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Children of Wolves
  • Published: 6 September 2026
  • ISBN: 9781784746254
  • Imprint: Chatto & Windus
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 272
  • RRP: $60.00

Children of Wolves

Formats & editions
Tr. Paperback
4 Aug 2026
EBook
6 Aug 2026
Audiobook
6 Aug 2026
Hardback
6 Sept 2026
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A tense Ripley-esque literary thriller, the break-out book for critically adored, cult favourite Lawrence Osborne: a glittering European setting, seductive characters and highly contemporary theme

'An unsettling, hypnotic meditation on violence and privilege' Charles Cumming

A tense, Ripley-esque novel set in glittering Istanbul for readers of John le Carré and Patricia Highsmith

At the Mexican border, Diana ditches her car and jumps on a bus. Adam walks out of his Athens hotel with just his passport and credit cards. Marco abandons his life in London, leaving no note. At an idyllic spot on the Turkish Riviera, their comrade Chana waits for them.

Also waiting there is Tyler, a private investigator hired by an American billionaire to find his wayward, troubled daughter.

Once the five meet, a train of events is set in motion that will play out along this glittering coast, in the backstreets and renovated palaces of Istanbul and all the way to Cairo. A clash of generations, civilisations and ideologies that will test the young friends’ theory that a handful of collaborators can tilt the axis of the world through a single, striking act.

Praise for Lawrence Osborne

‘A modern Graham Greene’ SUNDAY TIMES
‘Arresting and compelling’ JOHN GRAY
‘Osborne goes from strength to strength’ LIONEL SHRIVER
‘Osborne handles surface and depth with immense skill, as only great writers can’ DEBORAH LEVY
‘If the purpose of a novel is to take you away from the everyday and show you something different, then Osborne is succeeding, and handsomely’ LEE CHILD
  • Published: 6 September 2026
  • ISBN: 9781784746254
  • Imprint: Chatto & Windus
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 272
  • RRP: $60.00
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About the author

Lawrence Osborne

Lawrence Osborne is a critically acclaimed novelist, journalist and screenwriter. He is the author of eight novels, including Ballad of a Small Player, Beautiful Animals and The Forgiven. His non-fiction ranges from memoir through travelogue to essays, including Bangkok Days, The Naked Tourist and The Wet and the Dry. His novels have been chosen as Books of the Year by the Guardian, the Observer, the Daily Telegraph, the New Statesman, the Daily Mail, The Economist, the New Yorker and the New York Times. The Forgiven was made into a film in 2022 starring Jessica Chastain and Ralph Fiennes and Ballad of a Small Player starring Colin Farrell and Tilda Swinton was released on Netflix in 2025.
portrait photo of Lawrence Osborne

Also by Lawrence Osborne

The Glass Kingdom
Only to Sleep
Burning Angel and Other Stories
The Wet And The Dry
Beautiful Animals
On Java Road
Hunters in the Dark
See all

Praise for Children of Wolves

An unsettling, hypnotic meditation on violence and privilege. Osborne is an unsung master of the literate, thought-provoking thriller

Charles Cumming, author of THE TRINITY SIX

A quietly gripping novel that begs for a sequel

Kirkus, *starred review*

A dual homage to Patricia Highsmith and Graham Greene

Booklist

Osborne excels at evoking atmosphere… a disturbing and melancholic meditation on wealth, alienation and political violence

Justin Warshaw, Times Literary Supplement

A tangle of sexual scheming, familial tensions and international terrorism... an atmospheric and entertaining page-turner

Christian House, Financial Times

Osborne is, for me, the most atmospheric of working suspense writers... Absolutely sensational

CrimeReads, The Best Crime Novels, Mysteries, and Thrillers of August 2026

Lawrence Osborne is the master of well-made, high-class thrillers... good on the nowhereness of places where rich and poor collide, and the unbridgeable gulfs that remain between them

John Self, The Times

Osborne’s most menacing novel yet... Osborne paints such a gorgeous picture of louche, jet-set Istanbul, you almost forget to watch your back

Christopher Bollen, author of HAVOC

Osborne continues to push his brand of haunted escapism into strange, new places... In Children of Wolves, Osborne stays a comfortable step ahead of writers half his age

Joseph Knox, author of IMPOSTER SYNDROME

Children of Wolves confirms Lawrence Osborne as one of the most intelligently entertaining writers around... a superb addition to his canon

James Lasdun, author of THE FALL GUY

A seductive cat and mouse... at once a labyrinthine thriller, set on dusky back streets and the terraces of five-star hotels, and an interrogation of privilege and (the performance of) politics

Rob Franklin, author of GREAT BLACK HOPE

The most arresting book yet by a master of contemporary fiction... Read the first page, and you will be hooked to the end

John Gray, author of STRAW DOGS