Simon Lelic: The Child Who

‘Lelic was marked for stardom by his first two thrillers, Rupture and The Facility, and he confirms his place at the literary top table with this, his third… Told with compelling force, and at considerable pace, it reveals the frightening law of unintended consequences: even a good man can be destroyed by the best intentions.’

‘Fantastic. Absorbing, moving, hugely gripping.’

‘Could this be Lelic’s breakthrough book? It deserves to be.’

‘Gripping… Lelic, author of the highly acclaimed Rupture, unpicks the layers of vengeance, exploitation and fear that accrue around children that kill, and examines the terrible fall-out for anyone who goes against the vindictive current… a compelling, thought-provoking page-turner.’

‘Simon Lelic’s first two crime novels attracted much well-deserved praise. His third The Child Who is equally good… Despite its dark theme, this stark, powerfully written novel ends on a faint note of hope. Lelic is a writer to watch.’

‘Simon Lelic doesn’t shy away from controversial issues… He’s billed as a crime writer, but his books are bigger than that. And in his work he finds his stride as somebody who can truly make us examine ourselves, and place ourselves in the scenarios he creates so masterfully. The action, when it comes, zips along at a fair old lick, but it is the thought processes of the protagonists that engage, along with the oppressive atmosphere Lelic has got down to a fine art. Terrific stuff.’

‘An edgy and unorthodox writer whose specialty is holding the reader in an unshakeable narrative grip while making us question the actions of the central characters… It is impossible to feel lukewarm about The Child Who and that as much as anything is a measure of this author’s uncomfortable skills.’

‘A provincial solicitor finds his world shaken to the core when he has to defend a 12-year-old boy accused of murdering a young female schoolmate. Fascinating moral issues are played out.’

‘Shades of the James Bulger case hover over Lelic’s third novel… The less prurient writers who tackle this theme often adopt kid gloves only to strangle the life out of their work, but Lelic keeps his thriller exciting while handling the material sensitively.’

‘Pacey, surprising and well written.’

‘An excellent psychological crime thriller from one of the genre’s rising stars.’

‘A writer to whom attention must be paid.’

‘Zest, fresh perspective, insight and often quite beautiful writing, something you rarely see in populist thriller fiction… his gift is for immediately unsettling the reader. Just who is narrating this? Who are these people? Where is this going? This wrong-footing isn’t just gimmicky, however. It’s an essential thread in the weave of this excellent novel… Much of the joy of this book is about the disorientating nature of Lelic’s story-telling… bewitching.’

‘Simon Lelic follows his acclaimed debut with an equally gripping psychological thriller also inspired by horrific real-life crime.’

‘Quietly excellent legal thriller.’

‘Lelic was marked for stardom by his first two thrillers, Rupture and The Facility, and he confirms his place at the literary top table with this, his third… Told with compelling force, and at considerable pace, it reveals the frightening law of unintended consequences: even a good man can be destroyed by the best intentions.’

‘A ruthless, realistic novel of crime and punishment.’

‘By page three, Simon Lelic’s harrowing and haunting novel The Child Who has you utterly in its snares. A daring writer but also a deeply open-hearted one, he renders his flawed but sympathetic characters with the most tender of hands, heightening the tale’s suspense and drawing us even closer.’

First published 2012 by Mantle

This electronic edition published 2012 by Mantle

an imprint of Pan Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited

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Basingstoke and Oxford

Associated companies throughout the world

www.panmacmillan.com

ISBN 978-1-4472-0665-1 EPUB

Copyright © Simon Lelic, 2012

The right of Simon Lelic to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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