Polly, who’s running from a shady past, meets Adam, who’s just passing through. Secrets layered in deeper secrets unfold slowly and surprisingly in Laura Lippman’s latest psychological chiller. Narrator Susan Bennett takes Lippman’s irresistible setup and puts us in a flickering black-and-white world in which morality is iffy and sometimes being bad isn’t so bad. Bennett makes the wary attraction between the two a kind of dance around the truth. As Adam reveals his reasons for being in town and Polly’s plans unfold, Bennett gives even supporting characters dimension, from Polly’s mother-in-law to her ex- to her rival for Adam. With Lippman’s strong, spare prose and suspenseful plot—including film noir references sprinkled throughout—and Bennett’s solid delivery, this is noir listening at its finest. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

Fast-paced and unpredictable, Sunburn is a smart, sly riff on love in a world of trouble that’s puzzling until the very last piece falls into place.” — O, the Oprah Magazine

“Cool and twisty.” — New York Times Book Review

“A masterful mix from a total pro.” — People

“Every time Laura Lippman comes out with a new book, I get chills because I know I am back in the hands of the master. She is simply a brilliant novelist, an unflinching chronicler of life in America right now, and Sunburn is her dark, gleaming noir gem. Read it.” — Gillian Flynn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Gone Girl

“Laura Lippman continues to push the envelope of modern crime-writing. Sunburn, her take on noir, may be her nerviest novel yet, an unsparing look at how lovers can betray one another.” — Harlan Coben, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“Suspenseful as hell, and she writes like a dream [...] Lippman’s always good, but this is a cut above.” — Stephen King

“Modern noir at its best, it will delight old-movie lovers, satisfy suspense readers, and reward Lippman’s legion of fans.” — Library Journal (starred review)

“You can tell how much fun the author had updating the classic noir tropes, and it’s contagious. Plotty, page-turning pleasure.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“This is Lippman at her observant, fiercest best, a force to be reckoned with in crime fiction.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Ingeniously constructed and extremely suspenseful, the novel keeps us guessing right up until its final moments. Lippman is a popular and dependable writer, and this homage to classic noir showcases a writer at the height of her powers.” — Booklist (starred review)

“I feel like it creates a whole new category, which I’m thinking of as ‘femme noir’ [...] She’s taken this traditional noir structure of a man sweeping in to save a woman who then turns around and eats his heart out—she’s turned that notion on its head.” — Wall Street Journal

“The ingenious plot evolves into myriad twists that are as believable as they are surprising [...] Sunburn delivers one of the year’s most intriguing mysteries.” — Lisa Ko, author of The Leavers

“Another extraordinary novel from Laura Lippman—full of just-one-more chapter, stay-up-late suspense, but packed too with nuance, subtlety, observation and humanity. Lippman is a natural storyteller at the height of her powers.” — Lee Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“Sunburn was dark but not too dark, thrilling, richly descriptive with an utterly compelling protagonist...I read this book at a furious pace and never forgot about it all year. Sunburn was a reminder that storytelling matters and good storytelling is all too rare.” — Roxane Gay

“spellbinding [...] this corkscrew of a book, with its psychological insights and sensual charisma, proves once again that Ms. Lippman, as a writer, is sui generis.” — Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal

“Great book. Well paced. Beautifully observed details. Interesting characters and nuance in the right places. [...] Thoroughly enjoyed this book and the protagonist who is flawed and brilliant and ruthless and unapologetic.” — Roxane Gay, New York Times bestselling author of Bad Feminist and Hunger

“A tantalising, ingeniuously constructed page-turner.” — The Guardian

“Grips like the classic Hollywood black-and-white movie thrillers of the 1930s and 1940s. Sunburn unsettles from its first page.” — The Times (London)

“Note-perfect noir...not to be missed.” — Megan Abbott, Edgar Award-winning author of Dare Me and The Fever

“A pacy, pithy modern take on the noir tradition...terrific entertainment.” — Sunday Mirror

“For once the blurb doesn’t over-promise. Lippman writes the best opening pages of any thriller so far this year.” — Daily Mail (UK)

Ingeniously constructed and extremely suspenseful, the novel keeps us guessing right up until its final moments. Lippman is a popular and dependable writer, and this homage to classic noir showcases a writer at the height of her powers.

Fast-paced and unpredictable, Sunburn is a smart, sly riff on love in a world of trouble that’s puzzling until the very last piece falls into place.

