Available Formats
The Sunshine Man
By (Author) Emma Stonex
Pan Macmillan
Picador
29th April 2025
1st May 2025
United Kingdom
General
Fiction
Crime and mystery fiction
Thriller / suspense fiction
Family life fiction
Narrative theme: Coming of age
Narrative theme: Identity / belonging
Hardback
368
Width 162mm, Height 242mm, Spine 34mm
582g
'The week I shot a man clean through the head began like any other . . .' From Emma Stonex, the bestselling author of The Lamplighters, comes The Sunshine Man, a cat and mouse thriller about a revenge plotted over decades. 'A deeply thrilling and emotionally rich page-turner. One of my books of the year' - Lucy Clarke 'Fiendishly gripping' - Rosie Walsh In January 1989, Birdie wakes to the news she's been waiting eighteen years to hear. Jimmy Maguire, the man who killed her sister, has been freed from jail. Birdie leaves for London with a gun and a plan: to find him and make him pay. But there's another side to the story, and she's about to enter a world of family lies, worn-out loyalties and long-buried betrayals. Did Jimmy kill Birdie's sister, or is he the only one she can really trust And when the truth is finally revealed, will she choose forgiveness - or retribution A heart-stopping new novel of murky shared pasts and a fury-fueled present, The Sunshine Man is a thrilling cat and mouse chase set against the salt-drenched backdrop of England's south coast, from bestselling author Emma Stonex.
A remarkable novel - heart-wrenching, unflinching and deeply compassionate . . . thrilling, and incredibly moving. If you loved The Lamplighters, I guarantee youll love The Sunshine Man too -- Emylia Hall, author of The Shell House Detectives
Masterful. Not only suspenseful and exquisitely tense but a nuanced, humanely observed portrait of grief and trauma. A triumph -- Jo Harkin, author of The Pretender
The Sunshine Man is a masterful literary thriller . . . A deeply thrilling and emotionally rich page-turner. One of my books of the year -- Lucy Clarke, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Castaways and One of the Girls
A brilliantly accomplished story of fractured lives and the long-term reverberations of violent crime, The Sunshine Man is both poetic and fiendishly gripping. Stonex's prose is bruising and beautiful -- Rosie Walsh, author of The Man Who Didn't Call
Spellbinding and beautifully written, The Sunshine Man transcends genre. Its an unbearably tense thriller and a nuanced examination of fractured lives, grief and trauma. Told in glittering and poetic prose with an impeccable sense of place, this is a granular exploration of big questions revenge, love and redemption. I ing loved it! -- Nikki May, author of Wahala and This Motherless Land
A compelling and masterful thriller - with a loaded gun, a car chase and a woman set on revenge - and a compassionate tale of grief, resilience, love and absolution -- Susan Fletcher, author of The Night in Question
This dark, compelling novel of trauma, revenge and damaged lives really got under my skin . . . The prose shines with beauty, the characters are vividly drawn and the plot hurtles headlong towards its unforgettable ending -- Lucy Diamond, author of I Remember Paris
Gripping, heartbreaking, and one of the most psychologically complex thrillers I've ever read -- Caroline Lea, author of The Glass Woman
Emma Stonex returns with a dark, powerful page-turner - a story full of pain and loneliness but also love and redemption. A very sophisticated and moving psychological thriller -- Emily Koch, author of If I Die Before I Wake
Some books grab you by the throat, others by the heart. The Sunshine Man seizes both then refuses to let go. Threaded through with a deep, unfurling sense of dread, yet dazzling in its tenderness and heart, this compelling literary thriller cements Emma Stonex's place as one of our brightest literary talents. A masterful achievement -- Hannah Richell, author of The Search Party
Full of driving tension and rising dread, The Sunshine Man is compelling, moving and totally original. I'll be thinking about it for a long time. -- Kate Riordan, author of The Heat Wave
Imaginative, tender and compelling, Emma Stonex's writing glows from the page. A charged and unforgettable story -- A.J. West, author of The Betrayal of Thomas True
A wholly original immersive thriller with love and family at its heart, and just exquisite writing -- Harriet Evans, author of The Beloved Girls
A novel that stays with you long after reading, The Sunshine Man is a worthy successor to the excellent The Lamplighters . . . a compelling, tight thriller with heart -- Jodie Matthews, author of Meet Me At The Surface
The most moving literary thriller . . . a tense, taut masterpiece -- Georgina Moore, author of River of Stars>
A novel that is tender, and wild, with characters that will move and surprise. This is a book about revenge, but it runs so much deeper - Stonex explores the complexities of the human heart and mind with compassion and empathy. It will stay with me for a long time -- L. V. Matthews, author of The Twins
Emma Stonex was born in 1983 and grew up in Northamptonshire. After working in publishing for several years, she quit to pursue her dream of writing fiction. The Lamplighters was a Sunday Times bestseller. She lives in Bristol with her husband and two young daughters.