Blacklands: The addictive debut novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author

Blacklands: The addictive debut novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author

by Belinda Bauer (Author)

Synopsis

Twelve-year-old Steven Lamb digs holes on Exmoor, hoping to find a body. Every day after school, while his classmates swap football stickers, Steven goes digging to lay to rest the ghost of the uncle he never knew, who disappeared aged eleven and is assumed to have fallen victim to the notorious serial killer Arnold Avery. Only Steven's Nan is not convinced her son is dead. She still waits for him to come home, standing bitter guard at the front window while her family fragments around her. Steven is determined to heal the widening cracks between them before it's too late. And if that means presenting his grandmother with the bones of her murdered son, he'll do it. So the boy takes the next logical step, carefully crafting a letter to Arnold Avery in prison. And there begins a dangerous cat-and-mouse game between a desperate child and a bored serial killer ...

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 221
Publisher: Corgi
Published: 02 Jan 2010

ISBN 10: 0552158844
ISBN 13: 9780552158848
Book Overview: CWA GOLD DAGGER WINNER FOR BEST CRIME NOVEL OF 2010! A chilling psychological debut, Blacklands introduces an extraordinary new author reminiscent of the best of Minette Walters and Barbara Vine.
Prizes: Winner of CWA Gold Dagger for Fiction 2010.

Media Reviews
Extraordinarily powerful and provocative... will leave you breathless * Daily Mirror *
An excellent first novel, with a highly original plot * The Times *
A very special debut thriller, and a clear-eyed depiction of ordinary people under extraordinary stress. This is something quite new -- ANN CLEEVES, bestselling author of the Vera and Shetland novels
A psychological tour-de-force about the cruelty of hope and, ultimately, the triumph of innocence * Guardian *
The reader is fully gripped... Bauer's first novel shows an extraordinary power of imagination and, vital in crime fiction, the ability to create fear and empathy in the reader * Independent *
Author Bio
Belinda Bauer grew up in England and South Africa and now lives in Wales. She worked as a journalist and a screenwriter before finally writing a book to appease her nagging mother. With her debut, Blacklands, Belinda was awarded the CWA Gold Dagger for Crime Novel of the Year. She went on to win the CWA Dagger in the Library for her body of work in 2013. Her fourth novel Rubbernecker was voted 2014 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. Her books have been translated into 21 languages.