Those We Left Behind

DCI Serena Flanagan is forced to confront a disturbing case from her past: the murder conviction of a 12-year-old-boy who has just been released from prison

Deeply chilling, but full of tenderness…utterly compelling… The best book yet from a hugely talented writer

Those We Left Behind is a great, brawling ache of a novel. Filled with both prickling suspense and fiercely wrought emotion, it’s a tale of the burdens of family and the weight of the past. And at its center, holding it all together, is DCI Serena Flanagan, the bruised and compassionate hero for whom we’ve all been waiting

In the world of modern crime fiction, Stuart Neville is a supernova. I buy his books the day they’re released because I can’t wait to see where he takes me next. And I’m never disappointed

Death stalks the pages of Those We Left Behind, and its shadow is dark and menacing. Neville is a compassionate and skilled writer, however, and as we reach the last page of the book, a tiny flickering flame of redemption burns in the night

Just read this book. And whilst it keeps you in fear and suspense – appreciate how beautifully it is written

Don’t be left behind – read this book, enjoy and prepare for more books involving the flawed, chaotic, saddened and very interesting Serena Flanagan

Neville's track record is proven, with testimonials from the likes of Lee Child and Val McDermid. Those We Left Behind speaks of the heart-rending choices facing Flanagan and the Devines, and their tortured journeys as they seek a purpose to their lives, battling to keep their heads above water. To find out who sinks or swims, seek out a copy of this gripping tale

A searing, deeply affecting psychological thriller. Neville demonstrates once again that he’s a literary force to be reckoned with

If crime connoisseurs take only one book to the beach this summer they should make sure it is Those We Left Behind

A frighteningly real story powered by its psychological insight. DCI Serena Flanagan is a compelling blend of toughness and warmth

Those We Left Behind combines a compelling, tragic and all too believable plot with a wonderfully drawn central character. Neville gets the female voice just right and has created a fascinating series character in DCI Serena Flanagan. Highly recommended

Sinead Crowley, author of Can Anybody Help Me?

The author is a craftsman who has woven a story with strong believable characters into this backdrop and delivered a powerful, poignant book which has expanded my reading range and I thank him for this

It’s a novel that leaves an impression and one that we would highly recommend… Those We Left Behind is dark and at times quite brutal but it is a book that you won’t be able to put down

Once again, Neville ratches up the tension to an almost unbearable level, while managing to draw his characters with compassion and humanity

Searing and affecting psychological thriller… A terrific thriller, chilling but oddly tender.

Stuart Neville’s first novel, The Twelve, was one of the most critically acclaimed crime debuts of recent years, winning the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for best thriller. Collusion, Stolen Souls, Ratlines (shortlisted for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger), The Final Silence and Those We Left Behind (a Richard and Judy Book Club choice) have garnered widespread praise, confirming his position as one of the most exciting crime authors writing today. 
 
www.stuartneville.com

A RICHARD AND JUDY BOOK CLUB PICK 
 
DCI Serena Flanagan is forced to confront a disturbing case from her past: the murder conviction of a 12-year-old-boy who has just been released from prison 
 
DCI Serena Flanagan hasn’t heard the boy’s name in years. 
 
Not since the blood on the wall and the body in the bedroom. 
 
Not since she listened as he confessed to brutally murdering his foster father. 
 
But now Ciaran Devine is out of prison and back in her life. And so is his brother, Thomas – the brother that Flanagan always suspected of hiding something. 
 
When Ciaran’s probation officer comes Flanagan with fresh fears about the Devines, the years of lies begin to unravel, setting a deadly chain of events in motion. 
 
‘Deeply chilling, but full of tenderness…utterly compelling… The best book yet from a hugely talented writer’ 
Sunday Mirror 
 
‘A quietly superb, sensitive plot’ 
The Times 
 
‘A must read’ 
Irish Times 
 
'DCI Serena Flanagan is the hero for whom we've all been waiting' 
Megan Abbott

The Final Silence

DI Jack Lennon and DCI Serena Flanagan must join forces to investigate a series of murders reaching back decades

Gripping from start to finish. Neville's economical yet nuanced prose style drives the plot forward at breakneck speed while building complex characters with the deftness that defines a thriller writer at the top of his game

Deftly plotted, fast paced and the denouement packs a real punch

This pacey, exciting thriller is Neville's best yet

Crisply written and fast-moving, the novel has a brutal honesty that confirms Neville's place in the first division of crime writers

