Two likely lads out on a road-trip stop at a gas station and discover the local town has a multi-million dollar lottery winner. They spot an opportunity and hatch a clever con. One boy, Shaw, infiltrates the family, the other, Romeo, stays outside to terrorise them. It works. What then transpires is masterfully executed. A classic domestic thriller that begs to be filmed, with characters you root for, good and bad. Do read it.
When grifters Shaw and Romeo pull up at a convenience store in Georgia, their only thought is to fix a faulty tyre and be on their way to Florida. But this happens to be the store from which a $318 million Jackpot ticket has just been sold - and when the pretty clerk accidentally reveals to Shaw the identity of the winning family, he hatches a terrifyingly audacious plan. That night, he visits the Boatwright family's home and takes them hostage, while the sinister Romeo patrols the streets nearby, prepared to murder the Boatwrights' loved ones at the first sign of resistance. At first, the family offers none. But Shaw's plan depends on maintaining constant fear - merciless, unfaltering terror - and soon, under the pressure, everyone's sanity begins to unravel...
'When Green isn't making you laugh, he's making you bite your nails down to the bleeding point' Stephen King
'Green's comeback, 14 years after The Juror, is highly accomplished. The duo's scam is one of the strongest plot ideas in recent crime fiction, and he exploits it flawlessly, stuffing the novel with memorably rancid characters and manipulating the reader's sympathies with a skill reminiscent of Hitchcock' Sunday Times
'Exquisitely drawn by a master miniaturist, this is a domestic thriller that boasts supreme characterisation and an elegant grasp of human failings - evoking a world where victim and attacker are inevitably drawn to one another: Indeed you may not even be able to tell them apart' Daily Mail
'It is 14 years since Dawes Green wrote bestseller The Juror. This masterclass in psychological suspense just made it worth the wait' Daily Record
'Dark unconventional and smart, Ravens is far from your average thriller and is subsequently a must for all fans of the genre and the uninitiated alike' The List
'Absolutely gripping... a superb Dawes Green storyline that's snappier than a hungry piranha' The Lady
Author
About George Dawes Green
George Dawes Green is a highly acclaimed novelist and poet, and the founder of the groundbreaking storytelling organisation, The Moth. He currently divides his time between Georgia and New York.