Laura Lippman continues to push the envelope of modern crime-writing. Sunburn, her take on noir, may be her nerviest novel yet, an unsparing look at how lovers can betray one another.

A masterful mix from a total pro.

Suspenseful as hell, and she writes like a dream [...] Lippman’s always good, but this is a cut above.

Every time Laura Lippman comes out with a new book, I get chills because I know I am back in the hands of the master. She is simply a brilliant novelist, an unflinching chronicler of life in America right now, and Sunburn is her dark, gleaming noir gem. Read it.

Cool and twisty.

Another extraordinary novel from Laura Lippman—full of just-one-more chapter, stay-up-late suspense, but packed too with nuance, subtlety, observation and humanity. Lippman is a natural storyteller at the height of her powers.

The ingenious plot evolves into myriad twists that are as believable as they are surprising [...] Sunburn delivers one of the year’s most intriguing mysteries.

A tantalising, ingeniuously constructed page-turner.

spellbinding [...] this corkscrew of a book, with its psychological insights and sensual charisma, proves once again that Ms. Lippman, as a writer, is sui generis.

I feel like it creates a whole new category, which I’m thinking of as ‘femme noir’ [...] She’s taken this traditional noir structure of a man sweeping in to save a woman who then turns around and eats his heart out—she’s turned that notion on its head.

Grips like the classic Hollywood black-and-white movie thrillers of the 1930s and 1940s. Sunburn unsettles from its first page.

Sunburn was dark but not too dark, thrilling, richly descriptive with an utterly compelling protagonist...I read this book at a furious pace and never forgot about it all year. Sunburn was a reminder that storytelling matters and good storytelling is all too rare.

Note-perfect noir...not to be missed.

A pacy, pithy modern take on the noir tradition...terrific entertainment.

For once the blurb doesn’t over-promise. Lippman writes the best opening pages of any thriller so far this year.

I feel like it creates a whole new category, which I’m thinking of as ‘femme noir’ [...] She’s taken this traditional noir structure of a man sweeping in to save a woman who then turns around and eats his heart out—she’s turned that notion on its head.

Fast-paced and unpredictable, Sunburn is a smart, sly riff on love in a world of trouble that’s puzzling until the very last piece falls into place.

Laura Lippman’s diamond-hard prose and quirky characterisation epitomises the best in American crime writing...we are mesmerised by her combustible cocktail of the erotic and the malign.

The ingenious plot evolves into myriad twists that are as believable as they are surprising [...] Sunburn delivers one of the year’s most intriguing mysteries.

★ 10/01/2017
After reworking Harper Lee's universe in Wilde Lake, the author gives the star-crossed souls of James M. Cain's fiction the Lippman treatment. Hence, desperate lovers Polly and Adam meet in a sleepy Delaware not-quite-beach town and harbor secrets there and in Baltimore. They circle each other warily, but it's fated they'll end up together. Their affair is threatened by the things they conceal from each other and by enemies lurking all around. Lippman's complicated femme fatale heroine and conflicted hero are more layered than one would expect from noir protagonists, and her nuanced characterizations extend beyond the couple at the center of the story. With an economy of words, she creates three-dimensional characters such as Irving, the man who hires Adam to spy on Polly, Cath, the weak link in a love triangle, and Polly's mother-in-law Savannah, who's not quite sure she's grandma material. Lippman's minute observations about modern life, human foibles, and the many faces of love are lagniappes to this tasty feast of a novel. VERDICT Just try to read this fantastic stand-alone from the creator of the "Tess Monaghan" series slowly. Modern noir at its best, it will delight old-movie lovers, satisfy suspense readers, and reward Lippman's legion of fans. [See Prepub Alert, 8/14/17.]—Liz French, Library Journal

Polly, who’s running from a shady past, meets Adam, who’s just passing through. Secrets layered in deeper secrets unfold slowly and surprisingly in Laura Lippman’s latest psychological chiller. Narrator Susan Bennett takes Lippman’s irresistible setup and puts us in a flickering black-and-white world in which morality is iffy and sometimes being bad isn’t so bad. Bennett makes the wary attraction between the two a kind of dance around the truth. As Adam reveals his reasons for being in town and Polly’s plans unfold, Bennett gives even supporting characters dimension, from Polly’s mother-in-law to her ex- to her rival for Adam. With Lippman’s strong, spare prose and suspenseful plot—including film noir references sprinkled throughout—and Bennett’s solid delivery, this is noir listening at its finest. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine