The Crime Writer: A Novel - Couverture souple

“If, as they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, this fictionalized account of author Patricia Highsmith’s 1964 sojourn in Sussex is high-grade flattery indeed... Fans of The Price of Salt (the basis for the 2015 film Carol) will savor this phantasmagoria.” (Library Journal)

“Suspense novelist Patricia Highsmith finds herself caught in a real-life situation that seems to have sprung from the pages of one of her novels. It’s a clever conceit, plunging an author into a scenario right out of her own queasy-making fiction, and it’s adroitly handled, forcing Pat to live out her ideas of crime and guilt.” (Kirkus Reviews)

“[A] dreamlike, high-tension novel...Dawson smoothly marries fact with fiction to capture the famously prickly Highsmith while astutely exploring love, obsession, and the myriad shades of darkness within us all.” (Publishers Weekly)

“This novel is the real deal. Beautifully written and a must for all Highsmith fans.” (Phyllis Nagy, scriptwriter of the film Carol)

“It’s brilliant.” (Paula Hawkins, Bestselling Author of The Girl on the Train)

The Crime Writer represents an astonishing act of literary ventriloquism, easily on a par with The Master, Colm Tóibín’s fine novel about Henry James. (Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday)

“Ventriloquy is Dawson’s forte . . . this fascinating, skillfully constructed novel builds a convincing picture of Patricia Highsmith ” (Andrew Taylor, Spectator)

“All great writers’ biographies are less interesting than their work, but Patricia Highsmith gave hers a run for its money...[The Crime Writer is]sharp and absorbing, with brilliant imaginative flights and a fine sensitivity to its subject’s thorny, wounded, uncanny mind.” (USA Today)

“You do not need to be a passionate Highsmith fan to admire this beautifully written and elegant novel, but I think it will particularly appeal to those who have read her books and know something about her life; they should recognise many of the allusions and ideas.” (Jessica Mann Literary Review)

“A beautifully crafted and utterly riveting blend of fact and fiction about a fascinating 20th-century figure.” (Carla McKay, Daily Mail)