Oliver Stark: 88 Killer

‘You’ve given them more than hope, Tom. You’ve given them an ending.’

‘I’m hoping I’ve given them something else as well,’ he said as he turned to her.

‘And what’s that?’ asked Denise.

‘A new beginning,’ said Harper as he smiled.

Thank you to everyone out there who has read my books. I’m grateful for all your reviews and comments which always make me want to write more and try out new ideas. I hope you enjoy them.

Thank you to my wife. For everything — from just putting up with me to continuing to inspire the best in me, and of course for reading draft after draft and for all the great suggestions and necessary corrections. Thanks to my children. You’re just the best. I feel very lucky to be able to write surrounded by such support. Thanks also to Laura, my American adviser, for all her help. A huge thanks to my whole family who continue to forgive me for neglecting them!

Thank you to my agent, Andrew Gordon, for his continued enthusiasm, good sense and clear guidance. His knowledge of what’s right and what works has helped to make this book as good as it possibly can be. Thank you to the whole team at David Higham Associates who have helped get this book to print.

Thanks to the brilliant team at Headline, who manage to make everything about book publication feel personal and important. Thank you to all those in Marketing, Publicity and Sales who have done such a brilliant job in getting this book out there. I am most indebted, of course, to my editor, Vicki Mellor. Vicki has incredibly good judgement and her intuition and guidance have helped shape and form this book and me, as a writer. Thanks, Vicki.

Every book involves a struggle, but this one has also been a thrill to write. I hope you enjoy it. All of us had great fun in the creation but we’re having even more fun now it’s done.

Oliver Stark has been writing for as long as he can remember. As a teenager, he was an avid fan of American detective stories and made his first attempt at crime fiction at the age of sixteen. Needless to say, this never reached publication.

After trying a wide variety of jobs, from working in a bookies to managing a pub, he finally gave in to his passion for reading and went on to study and then teach literature. 88 Killer is the second book in Oliver’s crime series featuring Tom Harper and Denise Levene. His debut novel, American Devil , was published in 2010. Oliver lives in London with his wife and children.

‘Impressive… written with pace and a delicate feel for the darker shadows of the American psyche… Stark is an exceptional new British talent.’

‘A remarkable debut by a British writer who captures the mood and setting of New York brilliantly… Powerful and thrilling.’

‘Tightly plotted, intricately planned, not a loose end or an unexplained action or clue anywhere, great characters, great pace, twists and turns aplenty… and an exciting and thrilling climax which had me on the end of my seat.’

‘Well written, paced steadily with a climactic finish and chock full of thoughtfully crafted characters… Stark delivers an aptly stark portrayal of the modern-day psychopath.’

‘Stark holds his own in a debut that focuses on characterization and has a villain certainly creepy enough to keep the pages turning… [His] confidence and careful attention to the internal lives of his characters add another layer to the hunt for this killer… Solid and scary.’

‘An assured debut, suggesting that Oliver Stark is a name we will hear a great deal more from.’

American Devil

88 Killer

Copyright © 2011 by Oliver Stark

The right of Oliver Stark to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 2011.

Apart from any use permitted under UK copyright law, this publication may only be reproduced, stored, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, with prior permission in writing of the publishers or, in the case of reprographic production, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency.

First published as an Ebook by Headline Publishing Group in 2011

All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Cataloguing in Publication Data is available from the British Library

eISBN: 9780755370153

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