By the end of that summer, two people would be dead… Fans of In A Dark Dark Wood and The Couple Next Door will love this twisty thriller.
I have given up so much and done so many terrible things already for the sake of my family that I can only keep going.
I do not know what is going to happen to us.
I am frightened, but I feel strong.
I have the strength of a woman who has everything to lose.
In the sweltering summer of 1997, strait-laced, straight-A student Karen met Biba – a bohemian and impossibly glamorous aspiring actress.
She was quickly drawn into Biba’s world, and for a while life was one long summer of love.
But every summer must end. By the end of theirs, two people were dead – and now Karen’s past has come back to haunt her . . .
I have given up so much and done so many terrible things already for the sake of my family that I can only keep going.
I do not know what is going to happen to us.
I am frightened, but I feel strong.
I have the strength of a woman who has everything to lose.
In the sweltering summer of 1997, strait-laced, straight-A student Karen met Biba – a bohemian and impossibly glamorous aspiring actress.
She was quickly drawn into Biba’s world, and for a while life was one long summer of love.
But every summer must end. By the end of theirs, two people were dead – and now Karen’s past has come back to haunt her . . .
Newsletter Signup
By clicking ‘Sign Up,’ I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Hachette Book Group’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
Reviews
Brilliant! THE POISON TREE grabs you with the first sentence and doesn't let go--even after the last page; this is the sort of thriller that stays with you for a long, long time. Compelling and lyrically stylish, THE POISON TREE is a true winner!
[An] intriguing and well-written mystery.
This taut psychological thriller from new author Erin Kelly has unexpected twists and turns until the very last page.
A brilliant new voice in crime fiction . . . Kelly creates an atmosphere as claustrophobic as a summer commute, which permeates the narrative and keeps the reader hooked.
Tense to the end
Gripping . . . you won't put it down
I suggest you grab a coffee, silent the phone and get comfy as you're not going to want to put this book done. It's that good . . . A creative, tense, gripping debut novel, and a must read.
Tense and menacing right from page one, filled with foreboding and a terrible sense of the inevitable. Kelly builds a feeling of claustrophobia and of seemingly ordinary people driven to do extraordinary things. It's a gripping psychological thrill . . . and I expect the author to go far.
The dark world of psychological thrillers has a bright new voice . . . [a] twisted, brooding, creepy debut.
Terrific . . . a compelling creeper that intelligently invokes the conventions of the Gothic and plays within the doom-laden confines of the voice-over. More please, Ms. Kelly! Quickly!
A psychological thriller that will give you chills.
A tense, twisting thriller . . . Atmospheric and gripping, it will keep you guessing to the end
A beautifully crafted, evocative psychological thriller . . . dark, poetic, gripping, totally brilliant.
(An) excellent debut psychological thriller, reminiscent of early Barbara Vine.
Unusually good . . . an author who instinctively knows how to tell a suspense story (think early Barbara Vine)
In her compelling debut, Erin Kelly evokes the brooding atmosphere of Rebecca, in a contemporary and completely convincing novel of tangled family desires.
A wonderfully tense and foreboding thriller that is at the same time a clever, considered study of desire and a good old-fashioned page-turner.
A very English take on the foibles and failings of humanity permeates THE POISON TREE, a remarkable debut by Erin Kelly.
An author with an eye for the truly creepy.
Ingeniously plotted and masterfully told, THE POISON TREE is an outstanding debut from Erin Kelly. A spellbinding tale of murder, guilt, and obsession, it will hold readers in suspense from the first sentence until the final shocking twist.
A really great read
A shadowy, impeccably told tale of passion, friendship and murder.
Meticulous and evocative detail does not hold up the impetus of the narrative . . . a most absorbing read.
Meticulous and evocative detail does not hold up the impetus of the narrative . . . a most absorbing read.
Kelly blends Gothic tropes with those of the crime novel, and her deployment of a rambling old house as the scene of Karen's gradual immersion in an inotoxicatingly different world, combined with the literary flourishes of her prose, is reminiscent of Tana French. A writer with a keen eye for descriptive detail, Kelly neatly fleshes out her setting and characters . . . THE POISON TREE is a rewarding and enjoyable experience
With forensic attention to detail, this mystery is all-consumingly addictive.
THE POISON TREE has a nicely claustrophobic cape wrapped round it . . . the novel's a clever tease, the pay-off more than worth it
A terrific suspense debut, reminiscent of another British woman's auspicious bow: Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca . . . This one gets the writer's ultimate bit of praise: I wish I had written it.
A shadowy, impeccably told tale of passion, friendship and murder.
Erin Kelly's gravely elegant style masks an arch talent for misdirection that allows her to spring several satisfyingly long-fused surprises.
A finely written debut novel.
A gripping debut, this thriller has a creeping sense of unease.
Will appeal to fans of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca and Donna Tartt's The Secret History . . . a rich and satisfying pleasure.
[An] extraordinary debut novel.
An enjoyable excursion into territory first colonised by Barbara Vine
I loved it . . . really spooky.
Terrifically vivid, beautifully written
Weaving tangled webs, this is a gripping psychological thriller with believable characters and a fine sense of time and place. It will keep you intrigued from the menacing prologue to the defiant ending.
A really engrossing and suspenseful novel that gripped me throughout.
Terrific
The writing is elegant, atmospheric and sophisticated.