Patrick Rush, a former bright light at the National Star now demoted to the reality TV beat, is still recovering from his wife's death when he joins a writers' group in Toronto. His goal: to write the book he's always felt lived within him. Trouble is, Patrick has no story to tell. And while the circle's members show similarly little literary promise, there is one exception: Angela. Her unsettling readings tell of a shadowy childhood tragedy and an unremitting fear of the Sandman, a "terrible man who does terrible things." It's the stuff of nightmares or horror films. Or is it?
Over the weeks that follow, a string of unsolved murders seem increasingly connected to Patrick. And then the circle's members start to go missing, one by one. Still haunted by loss-and by a crime only those in the circle could know of-Patrick finds himself in a fictional world made horrifically real. But nothing will put him in greater danger than that ancient curse of natural born readers: the need to know how the story ends.
At once a complex and compulsive read, The Killing Circle explores the side effects of an increasingly fame-mad culture, where even the staid realm of literature can fall prey to ravenous ambition and competition.
"A thumping good read, a real creep-fest."
--Ottawa Citizen
"The Killing Circle is the best of a quartet of outstanding mystery-thriller novels by Andrew Pyper. A riveting prologue, impossible to put down, quickens the beat and leaves you with a twist in the pit of your gut. The twist weaves you through the story of fear, panic and resignation and it drives you onward, page by page, to the conclusion... a challenging and compulsive read that clearly demonstrates Andrew Pyper as a unique storyteller on the Canadian scene."
--Hamilton Spectator
"Rising star [Pyper] doesn't disappoint in [this] fast-paced, funny thriller. A terrific ride of a mystery...the story hurtles along. Pyper is so good at dropping clues. The thing is, he's also good at introducing so many twists that you'd swear his plot was inspired by a bowl of rotini."
--Edmonton Journal
"Extraordinary...Powered by an ingeniously nonlinear narrative and suffused with a tone thick with dread, this is easily Pyper's most ambitious -- and absorbing -- work to date."
--Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
"Very smart, very scary, very good: once I started I couldn't stop. Fans of dark and witty suspense will love The Killing Circle."
--Peter Abrahams, author of Oblivion and End of Story
"Few are better at conveying an omnipresent sense of dread and horror bubbling just beneath life's seemingly mundane routines. The Killing Circle will keep you up one night reading and another four checking the locks on the doors."
--Booklist
"If Andrew Pyper scripted our collective nightmares, we'd all be dreaming and screaming like the narrator of his gorgeously written and thoroughly unnerving suspense thriller.... This is a terrific yarn."
--The New York Times
"This is one great read: darkly lyrical and atmospheric, it's as haunting as it is gripping. Highly recommended."
--Harlan Coban
"Frightening and action-packed."
--Los Angeles Times
"Spookily terrific...Great suspense and a great story. "
--Winnipeg Free Press