injured, half-frozen, terrified, Nell has only one place to go. And that place could be even more terrifying than what she’s running from.
‘Explosively exciting’ SUNDAY MIRROR
‘Brutally compelling serial killer thriller… told at blistering pace’ DAILY MAIL
‘Completely mesmerizing!’ Lisa Gardner
When the two strangers turn up at Rowena Cooper’s isolated Colorado farmhouse, she knows instantly that it’s the end of everything. For the two haunted and driven men, on the other hand, it’s just another stop on a long and bloody journey. And they still have many miles to go, and victims to sacrifice, before their work is done.
For San Francisco homicide detective Valerie Hart, their trail of corpses – women abducted, tortured and left with a seemingly random series of objects inside them – has brought her from obsession to the edge of physical and psychological destruction. And she’s losing hope of making a breakthrough before that happens.
But the slaughter at the Cooper farmhouse didn’t quite go according to plan. There was a survivor, Rowena’s 10-year-old daughter Nell, who now holds the key to the killings. Injured, half-frozen, terrified, Nell has only one place to go. And that place could be even more terrifying than what she’s running from.
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Reviews
'I loved this book. I loved the way I was taken through the story with no holds barred...The pace left me breathless, the characters are convincing and the story is a real adrenalin rush.'
Completely mesmerizing! Black delivers a powerhouse of a thriller: two terrifying villains versus one damaged cop with numerous lives in the balance. Not to be missed
Do not read this. No reader deserves to be terrified like this
If you want to ruin a perfectly good weekend with a gut-wrenching, spine-tingling, deeply disturbing, edge-of-the-seat-thrilling crime novel, The Killing Lessons is your ticket. Beware.
Unbelievably good...this one has it all
The Killing Lessons is the freshest, scariest and most intelligent serial killer novel I've read in years; taut, tense, beautifully written and gripping
'Intelligent and moving as well as knuckle-whiteningly terrifying.'
The Killing Lessons is a dark, twisted, and deeply compelling read. Saul Black perfectly inhabits each of his characters, even the most deranged among them, and weaves a breathless thriller that is as beautiful as it is terrifying.
Completely mesmerizing! Black delivers a powerhouse of a thriller: two terrifying villains versus one damaged cop with numerous lives in the balance. Not to be missed.
Do not read this. No reader deserves to be terrified like this
'Explosively exciting... The sheer brilliance of the prose and the pace of the action sweeps you up into a utterly believable world.'
Unbelievably good...this one has it all
Writers may change their names, but they never lose their style. Saul Black (aka Glen Duncan) has taken on the darkest corner of the crime genre and produced a thriller that breathes new life into serial killer fiction. The Killing Lessons made my knuckles go white as I gripped the pages.
'The book is chilling and compulsive. It is exceptionally well written, with an excellent plot.'
This novel breaks brilliant. It's hard to tell what's the best part of The Killing Lessons: the sweaty-palm plot that races along like a squadcar on a high-speed pursuit, the breathtaking depictions of the characters, good and bad, or author Black's inimitable style. My vote? All three
'Brutally compelling serial killer thriller... told at blistering pace.'
The Killing Lessons is the best thriller I've read in years. It's so realistic at times that I had to stop and catch my breath. The relationship between these two killers, and the woman who is trying to capture them, is intense and tangible. This is the first book that I've finished, then turned immediately back to page one so I could experience it all over again. It's mind-blowing, terrifying, visceral, disturbing, and gorgeously written and I've been telling everyone I know that they have to pick up this book!
'Like rubbernecking at an accident, you can't tear your eyes away from this shockingly violent but compelling thriller.'
This novel breaks brilliant. It's hard to tell what's the best part of The Killing Lessons: the sweaty-palm plot that races along like a squad car on a high-speed pursuit, the breath-taking depictions of the characters, good and bad, or author Black's inimitable style. My vote? All three
'Duncan/Black's superior scene-painting and psychological probing translate the mundane into the memorable. Similarly, the cliché of a serial-killing spree with a hidden logic is redeemed by the freshness of his characterisation of the seedy duo responsible.'
This is a firecracker of a tale that whips along so fast , it's tempting to skip lines in eagerness to see where the plots heading. What stops you is the turn of phrase, which is so bright it can take your breath away.
I found parts of the novel unbearable to read, but its pull is undeniable.