Monster Love

A dark and deathly literary thriller for fans of Lionel Shriver's We Need to Talk About Kevin

Shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction, Monster Love by Carol Topolski is a dark and deathly literary thriller. 
 
'I've kicked myself that I didn't do anything about it then. I've often thought, what if I had? Would she be alive now?' Charlotte, neighbour 
 
'I wonder at how gullible I was . . . because when I asked them if I could see Samantha, just for the record, she said she was playing at the rec with her friends and I just went Oh, OK' Kaye, social worker 
 
'You see it all the time in videos and that, but until you're in the room with them you don't really know what it means' Sharon, juror 
 
No one in the neighbourhood has seen the Gutteridges' little girl Samantha for months. But Brendan and Sherilyn look happier that ever, so nothing is wrong. Is it? 
 
For the Gutteridges, Samantha was just a thing that threatened to worm its way into their perfect love. For everyone else, her story is the stuff of tabloid headlines. But this time it's not in a newspaper, it's happening right next door . . . 
 
'Haunting . . . will have you hooked from the very beginning. If you liked We Need to Talk About Kevin you'll love this' Harper's Bazaar 
 
'A chilling love story with a twist as compelling as it is disturbing' Elle 
 
Carol Topolski is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist. Her many previous roles include working on the Woodstock festival, in advertising, and as a prison teacher, nursery-school director, director of a rape crisis centre and refuge for battered women, probation officer and film censor. She lives in London and is married with two daughters and two grandchildren. Monster Love was shortlisted for the 2008 Orange Prize for Fiction. Her second novel, Do No Harm, is available in Penguin.

A chilling love story with a twist as compelling as it is disturbing

Haunting...will have you hooked from the very beginning. If you liked We Need to Talk About Kevin you'll love this

A chilling, darkly compelling portrait of an unimaginable crime

Carol Topolski is a practicing psychoanalytic psychotherapist. Her many previous roles include music festival organiser, advertising executive, teacher, nursery school director, director of a rape crisis centre and refuge for battered women, probation officer and film censor. She lives in London and is married with two daughters. Monster Love is her first novel.

'I've kicked myself that I didn't do anything about it then. I've often thought, what if I had? Would she be alive now?' Charlotte, neighbour 
 
'I wonder at how gullible I was...because when I asked them if I could see Samantha, just for the record, she said she was playing at the rec with her friends and I just went Oh, OK' Kaye, social worker 
 
'You see it all the time in videos and that, but until you're in the room with them you don't really know what it means' Sharon, juror 
 
No one in the neighbourhood has seen the Gutteridges' little girl Samantha for months. But Brendan and Sherilyn look happier that ever, so nothing is wrong. Is it? 
 
For the Gutteridges, Samantha was just a thing that threatened to worm its way into their perfect love. For everyone else, her story is the stuff of tabloid headlines. But this time it's not in a newspaper, it's happening right next door...

Carol Topolski

Topolski adroitly probes the murkiest crannies of the human soul, while  ratcheting up the tension. A tautly strung very dark tale

What happens when someone whose job it is to do good is secretly bad? 
 
Everyone knows about Virginia: about her stellar reputation as a gynaecologist; about her commitment to her women patients. 
But who knows about the knives? 
 
Everyone knows about Faisal too: about his gentle charm and his family; about his brilliance in the operating theatre. 
But who knows he's a traitor? 
 
And Gilda - everyone knows about Gilda: she never poops a party; she's a loyal friend. 
But who knows about the rubber? 
 
But there's someone who really does know Virginia, who knows all about her because they've been this close from birth. Someone who knows what she does when they're alone together. What they do with the rosewood box. With the belts. 
 
Who knows that good doctors can go bad . . .

Carol Topolski

Praise for Do No Harm

Topolski adroitly probes the murkiest crannies of the human soul, while ratcheting up the tension. A tautly strung very dark tale

A chilling portrait of madness and evil

Books by Carol Topolski

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