Alex: The Heart-Stopping International Bestseller

Description

SHE'S RUNNING OUT OF TIME Alex Prevost - kidnapped, beaten, suspended from the ceiling of an abandoned warehouse in a wooden cage - is in no position to bargain. Her abductor's only desire is to watch her die. HE WANTS ONLY ONE THING Apart from a shaky police report, Commandant Camille Verh÷ven has nothing to go on: no suspect, no leads. If he is to find Alex, he will have to get inside her head. ESCAPE IS JUST THE BEGINNING Resourceful, tough, beautiful, always two steps ahead - Alex will keep Verh÷ven guessing till the bitter end. And before long, saving her life will be the least of his worries.

Pierre Lemaitre was born in Paris in 1951. He worked for many years as a teacher of literature before becoming a novelist. He was awarded the Crime Writers' Association International Dagger, alongside Fred Vargas, for Alex. In 2013 his novel Au revoir la-haut (The Great Swindle, in English translation) won the Prix Goncourt, France's leading literary award.

'As good as crime writing gets' Times Literary Supplement . * Literary Supplement * 'I doubt you will read a better book this year' Val McDermid. * Val McDermid * 'What a cracking novel! I haven't read such a stunning thriller debut for years. Brilliantly written and totally gripping' Minette Walters. * Minette Walters * 'Intelligent, complex, with a gripping plot and deeply intriguing characters. The author's early death is a great loss' Philip Pullman. * Philip Pullman * 'Powerful' Alain Beuve-Mery, Le Mond. * Le Mond * 'A literary explosion' Marine Landrot, Telerama. * Telerama * 'Brutal crime writing with a tinge of Gauloise ... brilliant' Daily Mail. * Daily Mail * 'It enthrals at every stage of its unpredictability. Grippingly original' The Times. * The Times * 'Moves from read-as-fast-as-you-can horror to an intricately plotted race to a dark truth' Alison Flood, Observer. * Observer * 'Hailed as the most important crime novel in translation since Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Alex similarly features as an intriguingly flawed feminist heroine bent on vengeance, and will likely prove a sensation of the crime fiction year' Irish Times. * Irish Times * 'Relentlessly gripping, Lemaitre is worthy of all the fuss' * Independent * 'Brutal crime writing with a tinge of Gauloise ... brilliant' * Daily Mail * 'An absolute gem' * Eurocrime * An invigoratingly scary, one-sitting read. -- Laura Wilson * Guardian. * Moves from read-as-fast-as-you-can horror to an intricately plotted race to a dark truth . . . Alex is about thrills. -- Alison Flood * Observer. * Grippingly original . . . It enthralls at every stage of its unpredictability. -- Marcel Berlins * The Times. * MacLehose has done it again . . . in Pierre Lemaitre he has unearthed another master of crime fiction destined to become a household name. -- Adam Sage * The Times. * Alex had me gripped more than almost any book I can remember, with one shout-out-aloud knockout twist after another * Peter James *