The brilliantly chilling seventh crime thriller from the queen of psychological suspense - a must-read for fans of Clare Mackintosh and Paula Hawkins.

'Utterly chilling' Observer
'Truly hair-raising' Independent on Sunday

Some secrets are so dark you keep them even from yourself . . .

When Amber Hewerdine consults a hypnotherapist as a desperate last resort, she doesn't expect that anything much will change.

She doesn't expect it to help with her chronic insomnia . . .

She doesn't expect to hear herself, under hypnosis, saying words that mean nothing to her: 'Kind, cruel, kind of cruel' - words she has seen somewhere before, if only she could remember where . . .

She doesn't expect to be arrested two hours later, as a result of having spoken those words out loud, in connection with the brutal murder of Katharine Allen, a woman she's never heard of . . .

Some secrets are so dark you keep them even from yourself ... The brilliantly chilling seventh crime novel from the queen of psychological suspense.

About the Author
Sophie Hannah is an internationally bestselling crime fiction writer. Her psychological thriller The Carrier won the Specsavers National Book Award for Crime Thriller of the Year in 2013. Sophie is the author of the bestselling Poirot continuation mysteries. The Point of Rescue and The Other Half Lives have been adapted for television as Case Sensitive, starring Olivia Williams and Darren Boyd. Sophie is also a bestselling poet who has been shortlisted for the TS Eliot award. Her poetry is studied at GCSE and A-level. Sophie is an Honorary Fellow of Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge. In 2023 Sophie was awarded the prestigious Dagger in the Library from the Crime Writers' Association in recognition of her brilliant body of work. She lives in Cambridge with her family.

Reviews
A rich mix of the dark and the diverting. Brilliantly believable * Sunday Times *
Another triumph for one of the very best crime writers out there. Stunningly clever and compelling. * Heat *
Hannah excels at dissecting human behaviour, and the way she describes little acts of cruelty can send real chills down the spine. * Psychologies *
Cool, calculating and utterly chilling, KIND OF CRUEL is another compulsive book from Hannah, to be gulped down with all the lights on and someone to grab when the sense of menace grows too great. * Observer *
Hannah has outdone herself with KIND OF CRUEL . . . Her trademark precision-layered structure creates a multi-dimensional maze that holds at its centre a revelation which is truly hair-raising, even by Hannah's standards. * Independent on Sunday *
An audacious puzzle of a novel that is impossible to second guess . . . Crime novels are often dismissed in literary circles for not being literary enough. Yet KIND OF CRUEL is exactly the intelligent, reflective and stunningly written novel that has "literary" critics swooning and judging panels lining up to reward. * Sunday Express *
Hannah concocts a mystery of satisfying complexity in which frequent cliches of the genre (the locked room, for example) are turned inside out. If that were all her novels did, they would be admirably cerebral but uninvolving. Unfortunately for her rivals, Hannah does texture, depth and character with similar panache. * Scotsman *
Intricately plotted and pleasingly sinister . . . guaranteed to get under the skin. * Good Housekeeping *
A terrific reading experience. Everybody loves Sophie Hannah. * Gaby Logan Show, BBC Radio 5 *



Book Information
ISBN 9780340980712
Author Sophie Hannah
Format Paperback
Page Count 528
Imprint Hodder Paperback
Publisher Hodder & Stoughton
Weight(grams) 361g
Dimensions(mm) 197mm * 136mm * 33mm