John Harwood was born in Hobart, Tasmania. Educated in Tasmania and Cambridge, he went on to become Head of the School of English and Drama at Flinders University, Adelaide. He is the author of two books of criticism, Olivia Shakespear and W. B. Yeats and Eliot to Derrida: The Poverty of Interpretation and the novels The Ghost Writer and The Asylum.

"The narrative, gracefully conceived, beautifully achieved, races along" Daily Telegraph "Atmospheric... Harwood's writing adds a layer of ironic distance to fog effects, black-hearted villains and other old chestnuts" The Times "Brilliantly atmospheric dark mystery... Try this if you like being scared out of your wits" Daily Mail "Everything you could possibly ask for from a novel in this genre" Financial Times "Harwood again proves himself a gifted storyteller... Seamlessly plotted, it is utterly compelling and full of suspense" Mail on Sunday