A Line of Blood

A chilling psychological thriller about family – the ties that bind us, and the lies that destroy us. Perfect for fans of The Girl on the Train and I Let You Go.

You find your neighbour dead in his bath.
Your son is with you. He sees everything.

You discover your wife has been in the man’s house.
It seems she knew him.

Now the police need to speak to you.

One night turns Alex Mercer’s life upside down. He loves his family and he wants to protect them, but there is too much he doesn’t know.

He doesn’t know how the cracks in his and Millicent’s marriage have affected their son, Max. Or how Millicent’s bracelet came to be under the neighbour’s bed. He doesn’t know how to be a father to Max when his own world is shattering into pieces.

Then the murder investigation begins…

Reviews

‘I read this in one sitting, gripped from the opening page by the twisty plot and a family so damaged I couldn't bear to leave them’ Clare Mackintosh, author of I LET YOU GO

‘Ben McPherson has a very distinctive voice, and A LINE OF BLOOD is cleverly put together’ Val McDermid

‘McPherson displays a rare skill for creating characters with depth in a world that is splintering around them’ Daily Mail

‘A chilling and compelling read, beautifully written…’
Renee Knight, bestselling author of DISCLAIMER

‘Gripping from the get-go, A LINE OF BLOOD will have readers wondering what they might be capable of in the face of the terrible isolation of self within a family running off the rails’ Tami Hoag #1 New York Times bestselling author of COLD COLD HEART

‘It is both an extraordinary novel and thriller, and brilliantly written’ Claire Kendal, bestselling author of THE BOOK OF YOU

‘A beautifully-written psychological thriller’ Mark Edwards

‘A tense, touching, smartly written thriller with a very clever twist. McPherson is an impressive new voice’ Tim Lott

‘A hugely impressive debut, well written and psychologically acute; a devastating depiction of a family tearing itself apart’ Paul Johnston

About the author

Ben McPherson is a television producer, director, and writer. He studied Modern Languages at King’s College, Cambridge, and worked for many years in film and television production. From 1998 to 2007 he was a director and producer for the BBC.

In 1998 Ben met the woman he would go on to marry at the Coach and Horses in Soho. Similarities to the characters in his novel, A Line of Blood, end there.