What She Left - Softcover

Richmond, T R

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1476773904 ISBN 13: 9781476773902

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2016

Synopsis

In this brilliantly modern novel of love, obsession, and revenge, a professor pieces together the life and mysterious death of a former student--and unearths a shocking revelation about her final days. "A deliciously modern take on the psychological thriller" (Daily Telegraph).

On a snowy February morning, the body of twenty-five-year-old journalist Alice Salmon washes up on a riverbank south of London. The sudden, shocking death of this beloved local girl becomes a media sensation, and those who knew her struggle to understand what happened to lively, smart, and savvy Alice Salmon. Was it suicide? A tragic accident? Or...murder?

Professor Jeremy Cooke, known around campus as Old Cookie, is an anthropologist nearing the end of his unremarkable academic career. Alice is his former student, and the object of his unhealthy obsession. After her death, he embarks on a final project--a book documenting Alice's life through the digital and paper trails that survive her: her diaries, letters, Facebook posts, Tweets, and text messages. He collects news articles by and about her; he transcribes old voicemails; he interviews her friends, family, and boyfriends.

Bit by bit, the real Alice--a complicated and vulnerable young woman--springs fully formed from the pages of Cookie's book...along with a labyrinth of misunderstandings, lies, and secrets that cast suspicion on everyone in her circle--including Jeremy himself.

About this title

Review

"An extraordinary and bold creation." --The Guardian (UK) "Best Recent Crime Novels"

"In What She Left, T.R. Richmond leads the reader down a dark and twisty path of suspense and intrigue. This gripping and stylishly written novel left me chilled to the bone and captivated me from beginning to end." --Heather Gudenkauf, New York Times bestselling author of The Weight of Silence

"This is how books should be written: full of trust and respect for the reader, allowing you to follow the darker paths and investigate yourself. A book of immense accomplishment, thrilling and clever." --Elizabeth Haynes, New York Times bestselling author of Human Remains

"Strikingly modern." --The Sunday Times (UK)

"What She Left is bold and inventive storytelling. The reader becomes the investigator, sorting through diary entries, letters, tweets, and emails to discover the truth beneath the tales of an entire cast of potentially unreliable narrators. This is not only a clever thriller, but an insightful exploration of identity and the personae we create in the social-media era." --Alafair Burke, New York Times bestselling author of The Ex

"A deliciously modern take on the psychological thriller. A shifting, mesmerising, mysterious story. Very well-written and intelligently realised, occupying a territory half way between literary novel and thriller. Amemorable debut."--Daily Telegraph (UK)

"Beautifully written and incredibly suspenseful."--Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen on HBO's Game of Thrones)

"A classic whodunnit, given a modern twist." --Huffington Post

"Thought-provoking." --Fort Worth Star Telegram

"Every month brings another book billed the new Gone Girl, but we think we've found a winner."--Marie Claire

From the Back Cover

Alice Salmon
young, smart, ambitious
- with her whole life ahead of her.
Until the night she mysteriously drowns.

Nobody knows how or why.

But Alice left a few clues:
her diary, texts, emails, and presence on social media

Alice is gone but fragments of the life she led remain - and in them might lie the answer to what really happened to her - if only someone can piece it all together before it vanishes for ever . . .

'A deliciously modern psychological thriller . . . very well-written and intelligently realised' Daily Telegraph

'Absorbing, intricate and extremely original' Claire Kendal, author of The Book of You

'Richmond keeps you guessing until the final pages in this compelling debut' Glamour

'Beautifully written and incredibly suspenseful' Emilia Clarke

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1476773904
• ISBN 13: 9781476773902
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336