In Defence of the Slow Burn Thriller by Lizzy Barber

Lately, I’ve noticed a growing trend in the world of thrillers: they are becoming more and more like action movies. Everywhere you look, their velocity is being exulted: ‘fast-paced,’ ‘breakneck speed,’ ‘action packed’, ‘twist after twist.’

And whilst there is nothing wrong with an action thriller (and whilst I love seeing Chris Hemsworth’s biceps as much as the next person) I would like to make the case (slowly, and patiently), for the ‘slow-burn.’

So, what is a ‘slow-burn’? In a way it’s a promise. It says to the reader, ‘something is going to happen, and you don’t know what that is yet, but if you stick around you’ll find out.’ Where a fast-paced thriller focuses on a series of high-octane events to twist and turn the reader’s expectations, a slow burn relies on gradually ramping up the tension and pace until it crescendos into its denouement. 

However, whether it’s due to social media having retrained our brains to ingest bite sized videos at breakneck speed, or the more general instant gratification of an internet connected world, modern society – and arguably the modern reader - has lost its patience. We don’t want to wait for the twist. We are time poor and content rich. We want information handed to us instantaneously. We want the facts, just the facts. We want that dopamine hit now, now, now. 

But hear me out! Guys . . . breathe.

Reading doesn’t always have to be about that. Reading is an escape. A place to retreat to. To forget about the outside world. And for me, that means atmosphere. It means being immersed. I want to step inside the world of the book and be able to touch it, smell it, taste it. I want to linger on Tom Ripley’s suitcases; the softness of the leather, and the way Tom lovingly packs Dickie’s clothes in them. I want to have time to fall in love with the twins in The Secret History along with Richard; become spellbound by them without shouting ‘cut to the chase, get to Bunny!’ I want to roam on the Heath with Cathy and see the wildness energise her. 

As an author, I enjoy taking readers along for this ride. I like to lace my scenes with hints that all is not well; hints that gradually mount up until the whisper becomes a scream. A mother who constantly keeps the curtains of the house drawn (My Name is Anna), a gorgeous Tuscan setting that is perhaps a little ‘too’ perfect (Out of her Depth), the innocent children who talk sweetly of the nanny before (Nanny Wanted). It’s not necessarily that I want to dupe you or lure you into a false sense of security; it’s more that I want to raise your hackles as the story progresses; make you second guess everything and wonder what lies ahead. 

And slowness doesn’t have to forsake plot – in fact, it should never forsake the plot. I’m not talking about lengthy descriptions deployed for the sake of an author’s ego. Pleasingly pretty turns of phrases. Darlings they can’t or don’t want to kill. A slow-burn thriller should always be ‘thrilling,’ not boring. But the beauty of a slow-burn thriller is that it uses this narrative richness precisely in order to create the thrill. It is a powerful tool to ramp up tension, so that even in the quieter, slow moving moments, the reader feels an impending sense of dread. Rebecca’s second Mrs de Winter is not finding bodies stuffed in closets, but it is Du Maurier’s skill as an author that compels us to continually feel that she might. Slow burn is tantalising: it’s the calm before the storm, that moment before the jump scare where you feel unnervingly ‘safe, too safe.’ 

So, the next time you’re browsing the shelves looking for that perfect read, I urge you to consider the slow-burn. When deployed right, the final reveal should crackle and pop as powerfully as an action thriller: the journey is different, but ultimately all thrillers want to give us that rush, the adrenaline pounding through our veins as we reach the final climax. Allow yourself to linger on the details. See what hints the author is dropping, and why. 

Take time to smell the roses . . . you may find they’re tinged with blood. 

Nanny Wanted by Lizzy Barber Pan Macmillan (Out Now)

A remote Cornish mansion. The perfect couple. And the deadly secrets that bind them. When Lily finally leaves her toxic relationship, a job as a nanny at Kewney Manor seems like the perfect solution. There, she can cut herself off from her old life, and never have to see him again. The Rowes seem like a model family, and Lily falls instantly in love with her new home. But she can’t help feeling that something isn’t quite right. Why will nobody tell her about the nanny who came before her? Where does Laurie go at night? And what does Charles really want? As Lily becomes increasingly entangled in the Rowes’s lives, she realizes that the perfect family may not be all that they seem. And as much as she fears the past she is running from, perhaps the present is where the real danger lies . . .

More information about Lizzy Barber can be found on her website. You can also follow her on X @ByLizzyBarber and on Instagram @bylizzybarber

‘The Talented Mr Ripley’ and ‘Out of Her Depth’ by Lizzy Barber

‘Tom envied him with a heart-breaking surge of envy and self-pity’ writes Patricia Highsmith of Dickie Greenleaf in the early chapters of The Talented Mr Ripley. Tom, a penniless upstart but excellent impersonator, has managed to worm his way into the affections of Dickie’s father, who at the start of the novel sends Tom on a reconnaissance trip to the small (fabricated) Italian town of Mongibello, where Dickie has escaped to, to try and persuade him to return to America. Only, when Tom arrives in Italy, he discovers that Dickie has no intention of returning home. And, more to the point, neither does Tom. 

