by Philip Kerr
First published 2014
John Houston built a publishing empire by cranking out bestsellers at an impossible pace. He employs ghost writers, agents, and publishers who depend on his book factory for their paychecks. When Houston decides to step back and write a single quality novel that might win awards, his entire team faces financial ruin. Then his wife turns up dead in their Monaco apartment. The news breaks across television screens worldwide as Houston becomes the prime suspect. He vanishes immediately, leaving behind his pilot's license and boat as clues to his possible escape routes. The police want him for obvious reasons. His business associates have their own motives for tracking him down. Houston could be a murderer on the run, or he might be an innocent man framed by enemies who profit from his downfall. The truth remains buried somewhere in the wreckage of his commercial success.
Genres: fiction, suspense, mystery, crime, thriller, academic
Vibes: dark, fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Monaco
Period: Contemporary
400 pages · Hardcover · Quercus