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A new novel by the author of The Forgiven, about a Mediterranean vacation that takes a terrifying turn.
On a hike during a white-hot summer break on the Greek island of Hydra, Naomi and Samantha make a startling discovery: a man named Faoud, sleeping heavily, exposed to the elements, but still alive. Naomi, the daughter of a wealthy British art collector who has owned a villa in the exclusive hills for decades, convinces Sam, a younger American girl on vacation with her family, to help this stranger. As the two women learn more about the man, a migrant from Syria and a casualty of the crisis raging across the Aegean sea, their own burgeoning friendship intensifies, and when a simple plan of revenge goes horrifically wrong, Faoud must go on the run while the girls come to terms with the terrible consequences they have set in motion.
In this brilliant psychological study of manipulation and greed, Lawrence Osborne creates another atmospheric masterpiece reminiscent of Patricia Highsmith and Paul Bowles.
"Starred Review. Beautifully crafted and psychologically astute, Osborne's latest novel takes us on another journey through a heart of moral darkness. A rich, disturbing, and compelling read." – Kirkus
"Starred Review. Soaked in lush descriptions of the breathtaking Greek countryside... brilliantly paced." - Booklist
"Osborne is a startlingly good observer of privilege, noting the rites and rituals of the upper classes with unerring precision and an undercurrent of malice… The novel takes on the tone of an existential noir, evoking writers like Jean-Patrick Manchette and Georges Simenon. Yet even as the narrative accelerates, the novel retains its sense of languor and style." – Katie Kitamura, New York Times Book Review
"As a thriller, a real page-turner, and as social commentary an astutely glancing approach to Europe's migration crisis. Rivetingly well written. Osborne...has a fine feel for the complexities of culture clash." – Lionel Shriver, Financial Times (Summer Picks 2017)
This information about Beautiful Animals 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.
Photo: Ine Gundersveen
Lawrence Osborne was born in England and today lives in Bangkok. A widely published and widely traveled journalist, he is the author most recently of Only to Sleep, Beautiful Animals and Hunters in the Dark. He has lived a nomadic life in Mexico, Italy, France, Morocco, Cambodia and Thailand, places that he draws on in his fiction and non-fiction. The Forgiven from 2012 is set in Morocco and his 2014 novel The Ballad of Small Player in the casinos of Macau. His short stories have appeared in magazines such as Tin House, Bidoun and Fiction, and his story "Volcano" was included in Best American Short Stories of 2012. All four of his recent novels are currently in production as feature films.
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