Kill the Next One

In this audacious psychological thriller where nothing is what it seems, a man facing death makes a life-changing choice that puts him-and the people he loves-in serious trouble.

Ted McKay had it all: a beautiful wife, two daughters, a high-paying job. But after being diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor he finds himself with a gun to his temple, ready to pull the trigger. Then the doorbell rings.

A stranger makes him a proposition: why not kill two deserving men before dying? The first target is a criminal, and the second is a man with terminal cancer who, like Ted, wants to die. After executing these kills, Ted will become someone else's next target, like a kind of suicidal daisy chain. Ted understands the stranger's logic: it's easier for a victim's family to deal with a murder than with a suicide.

However, as Ted commits the murders, the crime scenes strike him as odd. The targets know him by name and possess familiar mementos. Even more bizarrely, Ted recognizes locations and men he shouldn't know. As Ted's mind begins to crack, dark secrets from his past seep through the fissures.

Kill the Next One is an immersive psychological thriller from an exciting new voice.

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Kill the Next One

In this audacious psychological thriller where nothing is what it seems, a man facing death makes a life-changing choice that puts him-and the people he loves-in serious trouble.

Ted McKay had it all: a beautiful wife, two daughters, a high-paying job. But after being diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor he finds himself with a gun to his temple, ready to pull the trigger. Then the doorbell rings.

A stranger makes him a proposition: why not kill two deserving men before dying? The first target is a criminal, and the second is a man with terminal cancer who, like Ted, wants to die. After executing these kills, Ted will become someone else's next target, like a kind of suicidal daisy chain. Ted understands the stranger's logic: it's easier for a victim's family to deal with a murder than with a suicide.

However, as Ted commits the murders, the crime scenes strike him as odd. The targets know him by name and possess familiar mementos. Even more bizarrely, Ted recognizes locations and men he shouldn't know. As Ted's mind begins to crack, dark secrets from his past seep through the fissures.

Kill the Next One is an immersive psychological thriller from an exciting new voice.

31.99 In Stock
Kill the Next One

Kill the Next One

by Federico Axat

Narrated by Maxwell Hamilton

Unabridged — 12 hours, 23 minutes

Kill the Next One

Kill the Next One

by Federico Axat

Narrated by Maxwell Hamilton

Unabridged — 12 hours, 23 minutes

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Overview

In this audacious psychological thriller where nothing is what it seems, a man facing death makes a life-changing choice that puts him-and the people he loves-in serious trouble.

Ted McKay had it all: a beautiful wife, two daughters, a high-paying job. But after being diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor he finds himself with a gun to his temple, ready to pull the trigger. Then the doorbell rings.

A stranger makes him a proposition: why not kill two deserving men before dying? The first target is a criminal, and the second is a man with terminal cancer who, like Ted, wants to die. After executing these kills, Ted will become someone else's next target, like a kind of suicidal daisy chain. Ted understands the stranger's logic: it's easier for a victim's family to deal with a murder than with a suicide.

However, as Ted commits the murders, the crime scenes strike him as odd. The targets know him by name and possess familiar mementos. Even more bizarrely, Ted recognizes locations and men he shouldn't know. As Ted's mind begins to crack, dark secrets from his past seep through the fissures.

Kill the Next One is an immersive psychological thriller from an exciting new voice.


Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

★ 10/03/2016
Argentinian-born author Axat fuses weird fiction with psychological suspense in his stunning U.S. debut, set in the Boston area. Terminally ill businessman Ted McKay is about to shoot himself when a stranger named Justin Lynch shows up at his house with a proposal: kill a criminal who escaped justice and an innocent man who wants to die, and in return, someone will kill him, sparing his family the shame of his suicide. Ted carries out his end of the deal, only to learn that Lynch lied about the circumstances surrounding both victims. As Ted searches for the truth, strange dreams and inexplicable events cause him to question his sanity, leaving Ted and the reader uncertain as to what is real and whom to trust. Nightmare imagery, mind-bending plot twists, and a kaleidoscopic storytelling style lend Axat’s tale a vertiginous air, but at the core of this literary fever dream lies an elegantly crafted and emotionally resonant mystery that astonishes, devastates, and satisfies in equal measure. (Dec.)