Crime fiction doesn't get much better

What makes Stuart Neville so special is that he never forgets the human heart that beats inside the bleakest darkness

Succinct and pacy storytelling stretched taut across a morass of unresolved tensions and motives for murder that don’t necessarily fit the prevailing post-peace process narrative.  Lennon could well serve as a poster boy for conflict resolution, a deeply flawed man who has in the past been his own worst enemy and is now battered and scarred, physically and emotionally, as he pursues truth and justice by any means necessary

This is crime fiction right out of the top drawer. The dialogue throughout the book snaps and jitters with electricity, and as the climax unfolds nothing will be able to make you put the book down. The elements of pity, humanity and compassion are never far under the swirling surface action of this novel, and it will certainly be put on my ‘best of 2014' shelf

Neville is back with a bang… Just as captivating as the previous novels… I loved everything about the book

Neville, who was heaped with praise for his first book, has managed to keep the good stuff coming, and his new novel shows no sign of a dip in performance

With a sure grasp of the mechanics of suspense, Neville’s real coup is his multifaceted and conflicted protagonists

DI Jack Lennon and DCI Serena Flanagan must join forces to investigate a series of murders reaching back decades 
 
Rea Carlisle inherits a house from an uncle she never knew – and with it a leather-bound book containing fingernails, locks of hair and a list of victims. 
 
Horrified, Rea turns to the only person she can think of: old flame DI Jack Lennon. But Lennon has his own troubles, and they only get worse when a brutal murder places him in the crosshairs of one of the force's toughest detectives: DCI Serena Flanagan. 
 
Lennon soon realises that running isn't an option, and an alliance with Flanagan is the only way to find a killer with nothing left to lose. 
 
'A thriller writer at the top of his game' 
Sunday Independent 
 
'Packs a real punch' 
Guardian 
 
'Neville's best yet' 
Sunday Mirror 
 
'Confirms Neville's place in the first division of crime writers' 
Spectator

Ratlines

In this gripping thriller based on real-life events, Lieutenant Albert Ryan is called in to investigate the murder of Nazi collaborators who claimed asylum in Ireland after the Second World War.

Stuart Neville’s books just get better and better and Ratlines is simply superb. A shocking moment in history is the backdrop to a hugely gripping thriller

A Nazi-hunting thriller writhing with double and triple-crosses

Accomplished, assured and expertly plotted...a seriously impressive piece of crime fiction, that lingers long in the memory

Ratlines is a belter: fast, furious, bloody and good

A stunning depiction of what might have happened to one of Germany's senior Nazis...a first-rate story that seizes the imagination, and never lets go

A great thriller from this emerging talent, with a fascinating subject, clever plot and vivid depiction of 1960s Ireland

Wildly entertaining, Ratlines is a superb mystery but in addition, a spotlight on a slice of Irish history largely ignored. This is a complex mystery told in the exceptional style that Stuart Neville has made his own. Jameson and Nazis, Irish rebel songs and Charles Haughey, it's a bold and brilliant blend

A superbly written, supremely intelligent thriller

Absolute blockbuster – and one you won’t want to put down

A German businessman is the third to die: murdered in a seaside guesthouse. 
 
A note pinned on his body is addressed to Colonel Otto Skorzeny, Hitler’s favourite commando and once the most dangerous man in Europe. It warns Skorzeny that they are coming for him next. 
 
Lieutenant Albert Ryan is ordered by the Irish Minister for Justice, Charles Haughey, to protect Skorzeny, but Ryan defied his parents and scandalised his home town to join the British Army and fight the Nazi regime. Can Ryan bring himself to protect a man who caused the deaths of thousands: a man who now lives safely in Ireland in the lap of luxury?

