A modern Gothic psychological thriller with a contemporary twist on the classic novel Rebecca from award-winning and critically acclaimed writer Sarah Hilary

Nell Ballard is a runaway. A former foster child with a dark secret she is desperately trying to keep, all Nell wants is to find a place she can belong. So when a job comes up at Starling Villas, home to the enigmatic Robin Wilder, she seizes the opportunity with both hands. But her new lodgings may not be the safe haven that she was hoping for. Her employer lives by a set of rigid rules and she soon sees he is hiding secrets of his own.

But is Nell's arrival at the Villas really the coincidence it seems? After all, she knows more than most how fragile people can be – and how easily they can be to break . . .

Fragile is absolutely STUNNING' - Marian Keyes, author of Grown Ups 'Sarah Hilary has always known how to chill her readers – Fragile dials the chill factor up to 11' - Val McDermid, author of The Wire in the Blood Fragile is a modern Gothic psychological thriller with a contemporary twist on the classic novel Rebecca from award-winning and critically acclaimed writer Sarah Hilary. Everything she touches breaks . . . Nell Ballard is a runaway. A former foster child with a dark secret she is desperately trying to keep, all Nell wants is to find a place she can belong. So when a job comes up at Starling Villas, home to the enigmatic Robin Wilder, she seizes the opportunity with both hands. But her new lodgings may not be the safe haven that she was hoping for. Her employer lives by a set of rigid rules and she soon sees he is hiding secrets of his own. But is Nell's arrival at the Villas really the coincidence it seems? After all, she knows more than most how fragile people can be – and how easily they can be to break . . . Further praise for Fragile: 'Fragile is absolutely STUNNING, the dreamy atmosphere couples with Nell's carnal love for Joe put me in mind of Barbara Vine . . . [Sarah Hilary is] an astonishingly gifted writer, with an almost scalpel-like ability to dissect human motivation and convey it deliciously devoid of sentimentality. I was GRIPPED by Fragile, it took me into a whole other world and I was sorry to leave it' - Marian Keyes, author of Grown Ups 'Perfectly plotted, beautifully written modern Gothic. Timeless, tense and tender, Fragile will worm it's way deep into your heart, just as the characters insinuate themselves into each other's lives. I absolutely loved it' - Erin Kelly, author of He Said/She Said 'Beautifully crafted, smart and unsettling – a dark river of a book, with a chilling undertow' - Mick Herron, author of Slow Horses 'A dark, mesmeric fever-dream of a book' - Ruth Ware, author of The Woman in Cabin 10 'Beautifully written modern gothic. I took my time with this, savouring it – the tone of Sarah Hilary's writing is unique to her: exploring society and human nature in a sensitive, engrossing way. Ingenious, original and brilliant' - Will Dean, author of Red Snow 'Extraordinary . . . an immersive psychological thriller that plunges us into an underworld of emotional and physical exploitation. There are shades of Highsmith . . . Brilliant stuff' - Andrew Taylor, author of The American Boy and The Ashes of London 'Fragile is a fever dream. A nightmarish slant on the world delivered expertly and with heart. Tension like cold steel. Characters you won't forget. Sarah Hilary is a modern-day Highsmith.' - Steve Cavanagh, author of The Thirteen 'A beguiling thriller of considerable ambition and ingenuity, Fragile marks Sarah Hilary as a twenty-first century du Maurier, a writer who plunges the depths of human nature, finding the darkest, most deviant corners, but also the fleeting hopes and brittle aspirations. This is a truly outstanding work of modern gothic.' - Eva Dolan, author of Between Two Evils 'Highly original, beautifully written' - Sharon Bolton, author of Now You See Me 'Sarah Hilary has created a beautifully written modern Gothic masterpiece, so full of intrigue and mysteries layered upon mysteries that the unravelling may well shred your nerves, in the best way possible' - Liz Nugent, author of Skin Deep 'The writing is so elegant, so restrained, that it brings to mind Patricia Highsmith. Fragile is a very fine, and very creepy psychological thriller.' - Lucy Atkins, author of Magpie Lane 'A gorgeously written, tense and atmospheric novel. Sarah Hilary peels back the layers of mystery so skillfully that it was impossible to look away for a moment.' - Gytha Lodge, author of She Lies in Wait

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 . . .

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.

