Little Cruelties
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4.1 • 70 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
From the #1 internationally bestselling author of Strange Sally Diamond and Lying in Wait, a biting and masterful “dark jewel of a novel” (A.J. Finn, #1New York Times bestselling author) that explores the many ways families can wreak emotional havoc across generations—for fans of HBO’s acclaimed series Succession.
All three of the Drumm brothers were at the funeral.
But one of them was in the coffin.
William, Brian, and Luke: three boys, born a year apart, trained from birth by their wily mother to compete for her attention. They play games, as brothers do…yet even after the Drumms escape into the world beyond their windows, those games—those little cruelties—grow more sinister, more merciless, and more dangerous. And with their lives entwined like the strands of a noose, only two of the brothers will survive.
Hailed by New York Times bestselling author Shari Lapena as “brilliant, engrossing,” and perfect for fans of breathtaking suspense, Little Cruelties gazes unflinchingly into the darkness collecting in the corners of childhood homes, hiding beneath marriage beds, clasped in the palms of two brothers shaking hands. And it confirms that Liz Nugent is truly “a force to be reckoned with” (Lisa Jewell, New York Times bestselling author) in contemporary fiction.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This artfully constructed but coal-black psychological suspense novel from Irish author Nugent (Skin Deep) opens at the funeral of one of the often-estranged, sociopathic Drumm brothers: William, Brian, and Luke. Which brother is in the coffin and how he got there isn't revealed until much later. The long, strange trip before then emerges in sections narrated in turn by the trio, starting with the entitled eldest, William, a sexist film producer, and ending with baby Luke, a former pop star, much of whose bad behavior can be attributed to lifelong mental illness and addiction issues. In between there's money-mad Brian, who, as Luke's manager, stole Luke's mansion and peddled his brother's secrets to the press. The cruel way their supremely narcissistic mother, a fading Dublin dance band singer, treated her sons accounts for how they developed into such fatally flawed individuals. (Their innocuous father died in their teens.) Though the author's skillful telling of this multigenerational tragedy has the riveting power of an imminent car crash, its despicable characters and unremitting darkness may put off many. Readers who don't like it intensely grim are advised to start with one of Nugent's earlier, not quite so dark books.
Customer Reviews
57%
I’m only a little over half finished, and I just don’t think I can read anymore. It’s not the least bit exciting. In fact it’s quite draining to read.
I thought it would be more of a mystery of which of the three brothers the funeral proceedings are for.