* Sara Paretsky * THE POISON TREE has a nicely claustrophobic cape wrapped round it. * Daily Mirror * In her compelling debut, Erin Kelly evokes the brooding atmosphere of Rebecca, in a contemporary and completely convincing novel of tangled family desires. Atmospheric and gripping, it will keep you guessing to the end * Cosmopolitan * The dark world of psychological thrillers has a bright new voice. Kelly creates an atmosphere as claustrophobic as a summer commute, which permeates the narrative and keeps the reader hooked. Compelling and lyrically stylish, THE POISON TREE is a true winner! * Jeffery Deaver * A brilliant new voice in crime fiction. * Sophie Hannah * Brilliant! THE POISON TREE grabs you with the first sentence and doesn't let go-even after the last page this is the sort of thriller that stays with you for a long, long time. an author who instinctively knows how to tell a suspense story (think early Barbara Vine) * Daily Mail * The writing is elegant, atmospheric and sophisticated. dark, poetic, gripping, totally brilliant. * Stephen King * A beautifully crafted, evocative psychological thriller. This one gets the writer's ultimate bit of praise: I wish I had written it. I found this a most absorbing read.A terrific suspense debut, reminiscent of another British woman's auspicious bow: Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca. The author deliberately teases us to try to forecast the outcome, but the final ending is unexpected. In the present day it soon becomes clear that Rex has been in prison and that Karen and Rex are together, with a child, Alice. Biba is amoral and unbalanced, and Rex is anxious and caring. Karen’s conventional nature is well-contrasted with the eccentric behaviour of Biba and her brother Rex, with both of whom she is besotted. Kelly, Erin - The Poison Tree Hardback: 352 pages (June 2010) Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton ISBN: 1444701037. Meticulous and evocative detail does not hold up the impetus of the narrative, in which frequent references are made to the shocking calamity to come, and it is fairly obvious what that calamity might be – or is it? The story unfolds in interleaving episodes: Karen narrates her present day life in the present tense: the frightening events of one short summer in the past tense.

The heatwave and the brooding woods create an uneasy atmosphere. Karen, a conventionally reared college student, is drawn into the intense lives of a strange brother and sister living in a large run-down house on the outskirts of Highgate.

The Poison Tree by Erin Kelly