Cold Boy'S Wood

Description: Fusing the ghost story with sharp, psychological insight, this is a brilliant and timely novel about loneliness, buried secrets and the havoc they play on the mind from Booker-shortlisted author Carol Birch. Did you hear? Big landslip over by Ercol. Last night. The road into Gully's closed off. They found a body. Got police tape. All that stuff. They only do that for murder, don't they? Murder! A body has been uncovered in a mudslide just outside the village of Andwiston. In the pub they talk of murder, but Dan - sometime mechanic, constant drunk - is finding it hard to sift through his jumbled memories. Watching him from the dark is Lorna, a lost soul living in the woods, haunted by ghosts and a vision from her childhood: a cold boy standing alone in Gallinger's field. Fusing the ghost story with sharp, psychological insight, Cold Boy's Wood is an arresting, timely novel about loneliness, buried secrets and the havoc they play on the mind. 'A naturally literary writer who can, with a simple image, evoke the deepest emotion' Guardian 'A haunting murder mystery, Cold Boy's Wood is also a double portrait of damaged souls' Sunday Times Crime Club 'Fusing the supernatural with the psychological, Birch's story is, at its heart, a human one' Big Issue 'Her prose has an irresistible vigour... Her words sing on the page' Financial Times

Review: Dark, intelligent books set in bleak landscapes - who doesn't love a Scandi thriller? Especially when it's from the critically acclaimed author of The Boy Next Door... Tense and twisty, this tale explores obsession and mental health' * Woman's Own *
This story has all the props of a true Scandi-noir thriller... The descriptions of the forest are particularly powerful and the story spins off successfully in a variety of different directions, coming to a chilling and convincing conclusion' * Daily Mail *
Dark and unsettling * Crime Monthly *
An utterly compelling psychological thriller - terrifying and well-crafted, with a super-tense finale up there with Stephen King's Misery -- J.S. Monroe
Darkly claustrophobic, Cabin Fever explores obsession so vividly it will leave you gasping for air -- Rachael Blok
A twisty thriller in the best Scandi noir tradition * Choice Magazine *
A quietly unnerving story with so many twists and surprises that by the last page, I was scarcely breathing. Dahl can spin a scary tale -- Lesley Thomson

Author Biography: Alex Dahl is a half-American, half-Norwegian author. Born in Oslo, she studied Russian and German linguistics with international studies, then went on to complete an MA in creative writing at Bath Spa University and an MSc in business management at Bath University. A committed Francophile, Alex loves to travel, and has so far lived in Moscow, Paris, Stuttgart, Sandefjord, Switzerland, Bath and London. She is the author of three other thrillers: Playdate, The Heart Keeper, and The Boy at the Door, which was shortlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger.