Set over a long weekend in East Anglia, this is the chilling story of a rivalrous friendship - as told with deceptive casualness by the narrator, Ian. It opens with a surprise phone call from an old university friend, inviting Ian and his wife, Em, for a few days by the sea. Their hosts, Ollie and Daisy, are a golden couple, and the scene is set for sunlit relaxation.

But dangerous tensions quickly emerge, and in the stifling atmosphere of a remote cottage in the hottest days of summer, Ollie and Ian resurrect a bet made twenty years before. Each day becomes a series of challenges for higher and higher stakes, setting in train actions that will have irreversible consequences.

Four friends, one weekend, and a bet that changes everyone's lives...

About the Author
Born in Skipton, Yorkshire, Blake Morrison is the author of two bestselling memoirs, And When Did You Last See Your Father? and Things My Mother Never Told Me, two novels (most recently the acclaimed South of the River and The Last Weekend), and a study of the Bulger case, As If. He is also a poet, critic, journalist and librettist. He teaches Creative Writing at Goldsmiths College, and lives in south London.

Reviews
The fascination is horrible, the prose addictive, the situation magnificently claustrophobic, the denouement shocking -- Alan Taylor * Herald *
Morrison has created far more than a sinister take on the country-house novel... This is a suspenseful thriller, but more importantly it succeeds as an exceedingly clever investigation into the strangeness of lies -- Christian House * Independent on Sunday *
A compelling psychological thriller that, in parts, will cause you to actually flinch -- Ben Felsenberg * Metro *
Delightfully twisted -- David Mills * Esquire *
This is one achievement among several for Blake Morrison, who has written a novel that is at once artful and naturalistic, restrained and yet suggestive, and faithful to a perspective from which the readers wants to recoil -- Stephen Abell * Times Literary Supplement *
The story is beautifully crafted, astutely observed and peopled with believable characters -- David Robson * Sunday Telegraph *
Morrison handles the elements of his novel with impeccable control -- Stephanie Merritt * Observer *
The fascination is horrible, the prose addictive, the situation magnificently claustrophobic, the denouement shocking * Glasgow Herald *
An insidiously gripping tale * Country Life *
This is a seriously good novel and it deserves to overtake a few more loudly trumpeted false favourites in the popularity and prize stakes * The Lady *



Book Information
ISBN 9780099542346
Author Blake Morrison
Format Paperback
Page Count 272
Imprint Vintage
Publisher Vintage Publishing
Weight(grams) 192g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 17mm