The Screaming Tree

(Paperback)

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Description

Complex psychological thriller from the author of When the Ashes Burn: 'Phil Lovesey is among the most talented of the new wave of young British crime writers' Marcel Berlins, The Times As a seven-year-old boy, William Dickson goes into the woods with his friend Fat Norris and watches as he falls to his death from a tree. Friends and family couldn't be more sympathetic -- as if they don't realize how much William is to blame. Fat Norris is the first, but William soon claims other victims, particularly when he sees just how easy it is for him to kill and get away with it: a woman who attacks him, a school bully and a teenage yob all fall prey to his murderous impulses, without him ever arousing the slightest suspicion. It's only much later that a throwaway remark by his mother casts a whole new light on William's crimes. Can his memory of past events be completely trusted Or is there an even more sinister and complex reason for the shadow of death that has hung over him since he went into the woods

Reviews

'A promising new young British voice' Time Out When the Ashes Burn: 'The most gripping, horrifying book of the year' Yorkshire Post Ploughing Potter's Field: 'A superior piece of crime-writing' Philip Oakes, Literary Review 'Robust writing, a keen, brutal perception of modern existence and a penchant for shocking violence' Marcel Berlins, The Times

Author Bio

Born in Essex in 1963, and the son of award-winning crime writer Peter Lovesey, Phil Lovesey was educated at Tiffin Boys School before taking a foundation course in art , leading to a degree in film and television studies, then a career as Londons laziest copywriter at a succession of the capitals most desperate advertising agencies. He turned to proper writing in 1994 with a series of short stories, and was runner-up in the prestigious MWA 50th Anniversary short story competition in 1995. He has lived in Chelmsford for nine years, been married to a dream woman for ten, has two young children, and is without question one of the worst badminton players in the South East. Death Duties is his first novel.