2 of 2 copies available
A literary crime thriller with "a clever plot that always surprises, told with dark humor and dry wit" (The New York Times Book Review, Editor's Choice), this brilliant debut follows a famous author whose wifeâthe brains behind his successâmeets an untimely death, leaving him to deal with the consequences.
Henry Hayden seems like someone you might admire, or even come to think of as a friend. A famous bestselling author. A loving and devoted husband. A generous and considerate neighbor. But Henry Hayden is a construction, a mask. His past is a secret, his methods more so. Only he and his wife know that she is the actual writer of the novels that made him famous.
When his hidden-in-plain-sight mistress becomes pregnant, it seems his carefully conceived façade is about to crumble. And on a rain-soaked night at the edge of a dangerous cliff, his permanent solution becomes his most terrible mistake.
Now not only are the police after Henry but his pastâwhich he has painstakingly kept hiddenâthreatens to catch up with him as well. Henry is an ingenious man, and he works out an ingenious plan, weaving lies, truths, and half-truths into a story that might help him survive. Still, the noose tightens.
Smart, sardonic, and compulsively readable, this is the story of a man whose cunning allows him to evade the consequences of his every action, even when he's standing on the edge of the abyss.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
June 23, 2015 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781476795577
- File size: 1139 KB
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781476795577
- File size: 1336 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Starred review from April 13, 2015
German scriptwriter Arangoâs exceptional first novel, a highly entertaining thriller, focuses on Henry Hayden, a successful author who lives in a ânondescript coastal town.â Wealthy beyond imagination, he appears to be a loving husband
to his wife, Martha, and is so humble that people automatically like him. In truth, the vain and selfish Henry is seeing a
mistress, Betty Hansen, whoâs also his editor, and a few other women besides.
As for those bestsellers, Henry never wrote one wordâMartha did, allowing him to take credit as long as her authorial role remained a secret. Henryâs carefully constructed world is in danger when Betty becomes pregnant. His decision to take drastic action results in an accidental death. Dodging the police inquiry and an old acquaintance determined to expose his erratic past, Henry takes charge of his own fate. Wry humor punctuates this insightful look at a soulless man. Agent: Kim Witherspoon, Inkwell Management, on behalf of Michael Heyward, Text Publishing.
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