Author:James Marrison
The second thrilling detective mystery featuring Guillermo Downes, perfect for fans of Peter James, Ian Rankin and hit TV series The Missing.
A gruesome find
An abandoned car by a ramshackle Cotswold farm draws the attention of local police officers. When DCI Guillermo Downes arrives at the farmhouse he finds a sickening scene of devastation and destruction.
A desperate search
Now Downes has a murder investigation to run and almost nothing to go on.
A cover up spanning decades
At first Downes - and his right hand man Sergeant Graves - struggle to find answers. But as they follow the threads of this brutal murder they find a stack of photographs of missing boys.
This case is bigger than Downes and Graves ever expected, and as they close in on the truth they uncover a conspiracy that goes right to the heart of the British establishment itself.
Praise for James Marrison:
'This is an exceptional and haunting murder mystery, a real cut above the rest' Irish Independent
'Dark, gripping and unexpected' Linwood Barclay
'Assured, astutely paced, a gripping thriller' Herald
'Intriguing, taut, told with panache' Daily Mail
DARK, GRIPPING AND UNEXPECTED
—— LINWOOD BARCLAYAn Argentinian DCI in the heart of middle England brings a thoughtful outsider's viewpoint to a murder that has troubling links to unsolved crimes from the past. Guillermo Downes'sintelligent, intuitive policework keeps the pages turning
—— Sunday TimesAn intriguing debut . . . the plot [has] a strength and texture that help set it apart . . . Taut and told with panache, it ushers in a suitably spiky police hero
—— Daily MailMarrison's tense debut expertly evokes a sense of place . . . the highly unusual denouement will catch most readers by surprise
—— Publishers WeeklyA gripping thriller . . . a readable, complex tale, astutely paced . . . If the mark of a good whodunnit is that you can't actually guess whodunnit, then The Drowning Ground does its job well. Despite following the plot closely, I was still taken aback by the denouement
—— The HeraldMove over Morse
—— Oxford TimesWith an intricate plot with numerous twists and an intriguing cop with a complex history, Marrison rivets the reader straight through to the novel's chilling conclusion. An author to watch, he scores high with this impressive debut
—— Richmond Times DispatchAn assured début which promises much for the future
—— crimefictionlover.comSo many characters with so many secrets and deviant behaviours make this début mystery by James Marrison a real winner. The author's complex plotting, haunted characters, and gorgeous descriptions of winter are an absolute joy to read even as the action takes one suspenseful turn, then another and then another to an unexpected denouement. When it seems as though all the clues have been resolved, Marrison saves one last shocking revelation for the final chapter.. . . Expertly setting us up for the next chapter in the series ( I can't wait!), Marrison writes lovingly of his new hero, Guillermo Downes, a detective plagued by demons both internal and external yet determined to expose murder most foul whenever and wherever he can
—— curledup.comA masterful novel . . . The protagonists are wonderfully portrayed. Downes is a bit of a mystery, a man born in Buenos Aires of a Argentinian mother and an English father. What led him to leave his homeland and make a life for himself in this small English town? Perhaps the answer will be revealed in the next novel in the series, something I'm eagerly anticipating
—— marilynmystertreads.comA chilling read
—— My WeeklyA grisly, gripping thriller
—— Sunday MirrorGruesomely realistic, intriguing and relentless. Arlidge's fledgling army of fans is about to grow
—— Sunday SportExpertly pulled off. It has a devious premise. DI Helen Grace is fiendishly awesome. It's scary as all hell. And it has a full cast of realistically drawn, interesting characters that make the thing read like a bullet
—— Will LavenderCompulsive reading
—— Marie Clairea novel that grabbed me from the start and didn't let go
—— Woman & Homethis year's most highly anticipated psychological thriller
—— Sunday Timesaddictive
—— ObserverIf you like your books twisty and your narrators unreliable and flawed, this is for you
—— CosmopolitanWow, now I know why it has caused such a stir. Taut, tight, utterly compulsive. Once you embark you won't want to get off until the very last stop
—— Tammy CohenArtfully crafted and utterly riveting. The Girl on the Train's clever structure and expert pacing will keep you perched on the edge of your seat, but it's Hawkins' deft, empathetic characterization that will leave you pondering this harrowing, thought-provoking story about the power of memory and the danger of envy.
