Retro Read: The Killing Circle - Andrew Pyper

Thriller

Rating: 8.5/10

A widower struggling with the daily necessities of life and raising a young son after his wife’s death takes us on a twisty narrative path you won’t be expecting.

In an attempt to snap out of it, he joins a writing circle in hopes of pursuing his lifelong dream of becoming an author.  Soon he becomes obsessed with a horrific work in progress written by another writer in the group, a possibly autobiographical tale about being haunted by a terrible man who does terrible things.

Propelled by a nonlinear narrative and a stalking sense of dread, this is Pyper’s most absorbing work to date.

I don’t throw around terms like page turner, but it applies here.  The sheer brilliance of the trickery of a novel within a novel will leave your head spinning.  What, if anything, is real here?  I’m not telling!

Footnote: This novel is set in my hometown of Toronto, making for second glances and a quicker pace as I walk past some of the locations!