Deadly Pretty Strangers: One dead body, one bereaved mother, one small favour ...

by Max Thorn

An ordinary cityworker tries to help out a bereaved old lady. If he’d known it would lead to a confrontation with Russian murderers using an outlawed nerve agent on the streets of London, a pretty sharpshooter with unreliable motives and a deadly spider scuttling around his living room, he’d have kept his front door firmly closed. A long-forgotten genetic research experiment just makes things even stranger. And more deadly.

314 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 12, 2017

Reviews

[Basil Ford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genre busting thriller. Starts normal and then gets steadily more surreal against a real-life modern London setting. Great relationship between the two protagonists. Original and funny - makes current bestsellers look formulaic. My favourite read so far this year and I can't stop thinking about the issues it raised for digital surveillance, AI and genetic manipulation.

[Geoff Bryant · Rating 5 out of 5]

The cover looks like a cheap shoot 'em up but this surprised me with an intriguing plot, great dialogue and some fascinating ideas. It's like a mash up of Philip K Dick, old school detective fiction and modern action thriller. Really original and witty.

[Sophie Mills · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this a lot. Great ideas and weirdly prescient - Russians using nerve agent in the UK? Had to check the publication date. And there's even a little Cambridge Analytica vibe going on. Zeitgeist!

[Nick Jardine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just read this indie thriller on a recommendation. Would love to see this as a film. By turns, witty, exciting and thought provoking, every time the story turned a corner there was something fascinating or enjoyable. Just when I thought I was growing tired of fiction. I agree with one of the other reviewers on here; it's PKD and Chandler brought up to date for the digital age.

[Alice Pembury · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unexpectedly brilliant. Interesting plot, intriguing concepts and strong female characters. I really enjoyed this and didn't want it to end. Pacy story-telling and believable dialogue, it was witty and had a lot of heart. I want to re-read it, even though I know the ending. I can't find anything else from this author, so it might be a debut, but the writing's got so much confidence that I'm wondering whether it's another one of these well known authors writing in a new genre.

[Jack Sunderland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant thriller with proper ideas.

[Lisa Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book! Great story set in today's world of genetic manipulation, nerve agent killings, AI and tough women.

[Isobel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Outlandish thriller. Hard to say what genre this is exactly. I really liked it though.

[Bill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Man, what a disappointment. Started out interesting, but as the story got stranger I found myself less and less interested. And the protagonist was so one-dimensional I really did not care what happened to him. In fact, by the end of the book I found him downright annoying. Even granting the silliness of the story, the plot holes were so huge they were unavoidable. Oh for a good editor . . .

[EG · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wildly creative, with witty dialogue. Just make sure that you go into the book aware that you'll be engaging with an absolutely outlandish sci-fi scenario.

[Micha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant modern story. A mix of science fact mystery and crime thriller.

[Kathy A. Burge · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good, easy read

Entertaining with likable characters. Thought provoking plot.

[Maria G · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this a lot, liked the characters and didn´t want it to end.

[Lewandowski]

this book is very violent but addictive and cool. I liked the plot and everything, great

[Cassy Nunan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very clever and engaging book, providing a truly unexpected adventure, with many twists and turns. Thorn combines what begins as a typical crime thriller, with hallmarks of science fiction - artfully stretching the imagination while suspending disbelief. The scene describing an alluring artificial intelligence was fun, and the true of identity of the woman Zav falls in love with is extraordinary.
delete