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Thomas Gage
Thomas Gage
Oct 22, 2024 10:27 PM

Author:James Fleming

Thomas Gage

Thomas Gage is a happy man. He has a fine house in Norfolk, two delightful children, a wife who brought with her a nice income from her father's paint firm, a Waterloo medal, and a painting on show at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. Then, a few months after Thomas Gage's fiftieth birthday, Julius Gooby enters his life.

Mr Gooby is a man of the future, manager of the proposed North Norfolk Railway from Norwich to Cromer, and the route of the railway crosses Gage's land. With the railway comes tragedy, and Thomas Gage's life begins to unravel until, at the end, medal on his chest, he travels to London to watch the Duke of Wellington's funeral and to take his revenge.

With Thomas Gage James Fleming has fashioned another historical fiction of the very first rank, a portrait of a good man undone by grief, by others' greed and, ultimately, by progress.

Reviews

Compulsively readable ... a carefully devised plot unfolded with the most cunning art. Wilkie Collins and Dickens would have admired it

—— Sunday Times

Brilliantly plotted. Vine is not afraid to walk down the mean streets of the mind and can build up an almost tangible atmosphere of menace and unease

—— Daily Telegraph

Will linger in your memory long after you have closed the book. A first-rate novel

—— Washington Post

[Vine has a] dizzying ability to lock on to minds in chaos and snare us in their whorls of dread and doubt

—— Telegraph

The authority of Dolan’s writing grows from book to book

—— Barry Forshaw , Financial Times

[Dolan] is able to tackle sensitive subjects without sensationalism

—— Joan Smith , Sunday Times, Crime Book of the Month

One to watch for as missing this would be a crime. ... I tend not to ‘score’ the majority of my reviews but I do like to flag titles I will rank at 5/5 – After You Die joins that small band of my top rated reads

—— GrabThisBook.net

Intelligent and deeply compassionate, shot through with sly humour and never failing to be anything but totally gripping, AFTER YOU DIE is a superb new entry in the DI Zigic and DS Ferreira series that confirms Dolan as one of crime fiction’s brightest rising stars

—— Chris Ewan, author of #1 bestseller, Safe House

Eva Dolan's brilliant Zigic and Ferreira are back. Expect twists, shocks and above all – searing honesty from a writer with an uncanny eye for the truth of what ails us

—— Sarah Hilary, winner of the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year for Someone Else's Skin

Another superlative thriller from Eva Dolan. Zigic and Ferreira are fast becoming one of my favourite crime-fighting duos

—— Mason Cross, author of The Samaritan

Starts with a bang and never lets up. After You Die is beautifully-written, hard-hitting and impossible to put down. It cements Eva Dolan's deserved reputation as the brightest new star in the UK's crime fiction firmament

—— Mark Edwards, author of The Magpies and Follow You Home

A beautiful portrayal of the turmoil that lies beneath the dead calm of small, tight-knit communities

—— Marnie Riches

Eva once again takes us into the dark and tragic world of hate crime. Enthralling and heartbreaking in equal parts, her latest is an absolute must read

—— Emma Kavanagh, author of Falling

Sharp, punchy and right on the money, the genius of Eva Dolan’s work is in the way she shines a light on the country’s marginalised and dispossessed.

—— Nick Quantrill

The DI Zigic and DS Ferreira series just keeps on getting better and better

—— Howard Linskey, author of The Drop and No Name Lane

Twisty, unsettling, perceptive and humane, this is social-realist crime fiction at its most compelling

—— Helen Giltrow, author of The Distance

Eva Dolan is my kind of writer. In her hands, the mystery novel becomes a tool for counting the cost of crime, and giving voice to those who are being left behind. With After You Die, Dolan proves she’s exactly the kind of writer we need in crime fiction. She speaks for those on the fringes of society

—— Jay Stringer

Angry, driven and entertaining, Dolan's procedurals have become essential reading. Crime writing that makes you feel, then makes you think

—— Harry Bingham

Dolan delivers again. A hard-hitting hate crime mystery, played out by dynamic characters, designed to haunt. After You Die showcases the author's nigh-on-supernatural empathy for a wounded society

—— Gerard Brennan, author of Undercover

After You Die is pacy, suspenseful, and expertly plotted. With a cast of richly drawn characters, it covers some dark and topical issues, which are tackled with understanding and skill. An extremely well-crafted book which confirms Eva Dolan's place as one of our most talented crime writers.

—— Amanda Jennings

Very well-written thriller.

—— Jessica Mann , Literary Review

Hard-hitting, tragic, compelling and timely.

—— Jon Coates , Daily Express

This harrowing plot requires all of Dolan’s skills as a novelist, confirming that she is able to tackle sensitive subjects without sensationalism.

—— Joan Smith , Sunday Times

It’s both a skillfully constructed crime story and a sobering reflection on the extent to which the disabled are the minority to whom we find it all too easy to show a blind eye.

—— Mail on Sunday

Captivating… Sharp and dramatic – we couldn’t put it down!

—— Closer

Original and full of twists

—— My Weekly

[Janie’s] wit is bitter and devastating, her put-downs Pulitzer-worthy

—— Guardian

Fresh and fizzing and original, this is such an impressive debut

—— Bookseller

a sassy firecracker of a crime novel

—— John Koski , Mail on Sunday

The assured telling of this chiller combines to create a very modern Gothic horror that will keep you up way past your bedtime

—— Sunday Mirror

There's a hint of Kathy Reichs, Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl and of Paula Hawkins's The Girl on the Train. Despite its dark subject matter, this is a hopeful book . . . the ending managed to be both surprising and satisfying.

—— We Love This Book

The denouement is unexpected, plausible and perfectly satisfying . . . Black Eyed Susans is a thumping good mystery

—— The Bookbag

If you like dark and disturbing psychological thrillers then Black Eyed Susans should definitely go on your list

—— CrimeFictionLover.com

A fascinating, educated, highly absorbing read that I struggled to put down for any length of time. Any free moment was spent with my head in this book.
Intense, creepy and atmospheric, Black-Eyed Susans is a intelligent character driven masterpiece excellently paced with some great plot twists which had me guessing right to the very end ... brilliant!

—— SJ2B House of Books

Heaberlin drip-feeds an intriguing story at a tantalising pace . . . Heaberlin has written an intelligent, absorbing and well-researched page-turner that will delight fans of Megan Abbot and Tana French

—— Daily Express

Fascinating details about identifying remains through bone and DNA analysis are woven through equally compelling present-day narration and flashbacks to Tessa's therapy sessions and trial testimony. The pieces can't come fast enough as the story builds to a shocking and satisfying conclusion. Deliciously twisty and eerie, Heaberlin's psychological suspense novel is intricately layered and instantly compelling

—— An August LibraryReads Pick

This book is a rarity in that the research underpinning it is evident but not obtrusive. Black Eyed Susans is a fine achievement. It drips with authenticity, empathy and dread, meditating on the Death Penalty as well as offering an empathetic study of the life of a survivor. Take note - Julia Heaberlin belongs on every suspense fan's bookshelf

—— Nudge Books

Creepy and compelling, Black-Eyed Susans is a shadowy and crooked journey to a very dark place indeed, a twisty fairytale that deceives you just when you think you've cracked it and a thriller to make you remember why you love thrillers. Don't miss it.

—— Observer, Thriller of the Month

This is the debut novel of Julia Heaberlin, and again it's excellent . . . Beautifully written . . . It's a great book

—— BBC Arts Show

A powerful thriller . . . With a fairy-tale-like atmosphere, the creepy thriller works insidiously on the senses . . . Clever, ingeniously manipulative and elegant.

—— Maxim Jakubowski, Lovereading

This dark, complex thriller is not just a gripping page-turner, but also brilliantly explores the psychology of the victim

—— Mail On Sunday, You Magazine Book of the Month

Black Eyed Susans is haunting, intense and original - it'll keep you guessing till the last page

—— Closer

Taut, addictive, intelligent and impressive

—— Express

Tense, pacy and compelling, Black-Eyed Susans is a taut psychological thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Julia Haeberlin masterfully ramps up the suspense gradually, building to an explosive denouement that you won't see coming. Quite simply, the best thriller you'll read this year - perhaps decade. Miss it at your peril.

—— Sarah V. Taylor , Keep Calm and Read a Book Reviews
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