‘Taut, tense, and beautifully written’ Clare Mackintosh

‘Addictive’ Sunday Times

Sometimes a lie feels kinder than the truth . . . but what happens when that lie becomes an avalanche of deceit?

When Tess is sent to photograph Greg, a high-profile paediatric surgeon, she sees something complex in him that she instantly connects with. Their relationship quickly deepens, but then Tess – already a single mother to nine-year-old Joe – finds out she’s pregnant.

Greg, who never wanted to be a father, is then offered the job of a lifetime back in his hometown of Boston, USA. Within just a few months, they have married and moved to the States. But life in an affluent Boston suburb is not as straightforward as Tess had hoped. Strange things keep happening in their rented home – Joe is unsettled, the next-door neighbours are clearly troubled, and Greg’s work is all-consuming. As a fierce Boston winter closes in, and her baby’s birth looms, Tess remains determined to make this new life work. Then she makes a jaw-dropping discovery . . .

PRAISE FOR LUCY ATKINS

‘Wonderfully skilled’ Sarah Perry
‘Sly, witty and gripping’ Naomi Alderman
‘Wholly beguiling’ Mick Herron
‘Highly intelligent’ Sarah Vaughan
‘Beguiling, brilliantly creepy’ Claire Fuller