The Poison Tree
On sale
7th November 2024
Price: £9.99
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 . . .
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Reviews
A beautifully crafted, evocative psychological thriller . . . dark, poetic, gripping, totally brilliant.
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.
(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)
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.
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!
A shadowy, impeccably told tale of passion, friendship and murder.
With forensic attention to detail, this mystery is all-consumingly addictive.
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.
A very English take on the foibles and failings of humanity permeates THE POISON TREE, a remarkable debut by Erin Kelly.
Will appeal to fans of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca and Donna Tartt's The Secret History . . . a rich and satisfying pleasure.
The dark world of psychological thrillers has a bright new voice . . . [a] twisted, brooding, creepy debut.
Erin Kelly's gravely elegant style masks an arch talent for misdirection that allows her to spring several satisfyingly long-fused surprises.
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 finely written debut novel.
An author with an eye for the truly creepy.
A psychological thriller that will give you chills.
A gripping debut, this thriller has a creeping sense of unease.
[An] intriguing and well-written mystery.
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.
This taut psychological thriller from new author Erin Kelly has unexpected twists and turns until the very last page.
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 tense, twisting thriller . . . Atmospheric and gripping, it will keep you guessing to the end
A really great read
Tense to the end
A shadowy, impeccably told tale of passion, friendship and murder.
Gripping . . . you won't put it down
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.
Meticulous and evocative detail does not hold up the impetus of the narrative . . . a most absorbing read.
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.
In her compelling debut, Erin Kelly evokes the brooding atmosphere of Rebecca, in a contemporary and completely convincing novel of tangled family desires.
The writing is elegant, atmospheric and sophisticated.
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.
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
A really engrossing and suspenseful novel that gripped me throughout.
[An] extraordinary debut novel.
Terrific