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Second Life
Nov 1, 2024 12:24 AM

Author:S J Watson

Second Life

A gripping, addictive thriller from the bestselling author of BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP.

‘Simultaneously believable and terrifying...An edgy, disturbing read.’ Observer

She loves her husband.

She’s obsessed by a stranger.

She’s a devoted mother.

She’s prepared to lose everything.

She knows what she's doing.

She’s out of control.

She’s innocent.

She’s guilty as sin.

She’s living two lives.

She might lose both.

‘A Fatal Attraction for the digital age, but with a crucial twist . . . Watson is a master at turning the screw.’ Evening Standard

‘A gripping read - deftly plotted, with convincing characters and an unsettling premise that builds to a truly disturbing conclusion. Second Life is ample proof that Watson is no mere one-hit wonder.’ Independent

‘Taut and twisty, it'll keep you up all night’ Glamour

‘This dark, tense, psychological thriller will keep you up all night’ Fabulous magazine, Sun on Sunday

‘Tension-driven...packed with suspense and surprises’ Woman & Home

READERS LOVE SECOND LIFE:

‘Moretwists and turns than a roller coaster’

‘Thought I had it all worked out butI didn't see the final twist coming!

‘Reserve a weekend for it as you won't want to put it down until the very end

‘Thought provoking, thrilling and at times frightening’

‘Fantastic, gripping and thrilling

‘I just didn't want it to end. Superb!’

‘I twice forgot to get off my bus, I was so engrossed

Reviews

A Fatal Attraction for the digital age, but with a crucial twist . . . Watson is a master at turning the screw.

—— Evening Standard

A gripping read - deftly plotted, with convincing characters and an unsettling premise that builds to a truly disturbing conclusion. Second Life is ample proof that Watson is no mere one-hit wonder.

—— Independent

A gripping, contemporary thriller, this is the sort of thing you'll plough through in a hurried weekend of page turning.

—— ShortList Magazine

A fierce, captivating portrait. Julia's disintegration is heartbreaking and underlines what a formidable presence Watson has as a writer: a star is confirmed.

—— Daily Mail

Simultaneously believable and terrifying...An edgy, disturbing read.

—— Observer

Taut and twisty, it'll keep you up all night

—— Glamour

This dark, tense, psychological thriller will keep you up all night

—— Fabulous magazine, Sun on Sunday

Tension-driven...packed with suspense and surprises

—— Woman & Home

A tense and creepy tale

—— Heat

Twisty and steamy

—— Sunday Express

A deeply intriguing slow-burn mystery that has you wondering if anyone can be trusted. Ware draws you in deep and holds you tight until the very end. Fantastic

—— S.J.I. Holliday

A claustrophobic page-turner that'll have you suspecting everyone. Agatha Christie for the Whatsapp generation

—— Tammy Cohen, author of When She Was Bad

The Woman in Cabin 10 is a deliciously compulsive read. At once up-to-the-minute and timeless, it blends classic suspense writing with twenty-first-century twists and turns. A book to keep you reading late into the night and leave your mind and pulse racing long after the final page

—— Ann Morgan, author of Beside Myself

A compelling thriller… It gave me nightmares – but only in the way a juicy thriller ought to do.

—— Running in Heels

All the glamour of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express with a titanic dose of intrigue and mystery… fast and addictive and will keep you guessing until the very end

—— T.R. Richmond, author of What She Left

A dark and gripping thriller that will enchant readers

—— Sarah Ward, author of In Bitter Chill

A tense, twisty delight that powers along at a heart rattling pace

—— Angela Clarke, author of Follow Me

Agatha Christie-style whodunit… With a flawed but likeable heroine, and a fast moving plot, it makes for a stylish thriller.

—— Deirdre O'Brien , Sunday Mirror

[An] engrossing holiday read.

—— Breda Brown , Irish Independent

I was absolutely gripped the whole way through the book, and I couldn't go to sleep until I found out how it ended! I definitely recommend it!

—— Milk and Nappies

If you know someone that loved Gone Girl or The Girl on the Train then this is certainly the book for them. This was a holiday read for me a few months back and it really gripped me.

—— Makeup Savvy, Book of the Year

If you like your thrillers pacy, intriguing and well handled, then The Woman in Cabin 10is a good option… A catchy, captivating mystery.

