The Wolf Tree

Absorbing, unsettling, and deeply accomplished

Dervla McTiernan

The Wolf Tree is an exquisitely executed tale. Laura McCluskey’s debut is a great gothic slow-burn that will keep you thinking and guessing even after you’ve reached the end

Louisa Luna

Laura McCluskey’s thrilling debut blends detective novel and folk horror to terrific effect. Eilean Eadar’s ancient secrets and vibrant present-day characters—including our beautifully complex mainlander heroes—had me riveted to the page

Jennifer Thorne

Mare of Easttown meets The Wickerman in Laura McCluskey’s deft, intricate, perfectly executed debut thriller. The Wolf Tree is a darkly brilliant synthesis of hard-nosed procedural and folk eerie

Nick Newman

Laura McCluskey has created two wonderful new detectives in George Lennox and Richie Stewart. I would follow them anywhere – even to the forboding, windswept island of Eileen Eadar, where they must grapple with the dark secrets of the small and insular local population. THE WOLF TREE is a marvelous mystery, rich in atmosphere and quick in pace. And with such well-drawn characters, one can hope it marks the beginning of a terrific new series

Christina Alger

Congratulations to Laura on such an atmospheric story. I loved her writing style and the setting and the character of George in particular

Helen Cooper

An impressive crime debut dripping with atmosphere and threat, Laura McCluskey’s The Wolf Tree will take you to a chilling cliff-edge of suspense, then hold you there until the very last page

Hannah Richell

Set on an isolated island in the Outer Hebrides, The Wolf Tree weaves a complex web of tradition, suspicion and murder … Tense and increasingly claustrophobic, The Wolf Tree is seething with atmosphere, intriguing relationships and a community determined to protect itself at all costs. Gripping

Heather Critchlow

McCluskey is masterful at building suspense around a sense of place and a feeling of otherness

Kirkus Reviews

[An] eerie, gothic-tinged debut mystery… Thanks to McCluskey’s expert melding of modern crime procedural and ancient folklore, suspenseful slow burns and intense high-stakes action, fans of stories set in closed communities with something to hide will revel in this assured and absorbing debut

BookPage

Filled with atmosphere and suspense …The plot is full of twists and turns with several surprises along the way … this was a compelling, creative, disturbing, and suspenseful story with good characterization, and a great plot

Mystery and Suspense

McCluskey’s gripping debut features an isolated island with a brooding, storm-tossed atmosphere, reminiscent of Ann Cleeves’s “Shetland Island” mysteries. The violence and collusion lead to a shocking conclusion

Library Journal

[A] haunting debut gothic mystery…McCluskey skillfully crafts a gloomy, brooding atmosphere of tension and isolation through her descriptions of the little isle caught between sea and sky and its inhabitants living at the mercy of both. The mystery underpins a plot that weighs the strength of community and tradition against the dangers of never questioning what has always been…Readers desiring a generous helping of spine tingles with their justice need look no further

Shelf Awareness

A gripping, thrilling and assured debut, not to be missed

Scots Magazine

Atmospheric

Crime Monthly

Georgina and Ritchie are a great pair of characters and McCluskey’s descriptions of human and meteorological violence are convincing

Literary Review

Gripping

PS Magazine – The Sunday Post

McCluskey’s blend of intrigue, paranoia, folklore and hints of the supernatural keep us guessing until close to the end […] The Wolf Tree is a strong debut in many respects, McCluskey building the suspense slowly but with the assurance that it’s all going to pay off, and for a writer born, raised and still living in Melbourne her evocative depiction of Eilean Eadar is impressively convincing

The Herald