Hurting Distance

“What does motherhood mean? What should a mother do if her child is in danger? . . . It’s those choices and their consequences that make Little Face compelling.”—The Washington Post

“As . . . Agatha Christie gleefully trampled on that sacrosanct rule of the mystery novel to ‘play fair with the reader,’ the power this novel packs derives from narrators who play fast and loose with what they know. . . . The solution is a stunner.”—The Boston Globe

“Spine-tingling.”—Romantic Times (top pick)

“A tautly claustrophobic spiral of a story.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Clever and original. . . . She has a brilliant new career ahead of her.”—BookPage

“A splendid crime-psychological thriller. . . . A book so well-plotted and so well-written deserves to have its surprises kept intact.”—St. Louis-Post Dispatch

“Riveting reading.”—Mystery Scene

A serial rapist relies on successful career women’s shame to insulate him from punishment. Then one of them sets out to find her missing lover, a married man, and in so doing exposes a sinister plot.

Sophie Hannah is an award-winning, best-selling poet in England. Her previous psychological thriller, Little Face, was an acclaimed bestseller in the United Kingdom, as was Hurting Distance.

What will a woman dare for obsessive love?
Published as The Truth-Teller's Lie in the US

Publishers Weekly

In Hannah's intense second thriller (after Little Face), Det. Sgt. Charlie Zailer and her sidekick, Det. Constable Simon Waterhouse, pursue a serial rapist who preys on successful single career women and sells tickets to "live" rape parties. Naomi Jenkins, a sundial maker prone to panic attacks, reports her married lover, Robert Haworth, missing after he fails to show up for their weekly tryst. Later, in order to speed up the search, Naomi informs the police that Robert raped her three years earlier. Simon finds Robert at home, near death, after possibly being bludgeoned by his wife. But there's far more going on, and making matters more dodgy, aside from a growing victim list, is the foolish fling Charlie has with the owner of a chalet-style resort in Scotland. Full of clever plot twists, this satisfying shocker about "the victims and the perpetrators of violent crimes" suggests how obsessive love, while not a crime, is certainly within hurting distance. (Oct.)

Sophie Hannah is an award-winning poet and crime fiction writer whose novels are international bestsellers.