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A Carver and Lake Novel
by Ashley Dyer
A propulsive debut suspense novel, filled with secrets, nerve-jangling tension, perplexing mystery, and cold-blooded murder.
After months of hunting a cold-blooded murderer that the press has dubbed the Thorn Killer, Detective Greg Carver is shot in his own home. His trusted partner, Ruth Lake, is alone with him. Yet instead of calling for help, she's rearranged the crime scene and wiped the room clean of prints.
But Carver isn't dead.
Awakening in the hospital, Carver has no memory of being shot, but is certain that his assailant is the Thorn Killer. Though there's no evidence to support his claim, Carver insists the attack is retaliation, an attempt to scare the detective off the psychopath's scent, because he's getting too close. Trapped in a hospital bed and still very weak, Carver's obsession grows. He's desperate to get back to work and finally nail the bastard, before more innocent blood is spilled.
One person knows the truth and she's not telling. She's also now leading the Thorn Killer investigation while Carver recuperates. It doesn't matter that Carver and the rest of the force are counting on her, and that more victims' lives at stake. Ruth is keeping a deadly secret, and she'll cross every line - sacrificing her colleagues, her career, and maybe even her own life - to keep it from surfacing.
Utterly engrossing and filled with masterfully crafted surprises, Splinter in the Blood is a propulsive roller-coaster ride, filled with deception, nerve-jangling tension, perplexing mystery, and cold-blooded murder.
"Starred Review. [An] enthralling debut…The skillfully constructed plot complements the intriguing characters, including a deliciously creepy killer who lurks in the background. Dyer is definitely a crime writer to watch." - Publishers Weekly
"[T]his debut spins to a breathless conclusion. Solid suspense fiction by a knowledgeable duo." - Booklist
"With complicated leads and a ruthless killer whose method is barbaric enough to be frightening without shading into the grotesque, this is a debut worthy of sequels." - Kirkus
"One of the boldest, most inventive serial-killer thrillers since The Silence of the Lambs. Packed with forensic detail, anchored by a protagonist as complicated as she is compelling, this ferocious novel is perfect for fans of Jeffery Deaver and Lisa Gardner." - A. J. Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Woman in the Window
"A taut and compelling thriller, as sharp as the thorns that feature in the plot." - Ann Cleeves, Internationally Bestselling Author of the Vera Stanhope and Shetland series
"Compelling, clever. Packed with macabre and fascinating forensic details. A stunning debut." - Mo Hayder, bestselling author of Gone
This information about Splinter in the Blood was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Ashley Dyer is a psedonym for Margaret Murphy and Helen Pepper, a writing duo based in the United Kingdom. Splinter in the Blood is their first book together.
Margaret Murphy is a Writing Fellow and Reading Round Lector for the Royal Literary Fund, a past chair of the Crime Writers Association (CWA), and founder of Murder Squad. A CWA Short Story Dagger winner, she has been shortlisted for the First Blood critics' award for crime fiction as well as the CWA Dagger in the Library. Under her own name she has published nine psychological suspense and police procedural novels.
Helen Pepper is a senior lecturer in policing at Teesside University. She has been an analyst, forensic scientist, scene of crime officer, CSI, and crime scene manager. She has coauthored, as well as contributed to, professional policing texts. Her expertise is in great demand with crime writers: she is a judge for the CWA's Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction Award, and is a forensic consultant on both the Vera and Shetland TV series.
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