Author:Alice Clark-Platts,Rachel Bavidge
Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of The Taken by Alice Clark-Platts, read by Rachel Bavidge.
There's the lost.
There's the missing.
And there's the taken.
She asked me once if we had any secrets, and I shook my head.
'No secrets between us,' she said.
'No,' I answered. 'Never ever.'
In a Durham hotel at dawn, celebrated preacher Tristan Snow is murdered as he prays. None of the other guests - not even his daughter, his wife, or her sister - saw or heard anything.
But then again, they all had a motive for murder.
Detective Inspector Erica Martin is confronted by secrets and lies, lost in a case where nothing is what it seems.
With no answers, DI Martin is consumed by questions: Is anyone in this family innocent? When the victim might have been a monster - is there such a thing as justice? And does anyone deserve to die?
Praise for Alice Clark-Platts:
'Had me on the edge of my sun lounger. Excellent plotting and a genuinely unguessable resolution to the mystery'
Sophie Hannah
'Grabbed me from the first page and wouldn't let go. A compelling read, beautifully written ... A tense, captivating tale, brilliantly told'
Rachel Abbott
'A gripping, highly charged thriller'
Ralph Fiennes
'A brilliantly plotted and utterly gripping thriller'
Emma Kavanagh
'Superb ... A very assured page-turning storm I read in one sitting'
Stav Sherez
'Intriguing and sinister with masterful plotting and tension'
Mel Sherratt
Praise for Bitter Fruits
—— :This had me on the edge of my sun lounger for a whole day. Excellent plotting and a genuinely unguessable resolution to the mystery
—— Sophie HannahA brilliantly plotted and utterly gripping thriller
—— Emma KavanaghGrabbed me from the first page and wouldn't let go. A compelling read, beautifully written ... A tense, captivating tale, brilliantly told
—— Rachel AbbottA gripping, precise and highly charged thriller
—— Ralph FiennesDark As My Heart is first and foremost a strong psychological story of obsessions and the ways they manifest themselves. Of sorrow and longing. Of revenge and pain. Tuomainen's writing is excruciatingly suspenseful, with a rough masculinity, and yet so beautiful
—— Rakkaudesta kirjoihin (Finland)A breathtaking journey between a deserted estate by the water and a wintery Helsinki." ????
—— PolitikenAntti Tuomainen is a poet as well as one of Finland’s most successful crime writers. Dark As My Heart… had a rapturous reception in his home country, where a Finnish crime novel since 2000… The novel contains passages of lyrical intensity, along with bloody scenes that would not be out of place in a Jacobean revenge drama
—— Sunday TimesScandinavian crime fiction has a reputation for being a class apart, and this gripping Finnish psychological thriller displays the finest hallmarks of the genre.
—— Simon Shaw , Mail on SundayA novel as icy as Helsinki itself, Tuomainen delivers a dark, chilly and evocatively written novel of obsession and twisted emotion.
—— Carla McKay , Daily MailIt’s dark, captivating and troubling.
—— Crime Fiction Lover, Book of the YearThe story carries a strong purpose, a downright obsession, under which everything culminates. .. The novel is extremely well written, and is a pleasure from a literary perspective as well
—— Ilta-Sanomat (Finland)Refined writing and thinking, original and different from the mainstream. *****
—— Iltalehti (Finland)Dark as My Heart is definitely THE crime story of this summer. (…) Antti Tuomainen is the freshest success in the Finnish thriller novel field. His new book Dark As My Heart proves it. The book is sensational
—— Etelä-Saimaa (Finland)With this thriller, Antti Tuomainen shows that he is one of the best crime authors in Finland. The story is believable, exciting and wistful at the same time
—— Iltalehti Ilona (Finland)Slick and fast-paced
—— ExpressRobert Harris's Conclave turns the factional infighting of the supporters of the competing candidates into a gripping narrative. The narrator, Roy McMillan, catches them perfectly: pompous Venetian, charming African, sly New Englander, harassed Roman dean, all manipulated by the dead Pope's iron will.
—— The Times'This clever, multi- layered novel is simply stunning'
—— Dinah JefferiesLoved I Let You Go and Behind Closed Doors? My Sister's Bones is guaranteed to be this year's most twisty and twisted read - you'll never see what's coming!
—— Ava Marsh, author of UNTOUCHABLEThis book is amazing - harrowing and compelling...a clever plot that twists right to the very end
—— Luana LewisA beautifully written, spine-tingling thriller that had me on the edge of my seat. My Sister's Bones is a compelling tale about the evil unleashed by war and the evil that can lurk in the very heart of our homes. Heart-wrenching and compelling
—— Sanjida Kay, author of Bone by BoneIf you loved The Girl on the Train, then this debut psychological thriller is for you ... dark, thrilling and full of unexpected twists and turns
—— Take A BreakGoing 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