I am not the first reader or author to be captivated by Patricia Highsmith’s Ripley novels. In Tom, she created a true antihero; an underdog and unreliable narrator we somehow still root for; and in his idol, Dickie Greenleaf, Dickie’s girlfriend Marge and a band of wealthy expats, she creates a world that we, along with Tom, love to hate. Her clean, well-measured prose shines a light on every facet of their intoxicating world and has created an enduring legacy which has seen multiple adaptations – including the recent announcement of a new Talented Mr Ripley television series starring Fleabag’s Andrew Scott in the titular role. 

Out of Her Depth is a psychological thriller about an unassuming young woman, Rachel, who receives an incredible opportunity to work at a beautiful hotel in the Florentine Hills, where she meets the magnetic but dangerous Diana and the dashing but careless Sebastian. She is drawn into their privileged circle and luxuriates in their world of glamourous parties and exotic trips…until something goes wrong. It is not a reworking of the original, but there are themes and events (not least the Romantic Italian setting) which I was keen to explore in my work. And what drew me to Tom, and indeed the most in Out of Her Depth, was exactly that initial quote: his intermixed feelings of envy and self-pity.

Rachel, like Tom Ripley, is an outsider, a voyeur. By chance, she finds herself part of this impossible new world, but although she does step inside it, she is still painfully aware of her ‘otherness,’ that she will never truly fit in. As Tom’s friendship with Dickie blooms, he emulates him: he takes on his words and phrases, he begins to dress like him, he even wants to learn to speak Italian as good as Dickie’s. Highsmith, to allude to a spoiler (and if this is a spoiler for you, I’d say stop reading this now and get the book!), takes this to the extreme: Tom murders Dickie and fully impersonates him: but even then he constantly feels that he is only a poor copy. Diana frequently makes Rachel aware of her differences – ‘you shouldn’t nod like that,’ ‘it’s bathroom, not bafroom’ – telling her what to eat, buying her the right clothes, and under her tutelage Rachel begins to reinvent herself. 

Diana, much like Dickie to Tom, sees Rachel as a pet, a fun project to work on, and Rachel, blossoming under her attention, laps it up. The book is set in past and present day, and in the present, we see Rachel’s bitterness at never fully conforming: her realisation that she will never truly match Diana: and that realisation is an ugly thing, as ugly as Tom’s murder of Dickie. 

There has been much discussion about Ripley’s sexuality – his fascination with Dickie and subsequent hatred for Marge - but regardless of what Highsmith’s intentions were (she herself remained agnostic on the subject), I think what is rife in the book is a palpable desire. Tom wants Dickie; he wants to be Dickie; he wants Dickie to want him. His feelings are intense and intoxicating. This is what I wanted to explore with Rachel and Diana: Rachel has romantic feelings for Sebastian, but the friendship she has with Diana is all encompassing. It is that heady expression of teenage female friendship that is confusing and, for Rachel, toxic: she is so intoxicated by Diana’s good parts that she cannot see anything bad. And that desire turns into an obsession that long outlasts their teenage Summer…and begins to have deadly consequences…

Out of Her Depth by Lizzy Barber (Out Now) Pan Macmillan

There are summers that will change your life. There are summers that may end it. In the lush green hills beyond Florence sits the Villa Medici-a graceful pensione surrounded by manicured gardens. Rachel, a college student from an outer London suburb, can't believe her luck in landing a summer job here. Especially when she's drawn into a circle of privileged young sophisticates, including her glamorous co-worker Diana, who promises to help Rachel win the affections of handsome, confident Sebastian. But as champagne flows and rivalries fester in the Tuscan countryside, Rachel realizes that Diana has motivations of her own. Adrift in a world of backstabbing and bed-hopping, lavish parties and easy betrayal, Rachel feels the stakes rising along with the temperatures until, one night, something snaps. Someone dies. And nothing will ever be the same...

More information about Lizzy Barber can be found on her website. You can also follow her on Twitter @ByLizzyBarber and on Instagram @bylizzybarber

Books to Look Forward to from Cornerstone

January 2019

Two women - desperate to unlock the truth. How far will they go to lay the past to rest? Anna has been taught that virtue is the path to God. But on her eighteenth birthday she defies her Mamma's rules and visits Florida's biggest theme park. She has never been allowed to go - so why, when she arrives, does everything seem so familiar? And is there a connection to the mysterious letter she receives on the same day? Rosie has grown up in the shadow of the missing sister she barely remembers, her family fractured by years of searching without leads.  Now, on the fifteenth anniversary of her sister's disappearance, the media circus resumes in full flow, and Rosie vows to uncover the truth. But will she find the answer before it tears her family apart? My Name is Anna is by Lizzy Barber.

