Read an extract from the disturbingly relatable first chapter.
Elizabeth Haynes’ new psychological thriller is a brilliantly suspenseful and shocking story in which nothing is what it seems, but everything is at stake.
Sarah Carpenter lives in an isolated farmhouse in North Yorkshire and—following the death of her husband some years ago and the departure of her children for university— for the first time she’s living alone. But she’s not lonely. She has two dogs, a wide network of friends and her best friend, Sophie.
When an old acquaintance, Aiden Beck, needs somewhere to stay for a while, Sarah’s cottage seems ideal; and renewing her relationship with Aiden gives her a reason to smile again. But not everyone is comfortable with the arrangement: her children are wary of his motives, and Will Brewer, an old friend of her son’s, seems to have taken it upon himself to check up on Sarah at every opportunity.
Then Sophie disappears, and, as the weather closes in, events take a dramatic turn. Suddenly Sarah finds herself in terrible danger, unsure of who she can still trust.
But she isn’t facing this alone; she has Aiden, and Aiden offers the protection that Sarah needs. Doesn’t he?
andNever Alone
‘Haynes is one of those “just one more chapter” all-night-reading writers. Her acute understanding of human nature under stress is delicious, her plotting ingenious and trustworthy. Never Alone is a terrific book.’
‘Elizabeth Haynes is genius at finely tuned suspense. Never Alone frayed my nerves and gripped me from the start.’
‘Never Alone is an atmospheric and beautifully written thriller that is impossible to put down. I tore through it, gripped all the way to the pulse-pounding ending. Brilliant.’
‘A grown-up version of Into the Darkest Corner–this story is full of lust, suspicion, mistrust, suspense, desire and guilt. An exceptional atmospheric psychological thriller.’
‘Haynes is an expert at ratcheting up tension, so when someone poisons one of Sarah’s dogs, you know something bad is about to happen to Sarah herself. Until the very end, though, you aren’t sure who exactly it is that wishes her ill.’
‘Haynes gives the reader a thoroughly believable plot with twists and red herrings, and a build-up of tension that explodes into a heart-thumping climax…This is a page-turner that will have readers who are new to Haynes work seeking out her earlier novels.’
‘A pulsating, sexy, slow-burn thriller with a brutal British winter as visceral as the pages themselves. One for ruining all fantasies of lifestyle changes to rural England.’
‘Diverting story of a woman in romantic and physical peril.’