Sarah Hilary, Theakston’s Crime Novel of the year winner and author of Fragile, returns with Black Thorn, another compulsive psychological thriller, that questions how much you know about the people who live next to you . . . 'An astonishingly gifted writer' Marian Keyes 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, Agnes Gale, is determined to find out the truth about what happened. Even if that truth is deadlier than she could have ever believed possible . . . Praise for Black Thorn: ‘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 is unparalleled’ Erin Kelly ‘A mesmerizing story of family and community, secrets and lies. Psychologically rich and captivatingly told’ Megan Abbott ‘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’ Vaseem Khan ‘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’ Mick Herron ‘Multi-layered, unexpected, and carrying a strong emotional punch, Black Thorn is refreshingly different. Sarah Hilary is an exceptionally gifted writer’ Sharon Bolton ‘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’ Imran Mahmood

The last thing she remembers is standing outside the empty house. One she was employed to pack, ready for removal. Her job is her life. It is her compulsion to take care of an owner’s precious possessions, to do whatever it takes to help them move on. Now she is cold, dirty, damp, trapped in its cellar with no chance of escape, miles from anywhere. His prisoner.

And then he returns.

Her captor believes she holds the answers to why a young girl was murdered a year ago. He refuses to let her go until she reveals her secrets. But he doesn’t know she has hidden depths, and an anger she works hard to control.

The battle lines are drawn. They are the only two people who can solve the mystery of the dead girl, but when the truth is revealed whose life will shatter…?

Sarah Hilary, Theakston’s Crime Novel of the Year winner and author of Fragile, returns with Black Thorn, another compulsive psychological thriller that questions how much you know about the people who live next to you . . . 'An astonishingly gifted writer' Marian Keyes 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, Agnes Gale, is determined to find out the truth about what happened. Even if that truth is deadlier than she could have ever believed possible . . . Praise for Black Thorn: 'In Black Thorn a small piece of the world collapses - metaphorically, literally and emotionally. This novel is immersive, claustrophobic, unbearably tense and quite brilliant' Ann Cleeves ‘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 is unparalleled’ Erin Kelly ‘A mesmerizing story of family and community, secrets and lies. Psychologically rich and captivatingly told’ Megan Abbott ‘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’ Vaseem Khan ‘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’ Mick Herron ‘Multi-layered, unexpected, and carrying a strong emotional punch, Black Thorn is refreshingly different. Sarah Hilary is an exceptionally gifted writer’ Sharon Bolton ‘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’ Imran Mahmood 'An *extraordinary* book. Beautifully written, densely plotted, with an uncanny insight into the best and worst of family relationships' Emma Flint 'A stunning, haunting and often moving novel. I loved it' Anna Mazzola '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' Liz Nugent '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' Lucie Whitehouse

'Stunning' - Marian Keyes, author of Grown Ups 'Chilling' - Val McDermid, author of The Wire in the Blood Fragile is a modern Gothic psychological thriller with a contemporary twist on the classic novel Rebecca, from award-winning and critically acclaimed writer Sarah Hilary. Everything she touches breaks . . . Nell Ballard is a runaway. A former foster child with a dark secret she is desperate to keep, all Nell wants is to find a place she can belong. So when a position comes up at Starling Villas, home to the enigmatic Robin Wilder, she seizes the opportunity with both hands. But her new lodgings may not be the safe haven she was hoping for. Her employer has secrets of his own and lives by a rigid set of rules she must abide by. Is Nell's arrival at the Villas really the coincidence it seems? After all, she knows more than most how fragile people can be - and how easy they are to break . . . Further praise for Fragile: 'Perfectly plotted, beautifully written modern Gothic. I absolutely loved it' - Erin Kelly, author of He Said/She Said 'Beautifully crafted, smart and unsettling' - Mick Herron, author of Slow Horses 'A dark, mesmeric fever-dream of a book' - Ruth Ware, author of The Woman in Cabin 10 'Ingenious, original and brilliant' - Will Dean, author of Red Snow 'Extraordinary' - Andrew Taylor, author of The American Boy and The Ashes of London 'A modern-day Highsmith' - Steve Cavanagh, author of Thirteen 'A truly outstanding work of modern Gothic' - Eva Dolan, author of Between Two Evils 'Highly original, beautifully written' - Sharon Bolton, author of The Split 'A beautifully written modern Gothic masterpiece' - Liz Nugent, author of Skin Deep 'So elegant, so restrained' - Lucy Atkins, author of Magpie Lane 'A gorgeously written, tense and atmospheric novel' - Gytha Lodge, author of She Lies in Wait

