The Skeleton Key

An intricately plotted thriller, full of detail and invention, with impeccably realised settings and characters as monstrous as they are believable. Above all it is a completely addictive story of two families destroyed by success. Erin Kelly is a genius * Jane Casey * Moody, propulsive, and one of the most intriguing set ups I've read in years. Erin Kelly doesn't put a foot wrong in this atmospheric, original thriller * Gillian McAllister * A feat of real ambition and imagination - original, suspenseful, and with complex characters that spring irresistibly to life on the page, this is Erin Kelly at her finest * Louise Candlish * Erin Kelly excels at twisted family dynamics and toxic, compelling characters, and this glorious slice of bohemian gothic showcases all her strengths * Ruth Ware * Scary, eerie, moving and compelling: a beautifully-plotted, gorgeously-written triumph of a thriller * Nicci French * A twisted treasure hunt with a fatal family secret at its heart. Powerful, playful and deeply disturbing. I loved it * Sarah Hilary * A blisteringly good read. I simply couldn't put it down * Lucy Dawson * A unique storyteller; impossible to predict, impossible to put down * John Mars * Such a clever, intriguing read . . . There's layer upon layer of mystery in this frankly brilliant read * Belfast Telegraph * Gloriously gothic - a richly layered, utterly compulsive read. I completely lost myself to this book for a few days. This is Erin Kelly at the height of her powers * Lucy Foley * I adored this novel. Treasure hunts, an old book, puzzles & clues, and bone hunters. What more could you want? Gothic, complex, character-driven, addictive and intense. The PERFECT bookclub thriller for 2022 * Will Dean * A highly imaginative time-slip novel about vanity, arrogance, murder and deceit . . . Highly entertaining, in spite of the vividly described distress of many of the characters, this is an excellent psychological thriller * Literary Review * Like all Kelly's novels, it's pacy, brilliantly plotted, and full of complex characters and relationships . . . One of my favourite writers is back with a gripping thriller about two families connected by a devastating secret * Good Housekeeping * Although this is the kind of dark and twisted thriller we've come to expect from Erin Kelly, The Skeleton Key is also a delicious deep dive into the secrets and grievances of one of the most dysfunctional families you're ever likely to meet * Red Online * A richly imagined, multi-layered story, asking some though-provoking questions about family, art and privilege along the way * Irish Independent * Fascinatingly original * Peterborough Telegraph * Spearheading a new wave of Succession-esque fractured family tales . . . Erin Kelly's The Skeleton Key is the ultimate entertaining thriller * Evening Standard * Kelly's deftly etched depiction of human relations shows how our nearest and dearest often spark in us the most intense of emotions * The Times, Thriller on the Month * Every autumn needs a gothic mystery and this one is a twisty turny treat. Right up there with Kelly's bestselling debut The Poison Tree * The Shift * By turns a dysfunctional family drama and a deliciously sinister thriller * i * Kelly's realisation of periods stretching back to the 1960s is flawless, and her saga of sex, art, fame, money, egos and damaged children is intriguing, but it's the psychological thriller strand centred on Frank's daughter Nell that makes it moreish * The Sunday Times * A rich and fascinating puzzle * Mail on Sunday * Stands head and shoulders above the rest, for its originality, its ingenuity and its sumptuous realisation of an intensely problematic family . . . A gorgeously intricate puzzle of a book * Observer * An intricate book within a book, a two-family saga set across different timelines, multi-layered and with subplots galore, it is imaginative, intriguing and absorbin

Erin Kelly is the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Poison Tree, The Sick Rose, The Burning Air, The Ties That Bind, He Said/She Said, Stone Mothers/We Know You Know, Watch Her Fall and Broadchurch: The Novel, inspired by the mega-hit TV series. In 2013, The Poison Tree became a major ITV drama and was a Richard & Judy Summer Read in 2011. He Said/She Said spent six weeks in the top ten in both hardback and paperback, was longlisted for the Theakston's Old Peculier crime novel of the year award, and selected for both the Simon Mayo Radio 2 and Richard & Judy Book Clubs. She has worked as a freelance journalist since 1998 and written for the Guardian, The Sunday Times, Daily Mail, New Statesman, Red, Elle and Cosmopolitan. Born in London in 1976, she lives in north London with her husband and daughters. erinkelly.co.uk twitter.com/mserinkelly