—— Sunday Business Post, Book of the Year

Moshfegh’s writings stands out in several spectacular ways... In detail and texture the world she creates is unsettlingly vivid: a considerable achievement for a writer born so long after the era she depicts…. Eileen's anger and frustration dominate her story, helping to create a seamless mood of menace... Moshfegh's debut novel is set to attain classic status within the thriller genre.

—— Peter Carty , UK Press Syndication

An impressive character study full of subtle nuances, shrouded in mystery.

—— Western Mail

Eileen is an accomplished, disturbing and creepily funny first novel… Moshfegh’s control of tone and pace is masterly, her ventriloquism impeccable, and the period detail unobtrusively spot-on. I was occasionally reminded of Nabokov and Lena Dunham, among others, but her voice is her own, and immensely promising.

—— Lewis Jones , Spectator

Moshfegh’s fine, clear, short sentences carry complex thought and emotional revelation effortlessly.

—— Joanna Biggs , London Review of Books

Moshfegh’s boldness is admirable.

—— Times Literary Supplement

Moshfegh is a rising star… Eileen, her expertly paced debut novel concerns a dowdy prison clerk who lives with her gin-soaked father… Moshfegh delivers a thumping finish, leaving the reader dumbstruck by her sly, wicked storytelling genius.

—— Daily Telegraph

A conspicuous nomination as a new voice. The cult following Moshfegh has amassed in only four short years, with steady championing by the Paris Review.

—— Culture Trip

It reminded me of Lolita... Dark and fierce.

—— Monocle Arts Review

Moshfegh is, without a doubt, a very, very good writer… There’s lots of these wonderful moments. Moshfegh’s writing is at its most compelling and chilling when she delicately and intricately weaves the most finely spun…of spiders webs around her readers head… Eileen is a pretty brilliant debut novel.

—— Simon Savidge , Savidge Reads

Moshfegh’s exploration of deep and lasting emotional damage is quite brilliant.

—— Jordan Spencer , Conversation

A dazzling, original novel with nourish flourishes voiced by a wickedly sardonic narrator’

—— Jon Day , Guardian

The Man Booker shortlist has just been announced… Our favourite is Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh.

—— Lovereading

The character of Eileen is fascinating and Moshfegh’s creation is the reason this has made the longlist. Naive, unpredictable and able to elicit responses from sympathy to revulsion from the reader but throughout you will her to get her life back on track and escape both the prison she works in and the one she has created for herself. I would be very happy to see this on the shortlist.

—— Phil Ramage , Nudge

This is eerie, Hitchcockian and refreshingly original.

—— Sunday Telegraph

Sex, death, revenge and abuse run like dark currents beneath every page and come together in a brilliantly sustained denouement in which all the novel’s motifs…cohere and resonate.

—— Jude Cook , New Statesman

A striking and ingenious work… She elevates Eileen from mediocrity to magnificence, in a feat that is nothing short of miraculous… The mark of reading a true master of suspense… Demands to be reread… At once chilling, ambitious and unexpected, Eileen is undoubtedly deserving of its Booker Prize nomination, and, dare I say it, of a win.

—— Ella Holden , Oxford Student

[It is] gripping… The writing is brilliant.

—— Methodist Recorder

A very dark, morbid tale… I loved it, because it’s a really original voice that draws you into a dark psychology.

—— Victoria Sadler

A clever, eloquent and captivating debut novel.

—— Brad Davies , i, Book of the Year

[It is] thrillingly playful.

—— A.M. Holmes , Observer, Book of the Year

The most grimly compelling fiction came from a new voice: Ottessa Moshfegh’s Man Booker-shortlisted Eileen. It takes nerve to create such a thoroughly dislikeable narrator… It is like someone reaching into a bottomless bag of gifts.

—— Robert Douglas-Fairhurst , The Times, Book of the Year

I loved its refreshingly dark and complicated protagonist and grubbily vivid sense of time and place. Eileen reads like a smart, feminist take on Hitchcock or Highsmith and was, for that reason, impossible to put down.

—— Francine Toon , Running in Heels, Book of the Year

[Eileenis] compulsively deviant and utterly delicious… I savoured every single word of it.

—— Mark O'Halloran , Sunday Business Post, Book of the Year
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