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Shop nowThe Earthquake Bird
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Learn moreNow a major Netflix film starring Alicia Vikander and Riley Keough, a haunting psychological thriller set in Tokyo probing deep into the mind of a murder suspect
The grisly headline leaves nothing to the imagination: "Woman's torso recovered from Tokyo Bay. Believed to be missing British bartender Lily Bridges." The only suspect is Lucy Fly. Her friend is dead, her lover has disappeared, and as far as anyone is concerned, she's as good as guilty.
Trapped in the interrogation room, Lucy begins to unravel two stories. One, for the police, is a spare outline, offering more questions than answers. The other--the real one, if you believe her--is a gripping dive into an obsessive mind, revealing the checkered past that brought her to Japan, her complicated friendship with Lily, and a tempestuous affair with a missing Japanese photographer named Teiji. As she excavates the dangerous secrets--both past and present--that haunt her waking mind, Lucy relates an unsettling life story that spans bustling Tokyo, the British countryside, and remote Japanese islands, each step taking us closer to the chilling truth about Lily's death. An all-consuming crime story like no other, Susanna Jones's mesmerizing debut novel is a neo-noir thriller as shocking as it is exquisitely composed.
"Novels of psychological suspense hang on the delicacy of the writer's touch--that feathery brushstroke that darkens a mood, heightens an action and brings a revealing word to a character's lips--and Susanna Jones has the touch."--Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times
Susanna Jones grew up in Yorkshire and studied drama at London University. Her work has been translated into more than twenty languages and has won the Crime Writers' Association New Blood Dagger, a Betty Trask Award, and the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. She lives in Brighton.
Reviews
"Novels of psychological suspense hang on the delicacy of the writer's touch—that feathery brushstroke that darkens a mood, heightens an action and brings a revealing word to a character's lips—and Susanna Jones has the touch."—Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times“Susanna Jones maintains a chilling ambiguity throughout, scoring 10 on the suspense Richter scale. Compelling and haunting, this delicately crafted debut novel’s tremors are felt long after the final page is turned.”—The Observer
“Gripping and haunting—an unforgettable debut.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“The sentences may be lean and spare, but the murder on the first page heralds a weight and menace to this story that’s strangely chilling. This is a very compelling and rather disquieting debut.”—Elle
“An astonishingly accomplished debut by Susanna Jones . . . It’s hard to believe that this skillfully constructed and beautifully written work is a first novel.”—The Sunday Telegraph
“This spare, urgent debut is not only a polished crime novel, but a hymn to Tokyo and an awkwardly tender love story. Noodle bars, skyscrapers, subways, and the rainy season are described with the fragile elegance of a Japanese painting. The narrative’s vertiginous momentum is offset by an unnervingly cool prose. The Earthquake Bird is distinguished by its alluring ambiguity.”—The Daily Telegraph
“One of the best books I’ve read in recent years.”—A. N. Wilson, New Statesman
“Literary crime at its best.”—The Bookseller
“An examination of the slippery nature of truth and memory, obsessions and betrayals, all of which Jones handles with confidence and skill.”—Publishers Weekly Expand reviews