HAVOC

The <em>New York Times</em>' #1 Thriller of 2024

<strong>'Highsmithian... highly readable, twisty and shrewd' HANYA YANAGIHARA (on Instagram), author of <em>A Little Life</em></strong>

<strong>'Atmospheric, diabolical fun' LUCY FOLEY, author of <em>The Midnight Feast</em></strong>

<strong>'Disturbingly enjoyable' EMMA HEALEY, author of <em>Elizabeth is Missing</em></strong>

<strong>'A taut, wicked masterpiece' MONA AWAD, author of <em>Bunny</em></strong>

Five years ago, 81-year-old Maggie Burkhardt fled her native Wisconsin in suspicious circumstances. She has come to rest somewhere she can imagine staying forever: the Royal Karnak Hotel in Luxor, Egypt.

Maggie is no sweet little old lady. She has a nasty, nosy habit: she spies on her fellow guests and manipulates situations to 'liberate' them from what she sees as unhappy relationships.

Wrongly assuming eight-year-old Otto and his well-meaning mother will be easy targets, she is soon locked in a death-spiral with her young prey. Has she finally met her match in a child one-tenth her age?

Crackling with the perceptive, acid wit of <em>The White Lotus </em>and haloed by Shirley Jackson's cruel, dark magic, HAVOC is a decadent and ghastly delight.

Readers are saying...

'Absolutely brilliant and insane. I went in knowing very little about the book and I'm glad because it made it even more of a wild ride'

'I loved this book from the first page... The conflict between the old and the young in this cat and mouse tussle is brilliant. It's a hard to put down novel and has a great twist at the end'

'I had an absolute blast reading this. Otto and Maggie are wild characters and their behavior is shocking!'