The Bodies

Brought to you by Penguin.

How many times would you let your child get away with murder? The new break-out thriller from Sam Lloyd, author of Richard & Judy Book Club pick The Memory Wood.

When you look down at your newborn baby, you realise they were right, those smug parents you’ve always rolled your eyes at: you’d do literally anything for your child. To make them happy, keep them safe.

So when Joseph Carver wakes one night to find his teenage son Max scrubbing the kitchen, hands wet with blood and panic flooding his voice as he promises it was an accident, he didn’t mean to do it, Joseph does the only thing he can. He helps Max bury the body.

Joseph thinks that’s the end of the nightmare. Until he finds Max with stricken eyes and bloody hands once again . . .

You’d do anything for your child – even cover up a murder.

But would you do it twice?

‘Lloyd is a rare new thriller talent.’ – Daily Mail

‘Remarkable. Stunning prose and compulsive reading. It's undoubtedly the best thriller I've read in a long, long time.’ – Lesley Kara

‘An intense, atmospheric, and truly original thriller.’ – Shari Lapena

‘Fiendishly clever’ – Sunday Times

'The best hook of any thriller in the last few years.' - Helen Fields

'Twisty, relatable and relentlessly gripping.' - T.M. Logan

© Sam Lloyd 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025