Author:Len Deighton
'Stylish and stimulating' The Times
Ageing Hollywood star Marshall Stone is scared. Scared that the parts are drying up. Scared of being forgotten. So when he hears an eminent author is writing his biography, Stone siezes the chance of immortality. But painful memories and suppressed scandals soon threaten to destroy the carefully-constructed fiction of his life. Inspired by Len Deighton's own experiences of the film industry, Close-Up is a brilliant exposé of the sleaze, venality and betrayals of the studio machine.
'The richness, the sardonic humour, the wheeling and dealing ... the power of the book is undoubted' Evening Standard
The film industry is in many ways the ideal subject for Mr Deighton's talents.
—— Times Literary SupplementImmense skill ... a stylish and stimulating performance.
The richness, the sardonic humour, the wheeling and dealing world of the films with its parties, its highly coloured characters ... The power of the book is undoubted.
The Adventure King
—— Sunday ExpressCussler is hard to beat
—— Daily MailNobody does it better - nobody!
—— Stephen CoontsJust about the best storyteller in the business
—— New York PostDelivers what it promises
—— Financial TimesA new Paula Hawkins novel is always a cause for celebration. Her books have all the pleasing twists of the noir genre while at the same time having something to say that feels real and complex and true - her women characters feel like someone you actually know.
—— Louise DoughtyA Slow Fire Burning is a hugely gripping, character-based thriller, with great writing and brilliant twists. Highly recommended.
—— John BoyneA Slow Fire Burning absolutely held me with its compelling, multi-generational cast of women and the brilliantly evoked pathos of damaged lives.
—— Fiona BartonI inhaled this novel, a gripping exploration of the damage that secrets can do, Hawkins' writing draws you in from the first word and refuses to let you go until the last.
—— Anna BaileyA Slow Fire Burning is Paula Hawkins at her best. Here are characters you want to spend time with, living in a world you believe in, and caught up in a plot that holds you in its grip. A thrilling read.
—— Renée KnightA truly satisfying, multi-layered maze of a mystery with a cast of flawed characters so real I'm still thinking of them days after I turned the last page.
—— Tammy CohenI don't know if this isn't Paula Hawkins' best novel yet. A Slow Fire Burning is superb
—— Harriet TyceI loved A Slow Fire Burning. The ingenious beginning snared me and I was held by the subtly powerful plot, such a difficult thing to do well and here, seemingly effortless. The characters were deliciously complex and utterly authentic and that is what has stayed with me the longest - their voices, their fragility, their distinct stories.
—— Jane ShemiltA Slow Fire Burning is a hugely satisfying, brilliantly crafted novel about the entanglement of betrayal and retaliation, the damage of loss, and how tragedy reverberates in ways we can never expect. Wickedly dark and gorgeously written, this is a novel you'll be thinking about long after the last delicious pages. Paula Hawkins is masterful.
—— Ashley AudrainTense, suspenseful and wholly surprising . . . you won't be able to put it down.
—— IndependentThe queen of the psychological thriller is back with her best book yet. It's such an addictive read . . . an absolute must-read
—— PrimaThe kind of book that stays with you for days after . . . cleverly plotted, powerful, unputdownable and sure to be another global hit.
—— My WeeklyA treat: utterly readable, moving in parts and saturated with the kind of localised detail that made The Girl on the Train so compelling . . . [It] will be seen, rightly, as a return to form; a London book from an excellent writer on London, and a tender portrait of characters that stay in the mind long after you've finished reading.
—— GuardianHarks back to peak-period Barbara Vine with its beautifully drawn characters and its offbeat London setting . . . This is a subtle, haunting thriller with many twists.
—— Mail on Sunday
Superbly told, its twists and turns reveal the slow fire burning inside each which might just destroy them. Utterly compelling.
Very cunningly structured . . . gets under the skin of a range of interesting characters.
—— Daily MirrorAn excellent page-turner to take on holiday
—— Kirsty Lang, BBC Radio 4 Front RowFast-paced, highly charged and carried off with so much confidence that it is impossible to resist.
—— Sunday TimesAn engrossing account of trauma, at the centre are three women driven by loss, secrets and revenge.
—— VogueA firecracker of a read full of unreliable narrators and big twists!
—— Fabulous magazine, Sun on SundayPaula's best work yet, a thoughtful, poignant interrogation of the sad, messy complicated business of human life
—— Waitrose Weekend magazineA multi-layered mystery, simmering with secrets, resentments and grief
—— Woman's WeeklyCompelling and challenging, A Slow Fire Burning explores the damage caused by betrayal and loss, and how this can manifest in disturbing acts of revenge and retribution. The author's first novel for four years is worth the wait and certain to cement her status as a publishing phenomenon.
—— Sunday ExpressShocking, moving, full of heart ... deeply layered and intricately plotted ... A Slow Fire Burning shows a writer at the height of her powers
—— The ObserverThis tense and irresistible read is best binged in one sitting
—— HeatIntricately interwoven plots and subplots, propulsive twists and a neat finale, a deliciously easy psycho drama to hungrily tear through.
—— Evening StandardA brilliant read
—— Bella magazineA psychological thriller that begins with a death on a canal boat and involves a cadre of shifty, damaged characters.
A multi-layered mystery simmering with secrets, resentments and griefs.
—— WOMAN