From bestselling thriller writer James Patterson - three chilling stories in print for the first time! The House Next Door (with Susan DiLallo): Married mother of four Laura Sherman was thrilled when her new neighbour invited her on some errands. But a few quick tasks became a long lunch - and now things could go too far with a man who isn't what he seems... The Killer's Wife (with Max DiLallo): Six girls have gone missing. Detective McGrath knows the only way to find them is to get close to the suspect's wife... maybe too close. The Witnesses (with Brendan DuBois): The Sanderson family has been forced into hiding after one of them stumbled upon a criminal plot. Or so they think. No one will answer their questions. And the terrifying truth may come too late...

A predatory film director will do anything to protect his secrets. But those who want justice will stop at nothing. It only takes one person to break the silence. When solicitor Finn Fitzpatrick is approached by a man to investigate the death of his daughter, her first instinct

is to refuse. The father is grieving, and unable to accept that his daughter committed suicide. And yet something about the man's story chimes with Finn. Why did a bright, confident, beautiful young girl suddenly drop out of school, isolating herself from everyone who cared about her? Could it be that the father's suspicion is right and that his daughter was groomed and abused by the most famous film director in Ireland? If the story is true there are bound to be other victims. The more she investigates, the darker and more twisted the picture becomes. Soon Finn herself is in danger. Because these are powerful people she is trying to expose. And they are willing to do anything to protect their secrets.  Darkest Truth is by Catherine Kirwan

Welcome to Golden State, where the worst crime you can commit is to lie. Laz Ratesic is a veteran of the State's special police. As one of the few individuals allowed to `speculate' on what might have happened when a crime is committed, it's his job to find the full and final truth. But when a man falls from a roof in suspicious circumstances, it sets in motion a terrifying series of events which will shatter Laz's world for ever. Because when those in control of the truth decide to twist it, only those with the power to ask questions can fight back. Golden State is by Ben H Winters.

They left four children safe upstairs. They came back to three. On the fifth floor of the White Caps Hotel, four young boys are left alone while their parents dine downstairs. But when one of the parents checks on the children at midnight, they discover one of them is missing. The boys swear they stayed in their room. CCTV confirms that none of them left the building. No trace of the child is found. Now the hunt is on to find him, before it's too late - and before the search for a boy becomes a search for a body...  Gone by Midnight is by Candice Fox.

February 2019

An uninvited guest. A missing identity. A trail of deadly secrets. When a horrified bridesmaid finds the body of a young woman at a wedding reception, it makes the bride and groom's choice of a Saints and Sinners theme all the more macabre. There are no means of identification and nobody knows the victim. The bride is convinced someone is trying to sabotage her big day. The groom is sure it's a dreadful mistake. It's up to brilliant psychologist Alex Delaware and LAPD Lieutenant Milo Sturgis to uncover the truth. They have a hundred guests to question, and a strong suspicion that the motive for murder is personal... The party's over - and the hunt for the killer is on.  The Wedding Guest is by Jonathan Kellerman.

Never Tell is by Lisa Gardner.  One death might be an accident. Two deaths looks like murder. A man is shot dead in his own home, and his pregnant wife, Evie, is found with the gun in her hands. Detective D.D. Warren instantly recognises her. Sixteen years ago, Evie also shot her own father. That killing was ruled an accident. D.D. doesn't believe in coincidences. But this case isn't as open and shut as it first appears, and her job is to discover the truth. Evie might be a victim. Or she might be about to get away with murder again.

March 2019

Detective Lindsay Boxer fights to protect the streets of San Francisco from an international war criminal in the latest Women's Murder Club thriller. When three female schoolteachers go missing in San Francisco, Detective Lindsay Boxer must unravel the mystery of their disappearance. But what starts as a missing person case quickly escalates to a troubling murder investigation. As pressure at work mounts, Lindsay must rely on her husband Joe to support her at home. Yet Joe is pursuing a mysterious case himself, as a woman running from her past brings him terrifying information - the notorious war criminal from her Eastern European home country has appeared on the streets of San Francisco. As Lindsay searches for the three missing women, a frightening new twist forces her and Joe's investigations to collide. His mystery informant has gone missing, and all four abducted women are in grave danger. As shocking revelations emerge, Lindsay and Joe find themselves caught up in an international crime operation unlike anything they've seen before. With the help of her fierce and courageous friends in the Women's Murder Club, Lindsay and Joe fight to save their city from the corrupt clutches of a monster.  18^th Abduction is by James Patterson.

