Northern Spy
A Reese Witherspoon's Book Club Pick
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- £4.99
Publisher Description
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK - SOON TO BE A MAJOR NETFLIX PRODUCTION
'You'll devour Northern Spy . . . I loved this thrill ride of a book'
Reese Witherspoon
'A sharp, moving thriller: you lose your breath for adrenalin'
Abigail Dean, author of Girl A
'A chilling, gorgeously written tale'
New York Times
'Nerve-shredding suspense'
Daily Mail
'Thrillingly good... Flynn Berry shows a le Carré-like flair for making you wonder what's really going on at any given moment'
Washington Post
A producer at the Belfast bureau of the BBC, Tessa is at work one day when the news of another IRA raid comes on the air: as the anchor requests the public's help in locating those responsible for this latest attack - a robbery at a gas station - Tessa's sister Marian appears on the screen, pulling a black mask over her face.
The police believe Marian has joined the IRA, but Tessa knows this is impossible. But when the truth of what has happened to her sister reveals itself, Tessa will be forced to choose: between her ideals and her family.
Praise for Flynn Berry
'Breathtaking . . . Berry writes thrillingly'
New York Times
'Beautifully paced and satisfyingly ominous'
Guardian
'Mesmerizingly effective'
The Times
'A thrilling page-turner'
Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train
'Berry's clever, thrilling writing wound me in and left me heartbroken'
Fiona Barton, author of The Widow
'What a book! A skillful and compelling exploration of families, crime, and class'
Clare Mackintosh, author of I Let You Go
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Belfast BBC political news producer Tessa Daly, the protagonist of this moving contemporary thriller from Edgar winner Berry (A Double Life), is struggling to juggle her job with caring for her six-month-old son, whose custody she shares with her ex-husband, when she sees a TV clip showing a gas station being robbed by a gun-wielding IRA trio. One of them is her younger sister, Marian, whom Tessa believed to be vacationing on the north coast. Detective Inspector Fenton and his team, who subsequently interrogate Tessa, seem convinced that she must also be IRA or, at the very least, privy to her sister's activities. It turns out that the local authorities don't know an awful lot about the now-fugitive Marian, whose efforts to press Tessa to assist her in her current clandestine mission puts both mother and baby at risk. The tension becomes at times almost unbearable as the plot takes increasingly sharp, sometimes improbable twists. It's a measure of the author's skill that she never loses sight of the humanity of her characters. Berry remains a writer to watch.