Julia Havilland is the daughter of a war hero, and a distinguished
army officer in her own right. But following an accident in China,
when she blames her colleagues for the death of an agent she had
recruited, Julia is obliged to return to her childhood home to
await the outcome of an investigation. Once there, the past begins
to exert its troubling influence, as Julia recalls in ever more
vivid detail the tangle of events and relationships which
culminated in the murder of a neighbour and her infant daughter. In
a series of flashbacks, Julia recalls her own dead father's
involvement with the murdered woman and child. Understanding how
she idolized him, Julia starts to question whether his courage,
confidence and apparent honesty were merely a front for something
darker and more brutal. According to published reports, he died
bravely, sacrificing himself to bring a wounded man to safety, but
the officer investigating Julia's conduct in China soon discovers
that this account may have been a convenient cover for quite a
different set of events. Bradby succeeds in creating an atmosphere
in which neither his characters nor his readers can be certain
which is the true version of events. As well as being a competent
thriller, therefore, this novel is also a psychological drama, and
ultimately a romance which explores the issues of trust and
self-knowledge. (Kirkus UK)
The brutal murder of Sarah Ford and the disappearance of her
six-year-old daughter, Alice, shattered the rural serenity of Julia
Havilland's childhood. But these are not the only scars that have
resolutely refused to heal. Shortly afterwards, Colonel Mitchell
Havilland sacrificed himself on a Falklands hillside in an act of
characteristic - but baffling - heroism. When Julia comes home from
China fifteen years later, it is to a place of ghosts. Whilst she
awaits the outcome of the enquiry that seems destined to end her
short but spectacular career in military intelligence, Julia is
drawn back across the landscape of the past, to find that it is not
just the tortured image of her much-loved father that returns to
haunt her. Everything she has ever believed in and lived for has
suddenly been called into question, and unless she confronts her
demons, she will not survive. For there have been other deaths, and
the dead will not sleep... At once a race-against-the-clock
thriller and a complex psychological drama where the memories of
the past conflict with knowledge of the present, The Sleep of the
Dead is a stunning read on any level and more than confirms Tom
Bradby as one of this country's foremost thriller writers. Praise
for Shadow Dancer: 'Quite exceptional...Tom Bradby succeeds in
creating real characters. Far too many novels take refuge in cliche
and caricature - Bradby refuses to. The language, the tension, the
fear - all are portrayed vividly and correctly...A taut, compelling
story of love and torn loyalties' Daily Telegraph 'A remarkable
first novel...Bradby handles the tension with skill to produce a
gripping tale' The Times 'The best book on the northern conflict
since Harry's Game...An excellent read on any level. It scores
heavily as a thriller and as an accurate unblinking look at what is
happening right now' Irish Independent
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