Critics' Opinion:
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Published in USA
Oct 2018
528 pages
Genre: Thrillers
Publication Information
A brilliant new work of suspense that turns a crime story inside out.
Toby is a happy-go-lucky charmer who's dodged a scrape at work and is celebrating with friends when the night takes a turn that will change his life - he surprises two burglars who beat him and leave him for dead. Struggling to recover from his injuries, beginning to understand that he might never be the same man again, he takes refuge at his family's ancestral home to care for his dying uncle Hugo. Then a skull is found in the trunk of an elm tree in the garden - and as detectives close in, Toby is forced to face the possibility that his past may not be what he has always believed.
A spellbinding standalone from one of the best suspense writers working today, The Witch Elm asks what we become, and what we're capable of, when we no longer know who we are.
"Starred Review. French, author of the award-winning Dublin Murder Squad series, delivers a spellbinding stand-alone novel carefully crafted in her unique, darkly elegant prose style, which Stephen King has called 'incandescent.'" - Booklist
"Starred Review. French's slow-burning, character-driven examination of male privilege is timely, sharp, and meticulously crafted. Recommended for her legions of fans, as well as any readers of literary crime fiction." - Library Journal
"Edgar-winner French is at her suspenseful best in this standalone, in which an Irishman, who's always considered himself a lucky person, has to reassess his past in the light of a gruesome find on the grounds of his family's ancestral home." - Publishers Weekly
"... the story is compelling, and French is deft in unraveling this book's puzzles... Psychologically intense." - Kirkus
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Tana French is also the author of In the Woods, The Likeness, Faithful Place, Broken Harbor, The Secret Place and The Trespasser. Her books have won awards including the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity, and Barry awards, the Los Angeles Times Award for Best Mystery/Thriller, and the Irish Book Award for Crime Fiction. She lives in Dublin with her family.
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