—— Kimberly McCreight, New York Times-bestselling author of Reconstructing AmeliaDamn you #girlonthetrain . . . you unputdownable, you. So twisty, compassionate and gritty. Loved it. Deserves to be massive
—— Tweet from Julia CrouchGoing to be THE book of 2015. Sexy, smart & v intricately plotted
—— Tweet from Eva DolanBrilliant, fast-moving, very clever. Add to your January wish-list now!
—— Tweet from Mark EdwardsBe ready to be spell-bound . . . It's the kind of book you'll want to press into the hands of everyone you know, after you've turned the last page, just so they can share your obsession and you can relive it
—— Laura Kasischke, author of The RaisingCompulsively readable…. It actually hurt to put it down
—— JOY FIELDING, New York Times bestselling author of Now You See HerI'm calling it now: The Girl on the Train is the next Gone Girl. Paula Hawkins' highly anticipated debut novel is a dark, gripping thriller with the shock ending you crave in a noir-ish mystery
—— BustleA gripping, down-the-rabbit-hole thriller
—— Entertainment Weekly (US)Gone Girl fans will devour this psychological thriller . . . Hawkins' debut ends with a twist that no one - least of all its victims - have seen coming
—— People Magazine (US)[Paula Hawkins] pulls off a thriller's toughest trick: carefully assembling everything we think we know, until it reveals the one thing we didn't see coming
—— Entertainment Weekly (US)distinctive, intelligent and unpredictable
—— The Timesperfectly paced, from its arresting beginning to its twist ending; it's not an easy book to put down . . . what really makes The Girl on the Train such a gripping novel is Hawkins' remarkable understanding of the limits of human knowledge, and the degree to whcih memory and imagination can become confused
—— NPR.orgA complex and increasingly chilling tale courtesy of a number of first-person narratives that will wrong-foot even the most experienced of crime fiction readers
—— Irish TimesThe Girl on the Train marries movie noir with novelistic trickery . . . hang on tight. You'll be surprised by what horrors lurk around the bend
—— USA Todayachieves a sinister poetry . . . Hawkins keeps the nastiest twist for last
—— Financial Times[L]ike Gone Girl, Hawkins' book is a highly addictive novel about a lonely divorcee who gets caught up in the disappearance of a woman whom she had been surreptitiously watching. And beyond the Gone Girl comaparisons, this book has legs of its own
—— GQ.comHawkins' masterful deployment of unwittingly unreliable narration to evoke the aftershocks of abuse and trauma is a powerful way of exploring women's marginalization
—— Huffington PostSprings new surprises on us . . .Pulses will be quickened
—— The Good Book GuideThe Girl on the Train has more fun with unreliable narration than any chiller since Gone Girl
—— New York TimesHalfway through and I can't stop reading it. My kinda thriller!
—— Tweet from Armistead Maupinit's BLIDDY FABLISS, isn't it! A long long time since a book gripped me like this
—— Tweet from Marian KeyesThe Girl on the Train is one of those delicious thrillers that can be devoured in four sittings, that's two return journeys on a typical train trip! There's a whiff of Agatha Christie and a dollop of Gone Girl with plenty of blind alleys that we happily wander up and get lost in. Pick it up, solve the crime and pass it on . . .
—— Ryan TubridyAgatha Christie meets Rear Window...a taut psychological thriller that's chockful of chilling twists.
—— Mail on Sunday, Events MagazineClever, exciting and full of twists, this is undoubtedly the cream of this year's crop
—— Daily MailUnputdownable . . . the new literary sensation . . . nothing short of sensational
—— Daily Mail...this unusual clammy-palmed thriller.
—— THE TIMESHawkins juggles perspectives and timescales with great skill, and considerable suspense builds up along with empathy for an unusual central character.
—— GUARDIAN