The Listeners - Softcover

Quinn, Anthony J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1786696088 ISBN 13: 9781786696083

Publisher: Head of Zeus, 2019

Synopsis

A new crime series set in the brooding landscape of the Scottish borders from the author of the Celcius Daly series.

Not long out of the fast-track training course at Edinburgh's police college, Detective Sergeant Carla Herron is about to be tested to breaking point.

She's been called to Deepwell psychiatric hospital in the Scottish borders to interview a patient who has confessed to the murder of one of the hospital's psychotherapists. The confession is vividly detailed, but for a man locked in a secure ward and under 24-hour surveillance, it is also utterly impossible.

So why can't the supposedly murdered psychotherapist be contacted? Why are the hospital staff so secretive, so difficult to work with? Why have other Deepwell patients made disturbingly similar confessions over the past year? Against the advice of her superiors, Carla delves deeper into the hospital's past and is plunged into a labyrinth of jealousies, lies and hallucinations.

Struggling to separate fact from fantasy, Carla embarks on a chilling trail through the bleak uplands and dark forests of the Scottish borders, every step taking her closer to a final – deadly – reckoning.

'Quinn sets up a Russian doll narrative, with manipulation within manipulation' GUARDIAN.

'Carefully wrought, often lyrical prose, always rich with foreboding' BOOKLIST.

About this title

Review:

'The foreboding darkness creeps off the pages like a chilling fog, threatening damage to everything that Carla treasures. Powerful and scary' Sunday Times Crime Club.

'If you enjoy a gritty police procedural written with a literary twist, this one is for you' Sunday Independent.

'Beautifully written ... A novel that demonstrates how capacious the crime fiction genre can be' Independent.

'Carefully wrought, often lyrical prose, always rich with foreboding' Booklist.

'Beautiful writing about ugly events with a plot that's pleasingly serpentine' Sunday Times.

'Quinn puts another layer of wisdom on his already accomplished manner of exposing the moral duplicity of the margins' Belfast Telegraph.

'As in earlier books, Quinn sets up a Russian doll narrative, with manipulation within manipulation' Guardian.

'Takes the reader to the rugged, deeply atmospheric landscape of the human mind and the dangerous, malleable labyrinth of memory and suggests that oft times, silence speaks louder than words' Pen & Ink Reviews.

'One hopes more DS Herron mysteries follow' Irish Independent.

'A neat variation on the traditional locked-room mystery, with Quinn crafting a satisfying solution to what appears to be an impossible crime' Irish Times.

Book Description:

From the author of the Celcius Daly novels, a new crime series set in the brooding landscape of the Scottish borders.

About this edition

• Publisher: Head of Zeus
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1786696088
• ISBN 13: 9781786696083
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320