Belinda Bauer

12 år gamle Steven Lamb er ikke som sine jevnaldrende når det gjelder fritidsaktiviteter. Etter skoletid graver han i jorda ute på heiene. Han vil så gjerne ha tilbake den hyggelige tonen hjemme. Mormor er alltid er trist og sur, og hver dag står hun ved vinduet og venter på at Stevens onkel Billy skal komme hjem. Steven har aldri møtt onkel Billy, for da Billy var 11, for 19 år siden, gikk han på butikken, og siden har ingen sett ham. Billy må være død, og Steven er ute og graver for å finne levninger som kan bevise det og bringe mormor ut av sorgen. På den tiden da Billy forsvant ble pedofile Arnold Avery livstidsdømt for seriemord på småbarn. Det er all grunn til å tro at han drepte Billy, og Steven skriver et brev til Avery for å spørre hvor han begravde Billy. Dette blir starten på fascinerende katt og mus lek mellom den desperate gutten og en drapsmann som har kjedet seg i mange år. Debutant Belinda Bauer har høstet mange lovord og priser for denne originale og stemningsfulle krimromanen. Hun slo navn som George Pelecanos i kampen om den prestisjefylte Gold Dagger Award i 2010.

EIGHTEEN YEARS AGO, Billy Peters disappeared. Everyone in town believes Billy was murdered--after all, serial killer Arnold Avery later admitted killing six other children and burying them on the same desolate moor that surrounds their small English village. Only Billy's mother is convinced he is alive. She still stands lonely guard at the front window of her home, waiting for her son to return, while her remaining family fragments around her. But her twelve-year-old grandson Steven is determined to heal the cracks that gape between his nan, his mother, his brother, and himself. Steven desperately wants to bring his family closure, and if that means personally finding his uncle's corpse, he'll do it. Spending his spare time digging holes all over the moor in the hope of turning up a body is a long shot, but at least it gives his life purpose. Then at school, when the lesson turns to letter writing, Steven has a flash of inspiration . . . Careful to hide his identity, he secretly pens a letter to Avery in jail asking for help in finding the body of "W. P."--William "Billy" Peters. So begins a dangerous cat-and-mouse game. Just as Steven tries to use Avery to pinpoint the gravesite, so Avery misdirects and teases his mysterious correspondent in order to relive his heinous crimes. And when Avery finally realizes that the letters he's receiving are from a twelve-year-old boy, suddenly his life has purpose too. Although his is far more dangerous . . . Blacklands is a taut and chillingly brilliant debut that signals the arrival of a bright new voice in psychological suspense.

FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF SNAP'Extraordinarily powerful and evocative . . . will leave you breathless.' Daily MirrorVOTED CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR when it was first released, and still the most gripping, powerful thriller debut you will read this year.___Steven Lamb is 12 when he writes his first letter . . . to a serial killerEvery day after school, whilst his classmates swap football stickers, twelve-year-old Steven digs holes on Exmoor, hoping to find a body. His uncle disappeared aged eleven and is assumed to have fallen victim to the notorious serial killer Arnold Avery - but his body has never been found. Steven's Nan does not believe her son is dead. She still waits for him to come home, standing bitter guard at the front window while her family fragments around her. Steven is determined to heal the widening cracks between them before it's too late - even if that means presenting his grandmother with the bones of her murdered son. But when Steven realises this is an impossible task, he crafts a careful letter to Arnold Avery in prison. And there begins a dangerous cat-and-mouse game between a desperate child and a bored psychopath . . . Readers love Blacklands:'A dark, gripping story . . . full of tension' *****'A truly chilling and disturbing read' *****'An intelligent crime thriller that seeps with atmosphere' ******Belinda Bauer's pulse-pounding new thriller, EXIT, is out now*