Run Away is by Harlan Coben.  You've lost your daughter. She's addicted to drugs and to an abusive boyfriend. And she's made it clear that she doesn't want to be found. Then, quite by chance, you see her busking in New York's Central Park. But she's not the girl you remember. This woman is wasted, frightened and clearly in trouble. You don't stop to think. You approach her, beg her to come home. She runs. And you follow her into a dark and dangerous world you never knew existed. Where criminal gangs rule, where drugs are the main currency, and murder is commonplace. Now it's your life on the line. And nowhere and no one is safe.

April 2019

A brave military veteran returns home from her latest tour to discover her worst nightmare has come to life - her entire family has been abducted. With no trace, no leads and very little hope, she must call upon all her intuitions as wife, mother and soldier to bring her family home.  Out of Sight is by James Patterson.

Charlotte wants to start fresh. She wants to forget her past, forget prison, and, most of all, forget Sean. But old habits die hard. Despite the ankle monitor she must wear as part of her parole agreement and frequent visits to her therapist, she soon finds herself sliding back towards the type of behaviour that sent her to prison in the first place. The further down that path she goes, however, the closer she gets to the crime that put her in prison all those years ago. And then, one day, Sean tracks her down. And she is forced to face the one devastating memory she'd much much rather forget.    One More Lie is by Amy Lloyd.

#taken is by Tony Parsons. Wrong time Wrong place Has the wrong girl been #taken The murder team in West End Central are reeling from the brutal death of a beloved colleague and they are all mourning in their own way. But when a young mother is kidnapped by unknown assailants, Max Wolfe and his colleagues suddenly have a dangerous job to do. As Max Wolfe investigates the connection between the kidnapped woman and the head of a crumbling criminal empire, the hunt takes him from New Scotland Yard's Black Museum to the glittering mansions of career criminals, from sleazy strip joints to secret dungeons, and from the murderous hatreds of today to the unspeakable crimes of half a lifetime ago. And as Max unravels the mystery of why someone would kidnap an innocent young woman, he is plunged into a dark world of family secrets, sexual jealousy and a lust for revenge that will come to threaten everything Max Wolfe loves.

May 2019

This Storm is by James Ellroy.  New Year's Eve 1941, war has been declared and the Japanese internment is in full swing. Los Angeles is gripped by war fever and racial hatred. Sergeant Dudley Smith of the Los Angeles Police Department is now Army Captain Smith and a budding war profiteer. He's shacked up with Claire De Haven in Baja, Mexico, and spends his time sniffing out fifth column elements and hunting down a missing Japanese Naval Attaché. Hideo Ashida is cashing LAPD paychecks and working in the crime lab, but he knows he can't avoid internment forever. Newly arrived Navy Lieutenant Joan Conville winds up in jail accused of vehicular homicide, but Captain William H. Parker squashes the charges and puts her on Ashida's team. Elmer Jackson, who is assigned to the alien squad and to bodyguard Ashida, begins to develop an obsession with Kay Lake, the unconsummated object of Captain Parker's desire. Now, Conville and Ashida become obsessed with finding the identity of a body discovered in a mudslide. It's a murder victim linked to an unsolved gold heist from '31, and they want the gold. And things really heat up when two detectives are found murdered in a notorious dope fiend hangout.

Also due to be published in May is the currently untitled Thomas Harris

June 2019

The Nanny is by Gilly MacMillan. Seven-year-old Jocelyn Holt loves her nanny Hannah more than her own mother. When Hannah disappears one summer night, Jo never gets over the loss. Thirty years on, now a young widow with a daughter of her own, Jo is forced to return to her family home, and the mother she's always despised, just as a skull is pulled out of the lake in the grounds. Could this explain her beloved nanny's disappearance? What other secrets will that lake give up to the police? Then an unexpected visitor knocks at the door. And Jo's world is destroyed yet again as she's forced to look back at what really went on that hot summer night when she was a child. And everything that's happened since. Sometimes the truth hurts so much you'd rather hear the lie.

FBI researcher Emma Dockery is back with a vengeance. Obsessed with finding a link between a string of deaths across several different states, she is convinced that there's a pattern. And where there's a pattern, there's a serial killer to put a stop to. When Detectives working on some of these cases start turning up dead, Emma knows that she's onto something. These deaths are murders, and she's going to be the one to prove it. The closer she gets to finding the killer, the more Emma feels like she's being watched. Is she setting a trap for this depraved killer? Or with every step she takes, is she falling further into his...? With the death count rising, Emma must act fast to catch this killer, before she becomes the next name on the hit list. Unsolved is by James Patterson and David Ellis.

Also due to be published in July is Hush, Hush by James Patterson and Candice Fox.