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A Bitter Taste
A Bitter Taste
Sep 22, 2024 12:23 PM

Author:Annie Hauxwell

A Bitter Taste

She was ten years old, but knew enough to wipe clean the handle of the bloody kitchen knife. The night was stifling; the windows were closed, sealing in the chaos. A table upturned, shattered crockery. Her distraught mother, bare shoulders raw with welts, knelt beside her motionless father. The child snatched up her backpack, and ran…

London sweats in the height of midsummer, and Catherine Berlin hides her scars from prying eyes. At the methadone clinic, she meets an old friend, Sonja Kvist, who begs her to help find her missing daughter. But the case is not as straightforward as it first appears, and Catherine soon realises that in order to find the girl, she must tackle a far greater threat …

A Bitter Taste is the thrilling second instalment in the magnificent crime series featuring civilian investigator Catherine Berlin, whose long-standing heroin addiction is only part of her story.

Reviews

A chap who writes books for other chaps gets a welcome reissue...The Wreck of the Mary Deare is a cracker

—— Irish Times

Original in its plot and extraordinarily clever in its constant succession of mysterious twists and surprising revelations, it is an utterly engrossing tale

—— New York Times

The Wreck of the Mary Deare gave me a total love of thrillers and Hammond Innes is an absolutely brilliant writer

—— Minette Walters

Hammond Innes… surely the doyen of the well-made modern thriller

—— Daily Telegraph

They say people can’t write stories anymore. Tell that to Hammond Innes

—— Sunday Times

Her writing is precise, intense, haunting and poetic… A nuanced exploration of human suffering and resilience. Wyld’s writing seems to come from somewhere deep; somewhere a little big unnerving and odd. For once, the hype matches the talent.

—— Lucy Atkins , Sunday Times

Evie Wyld’s All the Birds, Singing is an astonishing novel … The story is compelling, the structure ambitious and the imagery vivid. This is one talented young writer.

—— Meaghan Delahunt , Scotsman

Oozes, drips and throbs with menace… A thoughtful and intense account of a young woman seemingly determined to disappear from the world’s radar… All the Birds, Singing should enhance [Wyld's] reputation as one of our most gifted novelists.

—— Tim Lewis , Observer

A hair-prickling thriller… It's the quality of [Wyld's] prose that really blows your mind.

—— Claire Allfree , Metro

Unsettling, beautiful, horrifying and moving in equal parts, I haven't read anything quite like All the Birds, Singing for a long time… An extraordinary book.

—— Victoria MacCallum , Stylist

A voice indebted to Banks and every bit as compelling.

—— Alex Preston , Observer

Some novels are crafted with such care that it seems a shame reviewers should get to paw them before readers have the chance to admire their intricacy... Ingeniously constructed narrative.

—— Anthony Cummins , Literary Review

Beautifully written.

—— Neil Stewart , Civilian

Wyld's writing...is exquisite. An unusual novel that should win its author even more prizes.

—— The Simple Things

Admirably original.

—— Louise Jury , Evening Standard

Compelling.

—— Sunday Telegraph

There is a fantastically handled creeping dread to the narrative flow… The ambiguity of Jake's story and her history are played with brilliantly throughout, making this an eerie, creepy kind of existential thriller.

—— Doug Johnstone , Big Issue

Tim Winton [is] a writer with whom the fearless Wyld deserves serious comparison.

—— Catherine Taylor , Sunday Telegraph

Completely and utterly monumental. Powerful and beautiful written... I was a fan of Evie Wyld beforehand and this is such a leap forwards. An important book.

—— Bidisha , Saturday Review, Radio 4

Thriller, beast-fable and fantasy, Evie Wyld’s second novel is a sparky, dark yarn set in a georgic world of sheep husbandry where things have gone spectacularly awry.

—— Stevie Davies , Independent

In a sense, this is a tale of possible love and redemption, at once energetic and dark. In another sense, it is a book about summary justice and suspicion, which we readers have been indulging in too… Clever and very unexpected indeed.

—— Kathleen Jamie , Guardian

A story that asks darkly whether we can rid ourselves of our past.

—— Julia Wigan , Country Life

Wyld has a skill for creating flawed characters you can’t help but root for.

—— Mariella Frostrup , Cosmopolitan

It is written with wit and affection.

—— Four Shires

This is a wonderfully atmospheric novel with a gripping narrative that keeps the reader on edge all the way through.

—— Good Book Guide

A dark, powerfully disturbing and beautifully observed story about a haunting, both physical and temporal.

—— William Boyd , New Statesman

Evie Wyld merges into her mysterious tale of a lonely shepherdess a savage Australian back-story that lends a haunting extra dimension to a novel of troubling beauty.

—— Boyd Tonkin , Independent

A page-turner.

—— Viv Groskop , Observer

All the Birds, Singing is a gracefully written, absorbing thriller from a new literary talent.

—— Stylist

A hair-pricking rural thriller that confirms the talents of a thrilling prose stylist.

—— Patricia Nicol , Metro

I’ve never taught a creative writing course, but if I did I’d certainly introduce my would-be students to Evie Wyld’s All the Birds, Singing... Written in the future tense, the book has an ending of extraordinary pathos and beauty.

—— Ciarán Collins , Sunday Business Post

This is a powerful, gritty, strong story of suffering and survival... It is quality stuff, stunning.

—— Bookseller

A wonderfully atmospheric novel with a gripping narrative.

—— Good Book Guide

Precise, intense, haunting and poetic… This is a subtle exploration of suffering and resilience and, for once, the hype matches the talent.

—— Lucy Atkins , Sunday Times

Broodingly lyrical… Spellbinding.

—— Megan O'Grady , Vogue US

Wyld uses language that is purely gorgeous, even – perhaps especially – when underscoring dread.

—— Barbara King , Washington Post

Impressive.

—— New York Times

A tough and tender take on suffering and redemption.

—— Psychologies

Suspenseful and melancholy… Masterful

—— New Yorker

A compelling, tense novel that lingers with the reader long after it has been finished

—— Eastern Daily Press

With beautiful writing, it is a compelling, rather dark story which makes you laugh and cry

—— Morag Watkins , Watford Observer

I am obsessed with it, and with what Wyld is going to do next

—— Lisa Coen , Irish Times
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