Stolen Souls

A nail-biting, terrifying, adrenaline pumping thriller from the writer Lee Child calls 'an exceptional talent' and Mark Billingham a 'crime writing star'

Stolen Souls is a nightmare story in the most noir place on earth, told by an exceptional talent. Crime fiction doesn't get much better than that

Stolen Souls offers harrowing, uncompromising suspense

The Twelve was an astonishing debut and Collusion proved it was no fluke. Now with Stolen Souls, Stuart Neville has raised the bar even higher. Gripping, compassionate and packed with wonderfully realised characters, this is a book that will stay with you long after you finish it. Just three books in and Stuart Neville is already a crime-writing star

Stolen Souls is another winner from a a man who's rapidly establishing himself as a top-notch thriller writer. Great stuff

Neville creates a break-neck pace as he switches between the story's different strands in punchy chapters...good, grisly fun

Unputdownable and seriously good. Fasten your seatbelt and climb into this rollercoaster of a book

Neville is a master at constructing monsters and this latest is no exception... The best measure of a genre novel is its readability and this one sticks to the hands

Stolen Souls shows an unflinching mastery of such dark and disturbing material ... A master at work

This third, beautifully crafted thriller, which brings Inspector Jack Lennon to the fore, confirms [Stuart Neville's] stature as the North's most promising crime fiction talent.

The Irish crime-fiction wave rises to new heights with Stuart Neville's third novel, the tight, telescopic thriller Stolen Souls. The writing here is mature and assured: There are no extraneous words or characters... But where Ellroy writes a furious caldron of nonstop vintage action, one senses a diamond-hard stillness at the heart of Neville's prose, despite the hurtling plot

Stuart Neville's mastery of Belfast continues... Spectacularly written

Neville's third outing confirms him as the king of Belfast noir

Neville has the talent to believably blend the tropes of the crime novel and those of a horror, in the process creating a page-turning thriller akin to a collaboration between John Connolly and Stephen King...

A brilliant thriller: unbearably tense, stomach-churningly frightening.

A no-frills thriller that barrels along at a ferocious pace, pausing only to offer the occasional nod to 1970s paranoid classics such as William Goldman's Marathon Man.

Stuart Neville's third novel effortlessly exceeds the high expectations created by the first two installments... Stuart Neville's latest novel is a thrilling masterpiece. From its gripping and well paced plot to its well defined and intriguing characters, Stolen Souls is a powerful novel, which does not shy away from exploring the new literary landscape for Northern Irish fiction.

Gayla's only hope is about to turn into her worst nightmare 
 
Tricked into coming to Ireland with the offer of a good job, all Gayla wants to do now is run. As far and as fast as she can. Because her captors are close behind her, and they want her dead - no matter what. 
 
Two people are hunting her... 
 
Crime lord Arturus Strazdas has never had a woman he hasn't paid for and never had a friend who wasn't afraid of him. Now his brother is dead, and he's determined to find - and destroy - the woman responsible. 
 
...And neither one will rest till she is dead 
 
On the other side of the city, Detective Inspector Lennon wants a quiet Christmas with his six year old daughter. But as the bodies start to mount up, he finds himself in a desperate race to save a woman's life, and track down two very dangerous killers. 
 
Stuart Neville's breakneck new thriller

Collusion

'If you like Neville's debut thriller The Twelve last year - as I most certainly did - his second is even better' -Daily Mail

James Ellroy and Val McDermid were among admirers of Stuart Neville's corpse-filled debut The Twelve, and his follow-up Collusion is another mesmerising Belfast blood bath. The Traveller and O'Kane are memorably grotesque creations and Neville's violent showdowns rival those in Jacobean revenge plays

A second novel that not only lives up to the promise of the first, but actually exceeds it

Brisk, addictive and possessing an expert sense of when to play the "supernatural" card, Collusion is a worthy successor to one of last year's best thrillers

Neville's latest tale of redemption and retribution expertly combines razor sharp writing and expert pacing, and as a result Collusion brims with suspense from start to finish

A cracking story, told with wit and panache. Thoroughly enjoyable and thoroughly recommended

Neville's follow-up to his corpse-filled debut The Twelve is another mesmerizing Belfast blood bath...the author's showdowns rival those in Jacobean revenge plays.

Collusion then, is a high-tempo noir thriller well underpinned by bleak history

GARRY FEGAN: 
the former hit man is hiding out in New York, having cut all ties wiht his old life. But he made a fatal mistake: he spared the life of Bull O'Kane, a ruthless gang leader who will stop at nothing to get his revenge. 
 
THE TRAVELLER: 
a merciless assassin who kills without pity or remorse, The Traveller is hired by O'Kane. His instructions are to find - and terminate - Fegan, and O'Kane knows the perfect bait to lure Fegan back to Belfast. 
 
JACK LENNON: 
his family have disowned him and his colleagues don't trust him. But when he discovers that his ex-partner and young daughter are helpless pawns caught up in O'Kane's thirst for vengeance, Lennon must enter into a desperate alliance if he is to save them both.