Compulsive, gripping and dark, NEVER BE BROKEN is the stunning new novel in the Marnie Rome series, for fans of Peter James, Mark Billingham, and Val McDermid 'Deeply contemporary, painfully real, heartbreakingly good' Mick Herron 'DI Marnie Rome is a three-dimensional character of an emotional depth rarely encountered in the world of fictional cops' The Times Children are dying on London's streets. Frankie Reece, stabbed through the heart, outside a corner shop. Others recruited from care homes, picked up and exploited; passed like gifts between gangs. They are London's lost. Then Raphaela Belsham is killed. She's thirteen years old, her father is a man of influence, from a smart part of town. And she's white. Suddenly, the establishment is taking notice. DS Noah Jake is determined to handle Raphaela's case and Frankie's too. But he's facing his own turmoil, and it's becoming an obsession. DI Marnie Rome is worried, and she needs Noah on side. Because more children are disappearing, more are being killed by the day and the swelling tide of violence needs to be stemmed before it's too late. NEVER BE BROKEN is a stunning, intelligent and gripping novel which explores how the act of witness alters us, and reveals what lies beneath the veneer of a glittering city.

By the bestselling author of The Talented Mr Ripley, Carol and Strangers on a Train Now a major motion picture starring Viggo Mortenson and Kirsten Dunst. 'Highsmith is a giant of the genre. The original, the best, the gloriously twisted Queen of Suspense' Mark Billingham Two men meet in the picturesque backstreets of Athens. Chester MacFarlane is a conman with multiple false identities, near the end of his rope and on the run with his young wife Colette. Rydal Keener is a young drifter looking for adventure: he finds it in one evening as the law catches up to Chester and Colette, and their fates become fatally entwined. Patricia Highsmith draws us deep into a cross-European game of cat and mouse in this masterpiece of suspense from the author of The Talented Mr Ripley.

By the bestselling author of The Talented Mr Ripley, Carol and Strangers on a Train Too much love can be a bad thing. 'Highsmith was every bit as deviant and quirky as her mischievous heroes, and didn't seem to mind if everyone knew it' J. G. Ballard, Daily Telegraph David Kelsey has an invincible conviction that life is going to work out just as he has planned it - if he can just fix 'the situation'. His one true love, the brilliant, beautiful Annabelle, has married another man. But that doesn't mean they can't still be friends. And even though she is pregnant with her husband Gerald's baby, that surely doesn't mean she won't one day get back together with David. She still loves him, of that he is certain. David is sure she'll take him back, and, under an alias, is setting up a wonderful home for the two of them in a town close by. And everything is just about going to plan until things take a murderous turn, leaving David a desperate man on the run.

A mesmerising, gripping novel from the winner of the 2015 Theakston's Crime Novel of the Year for SOMEONE ELSE'S SKIN. . Perfect for readers of Clare Mackintosh and Alex Marwood. 'Written with the verve and assurance of a future star' Helen Dunmore Two young boys.Trapped underground in a bunker. Five years later, the boys' bodies are found and the most difficult case of DI Marnie Rome's career begins. She has to find out who they are and what happened to them. For no-one has reported them missing - and it seems she is the only person to care.

The debut of an exciting new series for fans of Sophie Hannah, Kate Atkinson, and Tana French
No two victims are alike.
DI Marnie Rome knows this better than most. Five years ago, her family home was the scene of a shocking and bloody crime that left her parents dead and her foster brother in prison. Marnie doesn't talk much about her personal life, preferring to focus on work. Not even her partner, DS Noah Jake, knows much about Marnie's past. Though as one of the few gay officers on the force and half Jamaican to boot, Noah's not one to overshare about his private life either. Now Marnie and Noah are tackling a case of domestic violence, and a different brand of victim.
Hope Proctor stabbed her husband in desperate self-defense. A crowd of witnesses in the domestic violence shelter where she's staying saw it happen, but none of them are telling quite the same story, and the simple question remains: how did Leo Proctor get in to the secure shelter? Marnie and Noah shouldn't even have been there when it happened but they were interviewing another resident, Ayana Mirza. They're trying to get Ayana to testify against her brothers for pouring bleach on her face for bringing dishonor the family, and blinding her in one eye. But Ayana knows that her brothers are looking for her, and she has no doubt that they'll kill her this time.
As the violence spirals, engulfing the residents of the women's shelter, Marnie finds herself drawn into familiar territory: A place where the past casts long shadows and she must tread carefully to survive.

By the bestselling author of The Talented Mr Ripley, Carol and Strangers on a Train People Who Knock on the Door, is a tale about blind faith and the slippery notion of justice that lies beneath the peculiarly American veneer of righteousness. 'A border zone of the macabre, the disturbing, the not quite accidental . . . Highsmith achieves the effect of the occult without any resources to supernatural machinery' New York Times Book Review In a pitiless story of prying suburban self-righteousness, Patricia Highsmith introduces the Alderman family as they descend into moral crisis. When small-town insurance salesman Richard Alderman becomes a born-again Christian, his once tight-knit family quickly begins to rip apart at the seams. He and his youngest son, Robbie, embrace their newfound faith, while his elder son Arthur rejects it. Caught in the middle of the ensuing web of lies, his wife, Lois, tries to keep the family together, but when the church elders start to interfere in Arthur's love life, events spiral toward violence. In this masterful late work, Highsmith weaves a powerful tale about blind faith and the peculiar ideas of justice that lie underneath the veneer of respectability.

A dark, compelling Marnie Rome novel, rich with psychological insight, from the winner of the Theakston's Crime Novel of the Year. For readers of Clare Mackintosh and Alex Marwood. 'Intelligently and fluently written with a clever plot and an energetic pace, dealing with harrowing topics and shot through with humanity' Cath Staincliffe The fragile young girl who causes the fatal car crash disappears from the scene. A runaway who doesn't want to be found, she only wants to return to the man who understands her and offers her warmth, comfort, a home. He gives her shelter. Just as he gives shelter to the other lost girls who live in his house. D.I. Marnie Rome thinks that she knows families, their secrets and their fault lines. But as she begins investigating the girl's disappearance nothing can prepare her for what she's about to face.

Gripping, tense, twisty and full of emotional insight, COME AND FIND ME is Sarah Hilary's Marnie Rome 5 book, for fans of Mick Herron or Clare Mackintosh. 'Hilary belts out a corker of a story, all wrapped up in her vivid, effortless prose. If you're not reading this series of London-set police procedurals then you need to start right away' Observer On the surface, Lara Chorley and Ruth Hull have nothing in common, other than their infatuation with Michael Vokey. Each is writing to a sadistic inmate, sharing her secrets, whispering her worst fears, craving his attention. DI Marnie Rome understands obsession. She's finding it hard to give up her own addiction to a dangerous man: her foster brother, Stephen Keele. She wasn't able to save her parents from Stephen. She lives with that guilt every day. As the hunt for Vokey gathers pace, Marnie fears one of the women may have found him - and is about to pay the ultimate price.

Compulsive, gripping and dark, NEVER BE BROKEN is the stunning new novel in the Marnie Rome series, for fans of Peter James, Mark Billingham, and Val McDermid 'Sarah Hilary writes beautifully and unflinchingly' Peter James Noah Jake has seen dead bodies before but when a young woman falls to her death from a London tower block, landing in the bonnet of his car, everything changes for him. Has he witnessed an accident, suicide, or something worse? Whichever, it affects him deeply. London's young people are being trafficked into gangs, exploited, and killed. Thirteen-year-old Raffa Jordan was shot in the street, an innocent bystander in a gang war, or so it seems. It looks as if Samantha Haile is just the latest victim in the wave of violence sweeping the city. Only Noah feels the need to treat her differently, to chase down the truth of what happened that day. Marnie Rome wants to help, but even she cannot grasp why Noah is risking so much for the sake of this stranger he never knew. As Marnie finally finds peace with her own past, she is faced with the far harder task of bringing Noah back from the brink of self-destruction.

Behind the scenes with the experts on famous paintings. The seal of the Prince of Yugoslavia, the icon that protected persecuted Russians, Monets repurposed canvas, the excised first wife, the stolen Tissot ... all these stories can be found on the backs of paintings in New Zealand art museums. This fascinating book by three painting conservators explores the backs of 33 paintings, ranging from 15th century artworks to the present day, from Claude Lorrain to Ralph Hotere, and held in the collections of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki and the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. Join them on their art-detective explorations.

A gripping, chilling and twisty novel from Sarah Hilary, winner of the Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year, returns with a new DI Marnie Rome novel, QUIETER THAN KILLING. For fans of Val McDermid, Alex Marwood and Claire Mackintosh 'Hilary is my drop-everything writer; always original, always bang-on psychologically, always gripping. I am a huge fan' Alex Marwood 'Tremendous' Ian Rankin It's winter, the nights are dark and freezing, and a series of assaults is pulling DI Marnie Rome and DS Noah Jake out onto streets of London. When Marnie's family home is ransacked, there are signs that the burglary can have only been committed by someone who knows her. Someone out there is playing games. It is time for both Marnie and Noah to face the truth about the creeping, chilling reaches of a troubled upbringing.