The Listeners

(Paperback)

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A new crime series set in the brooding landscape of the Scottish borders from the author of the Celcius Daly series. Not long out of the fast-track training course at Edinburgh's police college, Detective Sergeant Carla Herron is about to be tested to breaking point. She's been called to Deepwell psychiatric hospital in the Scottish borders to interview a patient who has confessed to the murder of one of the hospital's psychotherapists. The confession is vividly detailed, but for a man locked in a secure ward and under 24-hour surveillance, it is also utterly impossible. So why can't the supposedly murdered psychotherapist be contacted Why are the hospital staff so secretive, so difficult to work with Why have other Deepwell patients made disturbingly similar confessions over the past year Against the advice of her superiors, Carla delves deeper into the hospital's past and is plunged into a labyrinth of jealousies, lies and hallucinations. Struggling to separate fact from fantasy, Carla embarks on a chilling trail through the bleak uplands and dark forests of the Scottish borders, every step taking her closer to a final deadly reckoning. 'Quinn sets up a Russian doll narrative, with manipulation within manipulation' GUARDIAN. 'Carefully wrought, often lyrical prose, always rich with foreboding' BOOKLIST.

Reviews

The foreboding darkness creeps off the pages like a chilling fog, threatening damage to everything that Carla treasures. Powerful and scary * Sunday Times Crime Club *
Quinn puts another layer of wisdom on his already accomplished manner of exposing the moral duplicity of the margins * Belfast Telegraph *
As in earlier books, Quinn sets up a Russian doll narrative, with manipulation within manipulation * Guardian *
Takes the reader to the rugged, deeply atmospheric landscape of the human mind and the dangerous, malleable labyrinth of memory and suggests that oft times, silence speaks louder than words * Pen & Ink Reviews *
One hopes more DS Herron mysteries follow * Irish Independent *
A neat variation on the traditional locked-room mystery, with Quinn crafting a satisfying solution to what appears to be an impossible crime * Irish Times *
No-one does atmosphere and menace better than Anthony J. Quinn... In a beautifully written narrative and with foreboding darkness almost rising from its pages, Quinn explores the themes of secrecy, lying, duplicitous behaviour and untrustworthiness through his characters with plenty of misdirection and red herrings for anyone trying to unravel the mystery concealed within what is a Russian doll of manipulation inside manipulation... Quinn's writing and pace are immaculate, his characters well-drawn' * Crime Review *
A fascinating meditation on the nature of truth and a mind-bending variation on the locked-room mystery * Irish Times *

Author Bio

Anthony J. Quinn is an Irish author and journalist. He was born in County Tyrone and studied English at Queen's University, Belfast. His first novel, Disappeared, was a Daily Mail crime novel of the year.