The Twelve

The Twelve is a magnificent debut thriller. One of the best first novels in years.

The Twelve is the best first novel I've read in years. It crackles. It grabs you by the throat. This is some guy to watch out for in a dark alley

Stunning... Awesomely powerful, fabulously written and with a hero who is also a villain that you cannot help sympathising with, this novel is simply unmissable

A brilliant thriller: unbearably tense, stomach-churningly frightening

As astonishing debut. Brilliantly conceived, masterfully written; both a heart-pounding thriller and a stunning examination of responsibility and revenge

A page-turning thriller akin to a collaboration between John Connolly and Stephen King... The Twelve is a superb thriller, and one of the first great post-Troubles novels to emerge from Northern Ireland

The Twelve is a fast-paced, gripping, darkly enjoyable thriller

It'll knock you sideways. This guy can write

Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Best Thriller 
 
Sooner or later, everybody pays. 
 
Gerry Fegan, a former paramilitary contract killer, is haunted by the ghosts of the 12 people he has slaughtered. Every night, on the point of losing his mind, he drowns their screams in drink. His solution is to kill those who engineered their deaths. 
 
From the greedy politicians to the corrupt security forces, the street thugs to the complacent bystanders who let it happen, all are called to account. But when Fegan's vendetta threatens to derail a hard-won truce and destabilise the government, old comrades and enemies alike want him dead. 
 
'The Twelve is the best first novel I've read in years. It crackles. It grabs you by the throat. This is some guy to watch out for in a dark alley' - James Ellroy

Stuart Neville

What makes Stuart Neville so special is that he never forgets the human heart that beats inside the bleakest darkness

There's a chilling core to this pitch dark and powerful thriller

Neville goes from strength to strength, giving us a flawed detective who retains her humanity in spite of the dark, bleak landscape of Ulster

Flanagan is a superb creation, one of the most convincing women detectives around

DCI Serena Flanagan is a compelling blend of toughness and warmth

Neville gets the female voice just right and has created a fascinating series character in DCI Serena Flanagan. Highly recommended

DCI Serena Flanagan, the bruised and compassionate hero for whom we’ve all been waiting

Another tightly-written thriller from the king of Irish Crime

Meticulous in its depiction of ruthless, deeply disturbed and manipulative killer, Neville has given us a thoughtful, atmospheric novel and, in Flanagan, a low-key, all-too-human hero for our times

A gripping tale of evil, despair and redemption

With his [Neville’s] ongoing, sympathetic development of this fascinating, complex character, his liking for Serena was apparent in this latest book. I certainly share his desire to allow her to gradually reveal her story, as well as those of her family, and can only hope that it won’t be too long before he treats his readers to the next story in what I hope will be a long series!

The gripping new DCI Serena Flanagan thriller from the bestselling author of Those We Left Behind 
 
'Stuart Neville is...a crime-writing star' Mark Billingham 
 
DCI Serena Flanagan is asked to sign off the suicide of a severely disabled businessman. It should be an open and shut case. 
 
But something doesn't feel right, and soon the grieving widow's relationship with a local vicar sounds an alarm. With no evidence to back her up, however, have Serena's instincts led her down the wrong path? 
 
Under pressure at home and ignoring orders from her superiors, she must discover the truth. It's an investigation that may cost Serena her job – and her family. 
 
PRAISE FOR STUART NEVILLE: 
 
'Stuart Neville...never forgets the human heart that beats inside the bleakest darkness' 
Val McDermid 
 
'In the world of modern crime fiction, Stuart Neville is a supernova...I can't wait to see where he takes me next' 
Dennis Lehane 
 
'There's a chilling core to this pitch dark and powerful thriller' 
Sunday Mirror

Stuart Neville

Praise for So Say the Fallen

A crime-writing star

What makes Stuart Neville so special is that he never forgets the human heart that beats inside the bleakest darkness

There's a chilling core to this pitch dark and powerful thriller

A crime-writing star

What makes Stuart Neville so special is that he never forgets the human heart that beats inside the bleakest darkness

There's a chilling core to this pitch dark and powerful thriller

A crime-writing star

What makes Stuart Neville so special is that he never forgets the human heart that beats inside the bleakest darkness

There's a chilling core to this pitch dark and powerful thriller

Books by Stuart Neville

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