Black Thorn
- Author Sarah Hilary
- Narrator Imogen Church
- Publisher Pan Macmillan
- Publish Date 13 July 2023
- Run Time 13 hours and 53 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Crime and mystery: private investigator / amateur detectives, Crime and mystery: women sleuths, Narrative theme: Sense of place, Psychological thriller.
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What to expect
Sarah Hilary, Theakston’s Crime Novel of the Year winner and author of Fragile, returns with Black Thorn, a slow-burn psychological mystery set against the abandonment of an exclusive housing development and devastation of the families that lived there . . .
'An astonishingly gifted writer' – Marian Keyes
‘Immersive, claustrophobic, unbearably tense and quite brilliant' – Ann Cleeves
How much do you really know about the people next door?
Blackthorn Ashes was meant to be their forever home. For the first six families moving into the exclusive new housing development, it was a chance to live a peaceful life on the cliffs overlooking the Cornish sea, safe in the knowledge that it had been created just for them.
But six weeks later, paradise is lost. Six people are dead. And Blackthorn Ashes is left abandoned and unfinished, its dark shadows hiding all manner of secrets.
One of its surviving residents, exiled to a local caravan park in the wake of the tragedy, is Agnes Gale, an autistic woman trying to survive the fallout with her family. She is determined to find out the truth about what happened. Even if that truth is deadlier than she could have ever believed possible . . .
With a compelling, diverse cast of characters, and moving back-and-forth between time periods with an increasingly pervasive sense of unease, Black Thorn is perfect for book clubs and fans of Belinda Bauer.
‘A creepy and atmospheric tale, beautifully and sensitively written’ – The Guardian
‘This one’s a real cracker’ – Crime Fiction Lover
Readers love Black Thorn:
‘Grips so hard you can't stop reading’
‘Clever, haunting and beautifully written’
‘An author that never puts a foot wrong’
Critics Review
I’ve loved Sarah’s work from the beginning. She’s a brave writer, shifting tone and subject matter, always surprising. Above all, she’s a master of her craft. In every book she makes the words sing
Nail-biting, heart-wrenching stuff. Black Thorn has the atmosphere and drama of a modern-day du Maurier novel. Sarah Hilary’s uncanny ability to make readers not just see through her characters’ eyes but feel through their skin in unparalleled
A creepy and atmospheric tale, beautifully and sensitively written
A mesmerizing story of family and community, secrets and lies. Psychologically rich and captivatingly told, Sarah Hilary’s Black Thorn sweeps you into its dark embrace from the start and holds you there until its final revelations
Exudes a tightly-controlled menace that ratchets up to full-blown claustrophobia as the pages turn. A book that oozes under your skin from the opening sentence
Multi-layered, unexpected, and carrying a strong emotional punch, Black Thorn is refreshingly different. Sarah Hilary is an exceptionally gifted writer
Brilliant. Taking a really deep dive into some dark spaces that Sarah brings vividly to life, it’s wonderful and unlike anything else I’ve read lately
An absolute master of her craft. Beautiful writing. This book is fascinating on so many levels. Not your run-of-the-mill thriller. A haunting captivating book
A stunning, haunting and often moving novel. I loved it
Sarah Hilary is a writer with all the gifts: character and psychology, language and one-more-chapter suspense. In twisting, turning, ever-changing Black Thorn, she shows us how very easily the wrong people can turn paradise into hell on earth
Sarah Hilary has done it again with this tale of toxicity in all its forms. Excellent writing and tight plotting on top of shifting sands make Black Thorn an unforgettable read with the most sympathetic protagonist I’ve read in years
An *extraordinary* book. Beautifully written, densely plotted, with an uncanny insight into the best and worst of family relationships
I was blown away by the writing and the world and the sensitivity with which the characters are drawn . . . you literally absorb it. Sarah Hilary just gets better and better
Black Thorn finds Sarah Hilary right back at the top of her game, melding a darkly disturbing sense of place with some pinpoint-accurate characterisation and a plot that keeps you guessing, and guessing again. At its epicentre is the wonderful Agnes, one of my favourite crime fiction creations since MW Craven‘s Tilly Bradshaw. This one’s a real cracker
Black Thorn is a sumptious read. From a tragedy early in the story Sarah Hilary builds up suspicions, anxiety and heartbreak. This is seriously high quality crime fiction – I can only implore you to read it
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