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  • Published: 10 January 2019
  • ISBN: 9781405938495
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 384

She Lies in Wait

The gripping Sunday Times bestselling Richard & Judy thriller pick




Who killed Aurora Jackson? Jonah Sheens untangles a web of long-buried secrets in this outstanding debut thriller

On a hot July night in 1983, six school friends go camping in the forest. Bright and brilliant, they are destined for great things, and young Aurora Jackson is dazzled to be allowed to tag along.

Thirty years later, a body is discovered. DCI Sheens is called to the scene, but he already knows what's waiting for him: Aurora Jackson, found at long last.

But that's not all. The friends have all maintained their innocence, but the body is found in a hideaway only the six of them knew about.

It seems the killer has always lurked very close to home...

  • Published: 10 January 2019
  • ISBN: 9781405938495
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 384

About the author

Gytha Lodge

Gytha Lodge is a writer and multi-award-winning playwright who lives in Cambridge. After studying creative writing at UEA, she was shortlisted for the Yeovil Literary Prize and the Arts' Council England fiction awards, and developed a large online following for her young adult and children's writing, with over seven million reads accrued on platform Wattpad. She Lies in Wait, her debut novel, was a Richard & Judy Book Club Pick.

Also by Gytha Lodge

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Praise for She Lies in Wait

A stunner, a proper whodunnit. It kept me up well past bed-time, turning those pages. Well-plotted, brilliant characters, beautifully written: a sure-fire hit

Jo Spain, no.1 bestselling author of The Confession

A dark, deep, terrific thriller and a scorching portrait of friendship and its betrayal

Nicci French

I loved it. A SUPERIOR crime book

Marian Keyes

She Lies in Wait delivers on just about every level - a killer premise, an absorbing plot that twists and turns at just the right pace, and in DCI Jonah Sheens a lead detective who has hit the page fully-formed and instantly likeable. One to watch!

Caz Frear, Richard and Judy bestselling author of Sweet Little Lies

A strong debut thriller with dual timelines. Mysterious, stylish, and utterly compelling

Will Dean, bestselling author of Dark Pines

By turns elegant and savage, absorbing and clinical, She Lies In Wait is one of those rare debuts that stops you dead, commands you to turn each page, and leaves you piecing together a story you are desperate to unfold yet loath to finish. Seriously impressive.

Chris Whitaker, CWA Dagger-winning author of Tall Oaks

In this cracking, page-turning thriller, Gytha Lodge brings the reader on a twisty edgy ride, flipping deftly between two timelines as it races towards the reveal. Gripping stuff

Karen Perry, bestselling author of Girl Unknown

A stunning debut. Brilliantly formed characters and a twisty, clever plot had me turning pages well past my bed time.

Heidi Perks, Sunday Times bestselling author of Now You See Her

This enjoyably chilling suspense tale conveys both the thrills and the dangers of being a teenager on the brink of adult independence... The obvious questions of how she died and at whose hand are properly dealt with. But the fascination of this story is in the character studies of the surviving children, all grown up now and participants in a dark mystery that they all wish had never seen the light of day

New York Times

What a marvel! A corkscrew-twisty, knife-sharp thriller - yet it doubles as a tender ode to loss and longing. Prepare to be haunted

A.J. Finn, no.1 bestselling author of The Woman in the Window

With a punchy hook, this is the perfect read for a book club

Cambridge Edition

Gytha Lodge is an incredibly talented writer and this is an haunting, assured debut that will stay with the reader long after they've finished the last page.

Jessica Barry, author of Freefall

An atmospheric debut... Lodge smoothly intercuts the present-day police probe by whip-sharp recent transfer Det. Constable Juliette Hanson and other team members with flashbacks to the last day of Aurora's life as seen through her eyes... This psychological thriller marks a promising start to a planned series

Publishers Weekly

Sheens and his team are compassionate, clever, and likeable... The mystery intrigues and twists, offering enough red herrings and moments of police procedural to please fans of the genre. There are already two more DCI Sheens novels in the works - hooray!

Kirkus (starred review)

Masterful and immersive, told with pace and nuance - totally gripping. The tension wracks up page after page. A fantastic book, a sure-fire bestseller

Chris Hammer, No.1 Bestselling author of Scrublands

I thoroughly enjoyed it - a great evocation of being a teenager, and a tense meshing of time lines. I'm very glad it's the start of a series

Harriet Tyce, author of Blood Orange

Most enjoyable - Gytha Lodge is a skilled storyteller and she weaves such an intricate plot. The book hooked me early on and kept me up way past my bedtime on several nights! The team of detectives Gytha has put together is top notch. All in all, a very satisfying read

James Oswald

She Lies in Wait drew me in from the very first page. Gytha Lodge has created a compulsive crime novel with a heartbreaking story and a complex plot as well as a whole set of brilliant characters, especially the clever and likeable DCI Sheens. Difficult to put down, it kept me guessing until the end

Jenny Quintana, bestselling author of The Missing Girl

I can't remember a debut I read with such pleasure - a really masterful handling of complex plot and beautiful characterisation

Helen Callaghan, bestselling author of Dear Amy

A gripping, atmospheric thriller and hugely promising debut

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An engaging tale of lust, rivalry and murder

Sunday Times, Pick of the best suspense novels

A thriller with a chilling psychological edge that explores the bonds of friendship

Woman

This twisty-turny read is a cut above the rest because of the brilliant writing. 5 *****

Sun

Slow-burning, yet intense ... Ticks all the crime thriller boxes

Peterborough Evening Telegraph

An atmospheric thriller that takes the idea of six friends with a dark place in their past and gives it a series of fresh, chilling twists. A novel that literally makes you hold your breath then gasp out loud

Val McDermid

Brilliant. We predict she is a big name for the future

Leamington Courier

Classic detective fiction at its best! Lodge paints an absorbing tale of murder-and more--involving a cast of superbly drawn characters. Rarely does a book so seamlessly blend the past and the present, building edge-of-the-seat suspense to the very final scene, all the while offering up piercing psychological insight that draws us in as completely as the plot.

Jeffery Deaver, author of The Never Game and The Bone Collector

Classic detective fiction at its best! Lodge paints an absorbing tale of murder - and more - involving a cast of superbly drawn characters. Rarely does a book so seamlessly blend the past and the present, building edge-of-the-seat suspense to the very final scene, all the while offering up piercing psychological insight

Jeffery Deaver