Background
Simon Beckett was born on 20 April 1960 in Sheffield, United Kingdom, to a working-class background.
(The deliciously unnerving and claustrophobically compelli...)
The deliciously unnerving and claustrophobically compelling new psychological thriller by the No.1 internationally bestselling author of The Chemistry of Death. 'Somebody!' I half-sob and then, more quietly, 'Please.' The words seem absorbed by the afternoon heat, lost amongst the trees. In their aftermath, the silence descends again. I know then that I'm not going anywhere... Sean is on the run. We don't know why and we don't know from whom, but we do know he's abandoned his battered, blood-stained car in the middle of an isolated part of rural France at the height of a sweltering summer. Desperate to avoid the police, he takes to the parched fields and country lanes but his leg is caught in a vicious animal trap. Near unconscious from pain and loss of blood, he is freed and taken in by two women -- daughters of the owner of a rundown local farm with its ramshackle barn, blighted vineyard and the brooding lake. And it's then that Sean's problems really start... This nail-shredder of a thriller -- like the fiction of Nicci French or Gillian Flynn -- holds you from the beginning, tightening its grip as the story unfurls and shocks you with its final twist.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0857502581/?tag=2022091-20
Simon Beckett was born on 20 April 1960 in Sheffield, United Kingdom, to a working-class background.
His books, in particular the crime series around forensic anthropologist Doctor David Hunter, have sold 21 million of copies worldwide, and enjoyed particular success in Germany and Scandinavia. After earning a Master of Arts degree in English, Beckett taught in Spain and played in several bands before becoming a freelance journalist. He has written for The Times, The Independent on Sunday, The Daily Telegraph and The Observer, amongst others
He wrote several novels, including Fine Lincolnshire in 1994, before publishing the first novel in the David Hunter series, The Chemistry of Death, in 2006.
Sequel novels featuring David Hunter have been released in August 2007 (Written in Bone), January 2009 (Whispers of the Dead) and 2010 (The Calling of the Grave). The series has sold several million copies worldwide and is particularly popular in Germany and Skandinavia.
The books and protagonist were inspired when Beckett visited the "Body Farm" (by its official name: the University of Tennessee Anthropological Research Facility, founded by forensic anthropology pioneer Doctor Bill Bass) in 2002, doing research for an article for the Daily Telegraph. Having watched—and participated in—"live" exercises involving manufactured crime scenes containing real decaying corpses, and having witnessed the sciences employed to ascertain how, when and where death occurred, Beckett was inspired to create a central character who is, in his own words, "vulnerable" and "very human", while authoritative and knowledgeable regarding forensic anthropology.
Simon Beckett is married and currently lives in Sheffield, England.
(A wealthy, slightly sinister London art dealer develops a...)
(The deliciously unnerving and claustrophobically compelli...)