Kind of Cruel - Hardcover

Hannah, Sophie

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670785857 ISBN 13: 9780670785858

Publisher: Putnam Pub Group, 2013

Synopsis

Kind, cruel, kind of cruel.” Amber thinks it’s just nonsense, a side effect of being hypnotized for the first time. But when she’s arrested for a brutal murder two hours later, those four words are the key to clearing her name if only she could remember where she’d seen them. Amber Hewerdine suffers from chronic insomnia. As a last resort, she visits a hypnotherapist, doubtful that anything will really change. Under hypnosis, Amber hears herself saying, Kind, cruel, kind of cruel.” The words awaken a vague memory, but she dismisses the whole episode as nonsense. Two hours later, however, Amber is arrested for the brutal murder of a woman she’s never heard of, and the only way she can clear her name is by remembering exactly where she’s seen those words.

Kind of Cruel is the latest page-turner in Hannah's Zailer and Waterhouse mystery series, and will enthrall Hannah’s ever-growing readership.

About this title

Review:

A rich mix of the dark and the diverting. Brilliantly believable (Sunday Times)

Another triumph for one of the very best crime writers out there. Stunningly clever and compelling. (Heat)

Hannah excels at dissecting human behaviour, and the way she describes little acts of cruelty can send real chills down the spine. (Psychologies)

Cool, calculating and utterly chilling, KIND OF CRUEL is another compulsive book from Hannah, to be gulped down with all the lights on and someone to grab when the sense of menace grows too great. (Observer)

Hannah has outdone herself with KIND OF CRUEL . . . Her trademark precision-layered structure creates a multi-dimensional maze that holds at its centre a revelation which is truly hair-raising, even by Hannah's standards. (Independent on Sunday)

An audacious puzzle of a novel that is impossible to second guess . . . Crime novels are often dismissed in literary circles for not being literary enough. Yet KIND OF CRUEL is exactly the intelligent, reflective and stunningly written novel that has "literary" critics swooning and judging panels lining up to reward. (Sunday Express)

Hannah concocts a mystery of satisfying complexity in which frequent clichés of the genre (the locked room, for example) are turned inside out. If that were all her novels did, they would be admirably cerebral but uninvolving. Unfortunately for her rivals, Hannah does texture, depth and character with similar panache. (Scotsman)

Intricately plotted and pleasingly sinister . . . guaranteed to get under the skin. (Good Housekeeping)

A terrific reading experience. Everybody loves Sophie Hannah. (Gaby Logan Show, BBC Radio 5)

[Hannah] has outdone herself with KIND OF CRUEL . . . Her trademark precision-layered structure creates a multi-dimensional maze that holds at its centre a revelation which is truly hair-raising, even by Hannah's standards. (Independent on Sunday)

Book Description:

The brilliantly chilling seventh crime novel by the critically-acclaimed queen of psychological suspense.

About this edition

• Publisher: Putnam Pub Group
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0670785857
• ISBN 13: 9780670785858
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 436