Discover Well-Read Black Girl Books and the projects reshaping publishing →

Book Summary and Reviews of An Empty Death by Laura Wilson

An Empty Death by Laura Wilson

An Empty Death

A Thriller

by Laura Wilson

  • Critics' Consensus (0):
  • Readers' Rating (1):
  • Published:
  • Mar 2011, 432 pages
  • Rate this book

About this book

Book Summary

Summer, 1944. After almost five years of conflict, London's inhabitants are exhausted.  War-weary DI Ted Stratton is no exception, but he cannot help being drawn in by his latest case. Called on to investigate when a doctor is found dead in Fitzrovia's Middlesex Hospital, Stratton soon realizes that someone involved is not who they appear to be. Someone has discarded their own identity, and that someone is on a killing spree.

Meanwhile Jenny, Ted's wife, who is working at the local recovery center, is also running on fumes. When a bombed-out woman shows up, declaring that the man claiming to be her husband is an imposter, Jenny blames the woman’s confusion on shock. The reality, however, is much stranger and far more dangerous...

Ultimately, for both Stratton and Jenny perhaps there is only one thing they can really trust: their fear. And for one of them, that fear may prove to be all too real. An Empty Death is a thoroughly riveting thriller.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

"[A] heart-wrenching, life-and-death drama involving Stratton's wife and culminates in an unexpected plot twist." - Kirkus

"[An] over-the-top ending vitiates almost all the emotional force of the novel's opening." - Publishers Weekly

"Starred Review. Fans of the moody historical mysteries by Charles Todd and Rennie Airth will enjoy discovering a new author." - Library Journal

"...all the strands are meticulously handled, and different readers will find different threads that they feel are most compelling." - Booklist

This information about An Empty Death was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Click here and be the first to review this book!

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Author Information

Laura Wilson Author Biography

The British author Laura Wilson was brought up in London and has degrees in English literature from Somerville College, Oxford, and UCL, London. She lives in Islington, London, where she is currently working on her twelfth novel. She is the crime fiction reviewer for the Guardian newspaper and teaches on the City University Crime Thriller Novel Creative Writing MA course.

Link to Laura Wilson's Website

Other books by Laura Wilson at BookBrowse
  • The Innocent Spy jacket
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked An Empty Death, try these:

  • The Watcher jacket

    The Watcher

    by Charlotte Link

    Published 2015

    About this book

    An immersive, atmospheric crime novel from the multi-million-copy bestselling author, Charlotte Link.

  • The Postmistress jacket

    The Postmistress

    by Sarah Blake

    Published 2011

    About this book

    The Postmistress is an unforgettable tale of the secrets we must bear, or bury. It is about what happens to love during war­time, when those we cherish leave. And how every story - of love or war - is about looking left when we should have been looking right.

  • Speak of the Devil jacket

    Speak of the Devil

    by Richard Hawke

    Published 2007

    About this book

    In his brilliantly paced and stunningly original debut, Richard Hawke delivers a tale of flawed and unforgettable people operating at the ends of their ropes. It's literary suspense that doesn't let go until the last page.

We have 10 read-alikes for An Empty Death, but non-members are limited to three results. Join free to see the complete list of recommendations.
Search read-alikes
How we choose read-alikes
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

BookBrowse Book Club

  • Book Jacket
    When No One Else Will
    by Amanda Skenandore
    1940s Chicago nurse risks everything at an illegal women’s clinic during a high-profile trial of courage and sisterhood.
  • Book Jacket
    A Pair of Aces
    by Marie Benedict, Victoria Christopher Murray
    Two women on opposite sides of the law team up to bring down gangster Lucky Luciano in this gripping novel.

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket
    Summer's Never Over
    by Darby Bozeman
    A woman revisits a Southern summer camp where a counselor's death may not have been an accident.
  • Book Jacket
    The Jellyfish Problem
    by Tessa Yang
    A marine biologist rescues a Maine island menaced by a giant glowing jellyfish in this inventive debut.
  • Book Jacket
    Feast
    by Catherine Kurtz
    In 19th-century France, a girl with a magical taste becomes a duc’s poison taster amid nobility and danger.
  • Book Jacket
    The Reimagining of Thornwood House
    by Jaleigh Johnson
    A witch and her ward discover a magical walking house and find the true meaning of home.
Who Said...

Every good journalist has a novel in him - which is an excellent place for it.

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Book
Trivia
  • Book Trivia

    Can you name the title?

    Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

Q S, S

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.