The Suspect

November 5, 2018
Fleet Street star Kate Waters’s reporting has helped British police crack some extremely disturbing cases, but she faces what could be her toughest one yet in bestseller Barton’s top-shelf third psychological thriller (after 2017’s The Child). When the parents of 18-year-old Alexandra O’Connor, who’s backpacking in Thailand with an 18-year-old female friend, fail to hear from Alex after a week, they alert the police. Kate’s longtime police source, Det. Insp. Bob Sparkes, tells her about the two missing teenage girls, in the hope that Kate will write a story that “might winkle them out of whichever bar they’re sitting in.” Kate keenly identifies with the concerned parents, since her estranged older son, Jake, has been in Thailand for the past two years after inexplicably dropping out of university. But what starts as a routine story soon proves otherwise, sending Kate and her journalistic frenemies to Thailand in search of answers. The exceedingly twisty tale that follows will test Kate, and her painfully conflicting loyalties, to the limit. Barton’s many fans will be rewarded. Agent: Madeleine Milburn, Madeleine Milburn Literary (U.K.).

January 1, 2019
When two girls traveling in Thailand turn up dead in a suspicious fire, journalist Kate Waters follows the story without disclosing a hidden agenda.Kate's son, a former golden boy, dropped out of school and traveled to Thailand two years prior, and he's been in sporadic touch since. Coincidentally, it turns out that he was present at the same guesthouse on the night the girls died. Sidelined because of her conflict of interest, Kate continues to investigate, as does DI Bob Sparkes, a compassionate policeman distracted by the impending death of his wife. Which leads one to wonder: When did all thriller writers begin to fashion themselves as psychologists? There's a dead giveaway to any possible plot twist--a character whose face or eyes is described as "blank." In Barton's (The Child, 2017, etc.) book, to be fair, it takes almost 300 pages to reach this moment, and up until that point, she creates quite a bit of narrative interest by giving voice to the victims in addition to the many people involved in the investigation--driven reporters, bereaved parents, and very human policemen. But once the killer is clearly outed, even though it takes another 100 pages for all the pieces to fall into place, the novel quickly loses steam. Even a final moral conundrum that should immediately freeze the blood of any parent seems overly constructed rather than shocking. By that point, it had become tiresome reading about most of the characters and their shifty relationships to the truth. "No one is to be believed ever," seems to be a major takeaway. Oh, and P.S., don't let your kids run wild in Thailand.This has the potential to be a thoughtful thriller with an interesting setting, but Barton is too willing to cater to expectations--short chapters, familiar clues, and stereotypical villains.

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December 1, 2018
Veteran journalist Kate Waters and DI Bob Sparkes find themselves divided by a life-changing case in this fine series' third installment (after The Child, 2017). Informed by Sparkes, Kate breaks the story of two English girls, Alex O'Conner and Rosie Shaw, who have gone missing in Thailand. When their parents are summoned to identify bodies pulled from a Bangkok hostel fire, Kate heads to Thailand. But she isn't prepared to become part of the story when she discovers that her son, Jake, who has supposedly been working in Phuket, has vanished after being treated for burns sustained in the Bangkok fire. Casting Jake's disappearance as guilty flight, Kate's colleagues paint him as a villain. With Bangkok police refusing to investigate and Sparkes leaning toward Jake's guilt, Kate digs into Rosie's hard-partying expat circle and the hostel owner's underworld connections. The bedrock of this multilayered story, told in turns by Kate, Sparkes, and Alex O'Conner, is a tense, character-driven exploration of expectations and independence. Strongly recommended for fans of international crime fiction.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

Starred review from January 1, 2019

Crack journalist Kate Waters prides herself on getting great stories. When two 18-year-old girls disappear on a trip to Thailand, Kate pounces on an interview with the parents. But her own son Jake has also been in Thailand, on a time-out from university, and she's heard little from him for two years. Kate wonders if she should get involved in the case, and if she can keep journalistic distance from a story hitting so close to home. What will she do if she learns the truth? This is every parent's worst nightmare. VERDICT Barton (The Widow; The Child) is a stunning storyteller. Her career as a journalist has helped make this story terrifyingly real. Every turn of the plot feels authentic and very scary, as the central character is torn between being a parent and a successful professional. [See Prepub Alert, 8/10/18.]--Susan Clifford Braun, Bainbridge Island, WA

Crack journalist Kate Waters prides herself on getting great stories. When two 18-year-old girls disappear on a trip to Thailand, Kate pounces on an interview with the parents. But her own son Jake has also been in Thailand, on a time-out from university, and she's heard little from him for two years. Kate wonders if she should get involved in the case, and if she can keep journalistic distance from a story hitting so close to home. What will she do if she learns the truth? This is every parent's worst nightmare. VERDICT Barton (The Widow; The Child) is a stunning storyteller. Her career as a journalist has helped make this story terrifyingly real. Every turn of the plot feels authentic and very scary, as the central character is torn between being a parent and a successful professional. [See Prepub Alert, 8/10/18.]--Susan Clifford Braun, Bainbridge Island, WA