Good People

If you found $400,000 for the taking - could you just walk away?

A brainy, twisty, sometimes twisted mystery

Good People is gleefully dread-filled, mercilessly tense, and moves with the speed of something fired from a sawed-off. Based on his first three novels, one can't help but feel Marcus Sakey is exactly the electric jolt American crime fiction needs

Marcus Sakey's got it all. He writes like a dream, he creates characters exactly like people you know, he scares you, and above all keeps you turning the pages.

Marcus Sakey is an award-winning thriller writer. He has also contributed to a number of short story anthologies in the thriller genre. He presents the US travel show Hidden Cities and lives in Chicago with his wife. www.marcussakey.com

Tom and Anna Reed want a family. But years of unsuccessful infertility treatments have left them in debt and bereft. 
 
Then one night everything changes. 
 
The tenant in the flat below them has passed away, leaving $400,000 in cash. All they have to do is take the money and all of their problems will be solved. 
 
But their decision puts them in the path of some ruthless men. Men who have been double-crossed and want revenge. 
 
Good people are about to meet bad...

The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes

A thriller that will shock, excite and terrify even the most hardened thriller reader.

Confirms Sakey's place as one of our best storytellers

A brainy, twisty, sometimes twisted mystery - part dazzling California noir, part dark American road trip, part sly psychological thriller-and entirely ingenious

Marcus Sakey is the award-winning author of four previous novels, including No Turning Back and Good People (both of which are in development as feature films). He lives in Chicago with his wife and daughter. 
 
www.marcussakey.com 
Follow him @MarcusSakey

It starts with you waking on a Maine beach, naked, half-drowned and very, very cold. 
 
Your name is Daniel Hayes. At least, you think it is. That’s the name on the insurance card you find in the BMW parked near you. How did you get here? And why? 
 
All you remember is a woman’s face. So you set off to the only place you might find her. 
 
But this raises the most chilling question of all: what will you find when you get there? 
 
 
From Lee Child . . . 
 
"Like any reader, I love old favourites . . . but I love new voices too, and I especially love it when a new voice starts to become an old favourite. It doesn't happen often, but right now it's happening with Marcus Sakey. He's got it all. he writes like a dream, he creates characters exactly like people you know, he scares you, and above all keeps you turning the pages. 
 
But most of all he does the 'what if' thing better than anyone in the business. 
 
'What if' questions power a lot of plots, but Sakey is special. He doesn't just check a box or construct a neat twist for the sake of it. Reading him between the lines, I guarantee he lives this stuff. . . he thinks it through and sweats it out, probably for weeks at a time. I can see him, looking around at all the things he loves, looking at his house, turning and looking at his wife, asking himself, 'What if? What if I had to put all this at risk? Would I? Could I? How would it feel? What would be the effect on me?' 
 
It's that kind of depth and intelligence and passion and emotion that sets Sakey apart. These are not just clever plots. These are real people with night sweats and wide eyes and everything to lose. 
 
The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes takes 'what if' in a new direction and to new heights. Every writer muses, 'What if the reader isn't sure whether the husband killed his wife, or not?' That's a basic whodunit. But Sakey asks, 'What if the husband isn't sure whether he killed his wife, or not?' That's a terrific premise, and it boosts an already-terrific thriller plot into the stratosphere."

Chicago Crime Fiction

At the City's Edge

Marcus Sakey is an award-winning copywriter and the author of The Blade Itself. While writing this he shadowed homicide detectives, toured the morgue, and learned to pick a deadbolt in sixty seconds. Born in Flint, Michigan, he now lives in Chicago with his wife.

Jason Palmer loved being a soldier. But after returning from Iraq with an "other than honourable" discharge, he's finding rebuilding his life the toughest battle yet. 
 
Elena Cruz is a talented cop, the first woman to make Chicago's prestigious Gang Intelligence Unit. She's ready for anything the job can throw at her. 
 
Until Jason's brother, a prominent community activist, is murdered in front of his own son. 
 
Now, stalked by brutal men with a shadowy agenda, Jason and Elena must unravel a conspiracy stretching from the darkest alleys of the ghetto to the manicured lawns of the city's power brokers. In a world where corruption and violence are simply the cost of doing business, two damaged people are all that stand between an innocent child - and the killers who will stop at nothing to find him.

The Blade Itself

Tremendous . . . grips like red-hot pincers

A hard-charging thriller that delivers a kick and leaves no loose ends

Fast pace, hard action . . . an exciting read

MARCUS SAKEY is an award-winning copywriter who lives in Chicago. While writing The Blade Itself, he shadowed homicide detectives, toured the morgue, and learned to pick a deadbolt in sixty seconds. Born in Flint, Michigan, he now lives in Chicago with his wife.

Danny and Evan were born on the mean streets of Chicago and did a little bit of bad-boy stuff knocking over liquor stores. It was strictly small-time. Then Evan made a mistake and he ended up in jail. 
 
Danny went straight after that. He got himself a girl and got a job with prospects. Time passed. Then Evan got out. And Evan's not someone to let bygones be bygones. He thinks Danny owes him. And, unfortunately, Evan knows a secret or two that will tear Danny's new life apart . . .

Marcus Sakey

Reads like an episode of Friends directed by Tarantino

[Leaves] readers gasping with fright and pleasure at Sakey's genius.

They thought it would be easy. They were dead wrong... 
 
Alex is failing as a father. 
Ian keeps dangerous secrets. 
Jenn wants adventure. 
Mitch wants Jenn. 
 
Four friends just scraping by, finding comfort in each other and the hope that things will get better. But as their twenties fade in the rear-view mirror, none of them are turning out to be who - or where - they hoped. 
 
At a time when CEOs steal millions while their employees watch savings dwindle, these four are tired of the honest approach. They're going to stop waiting and start taking. 
 
They have a failsafe, victimless plan that will change their lives for ever. 
 
What could possibly go wrong... 
 
Marcus Sakey is an award-winning thriller writer. He has also contributed to a number of short story anthologies in the thriller genre. He lives in Chicago with his wife. www.marcussakey.com

Marcus Sakey

Praise for No Turning Back

Reads like an episode of Friends directed by Tarantino

[Leaves] readers gasping with fright and pleasure at Sakey's genius.

Books by Marcus Sakey

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter