The Less Dead
Shortlisted for the COSTA Prize
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4.0 • 28 Ratings
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- £3.99
Publisher Description
THE TIMES CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2020 COSTA NOVEL AWARD
'This is crime writing of the highest order' The Times
When Margo goes in search of her birth mother for the first time, she meets her aunt, Nikki, instead. Margo learns that her mother, Susan, was a sex worker murdered soon after Margo's adoption. To this day, Susan's killer has never been found.
Nikki asks Margo for help. She has received threatening and haunting letters from the murderer, for decades. She is determined to find him, but she can't do it alone...
*NOMINATED FOR THE THEAKSTON OLD PECULIER CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR AWARD*
*A DAILY EXPRESS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020, SELECTED BY LEE CHILD*
CONFIDENCE, THE NEW NOVEL BY DENISE MINA, IS AVAILABLE NOW
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PRAISE FOR NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR DENISE MINA:
'More proof that Denise Mina is Britain's best living crime writer' Sunday Express on The Less Dead
'Mina is the most compassionate of crime novelists... a dark and heartfelt novel' Mail on Sunday on The Less Dead
'Denise Mina is the cream of the crop, an author who pushes the crime novel in new and exciting directions and never fails to deliver' Ian Rankin
'You won't be able to put Conviction down' Reese Witherspoon
'Unsettling, evocative and staggeringly good' Daily Express on The Long Drop
'An atmospheric recreation of a vanished Glasgow...and a compelling exploration of the warped criminal mind' The Times on The Long Drop: Top Ten Crime Novels of the Decade
'Denise Mina gets to the heart of what crime really is. You feel like you are right there, in all the dark nooks and crannies that her characters inhabit' Sunday Times and International Bestselling Author, Karin Slaughter
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READERS LOVE THE LESS DEAD:
'One of the best books you'll read' *****
'Unputdownable' *****
'Gripping' *****
'An intelligent, gripping and compassionate crime novel' *****
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this disappointing psychological thriller set in Glasgow from Edgar finalist Mina (Conviction), physician Margo Dunlop discovers undelivered letters in her late mother's belongings that lead her to Nikki, the sister of Margo's previously unknown birth mother, Susan, and the information that Susan's murder soon after Margo's birth, while Susan and Nikki were both working as prostitutes, remains unsolved. Margo, terrified after getting a threatening letter from a person claiming to be Susan's killer that's similar to ones Nikki has received for years, is drawn into Nikki's world as she seeks answers, while also dealing with her best friend, Lilah, and Lilah's increasingly abusive boyfriend, and considering whether to tell her own ex-boyfriend that she's pregnant. Mina skips most of the everyday details of Margo's career, using her identity as a doctor only as a vague plot device, and leans too heavily into the sordid details of life on the streets. A new violent death trails away without ongoing impact. This garish story offers shock without substance under the thinnest guise of compassion.
Customer Reviews
A Glasgow story of murder and survival
Being Scottish and from just outside Glasgow the story is told with believable location names and references. The human stories are very relatable and sometimes a bit harrowing but all believable. There could never be a happy ending with the researching of a murdered mother by her daughter but the characters were great and end an almost ......will not spoil it.