by Paul Cleave
SYNOPSIS
Cameron and Lisa Murdoch are successful New Zealand crime writers, happily married and topping bestseller lists worldwide. They have been on the promotional circuit for years, joking that no one knows how to get away with crime like they do. After all, they write about it for a living.
So when their challenging seven-year-old son Zach disappears, the police and the public naturally wonder if they have finally decided to prove what they have been saying all this time… Are they trying to show how they can commit the perfect crime?
REVIEW
When Cameron and Lisa wake up one morning to find that their son is missing, they become the prime suspects in the police investigation. As a successful crime writing duo, they have often joked about their ability to get away with the perfect crime and outsmart the police. Rightly or wrongly, this puts them in a bad light in the eyes of both the detectives and the public as they continue in a desperate search for Zach.
I have read my fair share of crime thrillers and some of the storylines have been very dark, but I don't think any of them have been quite as devastating as The Quiet People. The unexpected twists and layers of horrific realisation all built up to the point where I wasn't able to breathe from about the halfway point. I think the credibility of the investigation is what made it hit home - if you read a book about a serial killer you usually have to suspend belief at some point, but the story of Zach going missing and the reactions from the police, the public, and his parents were so plausible that it filled me with dread just thinking about what might have happened.
It was interesting to read a book that featured two crime writers as the main suspects. It gave the opportunity to create some interesting arguments - Are the parents guilty? If they are guilty, have they actually harmed their son or is it more of a publicity stunt? Are they using their knowledge of police investigations to try and get away with a serious crime, or does this knowledge just make them look guilty?
An absolute rollercoaster of a thriller, The Quiet People was just relentlessly shocking with the best use of misdirection I have ever read!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Paul Cleave is an award-winning author who divides his time between his home city of Christchurch, New Zealand, where most of his novels are set, and Europe. He has won the New Zealand Ngaio Marsh Award three times, the Saint-Maur book festival’s crime novel of the year award in France, and has been shortlisted for the Edgar and the Barry in the US and the Ned Kelly in Australia. His books have been translated into over twenty languages. He’s thrown his frisbee in over forty countries, plays tennis badly, golf even worse, and has two cats – which is often two too many. Follow Paul on Twitter @PaulCleave, and his website: paulcleave.com.
Thanks to Anne Cater - @RandomTTours, Paul Cleave - @PaulCleave and Orenda Books - @OrendaBooks for the opportunity to read and review.
Fiction: Crime / Psychological Thriller
Publisher: Orenda Books
ISBN: 978-1913193942
Pages: 300pp
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