The Wicked Girls

One of the best books I read this year: The suspense keeps the pages flying, but what sets this one apart is the palpable sense of onrushing doom * Stephen King, 'The Best Books I Read This Year', Entertainment Weekly * A rundown seaside amusement park provides the backdrop for Marwood's memorable first novel . . . Marwood fills this disturbing thriller with sordid red herrings and brutal reflections * Publishers Weekly * Original, thought-provoking and utterly brilliant * The Sun * The Wicked Girls is ingenious and original -- a novel that surprises and rewards its readers, delivering a twist of an ending that I never saw coming, then realised it was the only ending that could truly satisfy. Real, chilling, true to its world and its characters. In short, a knock-out * Laura Lippman * In The Wicked Girls, debut author Alex Marwood's taut crime story poses bigger questions about tabloid witch hunts and the nature of evil * Good Housekeeping * I devoured The Wicked Girls over one weekend and loved it. I held my breath during the last few chapters * Erin Kelly * The best thriller I've read since Sister. Taut, gritty and utterly compelling * Lisa Jewell * The Wicked Girls is utterly compelling. It's psychologically rich, complex and masterfully plotted. I couldn't put it down, even when I sensed it was taking me somewhere very dark indeed. I can't wait to see what Alex Marwood comes up with next * Jojo Moyes * Having read it and devoured every page, I really wish I'd written it! It was cleverly plotted and pacy, with all the storylines thundering towards a final, gripping conclusion. I loved it * Elizabeth Haynes * Genuinely disturbing and emotionally unsettling, The Wicked Girls is irresistible * Val McDermid *

Alex Marwood is the pseudonym of a journalist who has worked extensively across the British press. She is the author of the word-of-mouth sensation The Wicked Girls, which won a prestigious Edgar Award and The Killer Next Door, which won the coveted Macavity Award. She has also been shortlisted for numerous other crime writing awards and her first two novels have been optioned for the screen. Alex lives in south London.