From the Publisher

Nominated for the Crime Writers Association Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award

One of the Best Thrillers of 2016 - BookRiot


"There's a perverse symmetry to the way things work in this mind-bending psychological thriller by the Argentine author Federico Axat, translated here by David Frye. . . . Truth, illusion and downright deceit keep crossing invisible lines in this hallucinatory plot. . . . He expands on these mystifying events in imaginative ways. . . . Federico Axat is the kind of hypnotic writer you love to read but can never entirely trust."—Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review

"The most clever and surreal crime novel of 2016 . . . An extraordinary murder mystery."—Vick Mickunas, Dayton Daily News

Kill The Next One "is a serious rabbit hole of a book.... there's much more to this dizzying maze of a thriller than [its] head-bending opening-and you might want to avoid reading it at night."—Seattle Review of Books

"Compelling . . . A spectacular mind-meld of a psychological thriller . . . Axat brilliantly creates an environment permeated by doubt and the anxiety it perpetuates. The story is chilling, but Axat has the skill to infuse it with humanity while maintaining the nightmarish atmosphere. Kill the Next One is a recipe baked to perfection."—Lauren O'Brien, Shelf Awareness (starred)

"Nightmare imagery, mind-bending plot twists, and a kaleidoscopic storytelling style lend [Kill The Next One] a vertiginous air, but at the core of this literary fever dream lies an elegantly crafted and emotionally resonant mystery that astonishes, devastates, and satisfies in equal measure."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"A psychological thriller that will take you for a hell of a ride and leave you whiplashed from all the twists and turns. . . . I promise you have no idea where this is going!"—BookRiot

"Kill the Next One starts fast and never lets up. The first third of the novel packs more twists, turns, and tension than most contemporary thrillers do in their entirety. Axat has a knack both for dialogue and for prose that constantly walks a fine line between reality and surreality. . . . A satisfying read for fans of horror novels, as well as lovers of creepy thrillers. Also, this novel has more plot twists than all of M. Night Shyamalan's filmography put together. The setup is effective and makes readers sit up and pay attention . . . A very tense, smartly crafted novel about illusions and the power of our decisions."—Gabino Iglesias, LitReactor

"Axat harnesses that uncertainty to build suspense and creates an intriguing, mind-bending thriller in the vein of Dennis Lehane's Shutter Island."—Booklist

"If you're looking for a suspenseful story to get sucked into, this is your book. Like a chilling, murder-y version of Pay It Forward, this thriller unfolds as a man seeking to end his life is given the opportunity to kill two other people and then be killed, so as to avoid subjecting his family to the added grief that comes with suicide. But as he embarks on the mission, he discovers there is more to this scheme than meets the eye."—Bustle

"Boasts a grabber of an opening sentence."—USA Today

"A spectacular mind-meld of a psychological thriller....Axat brilliantly creates an environment permeated by doubt and the anxiety it perpetuates. The story is chilling, but Axat has the skill to infuse it with humanity while maintaining the nightmarish atmosphere. Kill the Next One is a recipe baked to perfection."—Shelf Awareness

"Move over Hitchock, P.D. James, Ruth Rendell, and more. Here is a thriller to make others fade. Well-drawn characters, a devilish plot, and first-rate storytelling make this an emotional mystery that resonates and disturbs.... Superb."—Richard Cytowic, New York Journal of Books

Kirkus Reviews

2016-09-20
Carrying out a canny plan to kill two victims plunges a man into a world in which events and characters, including his own, change like visions in a haunted kaleidoscope.Whatever may be said for or against Argentinian author Axats American debut, most will agree that his thrillers opening sentence is a grabber that will keep readers following along, at least for a while: Ted McKay was about to put a bullet through his brain when the doorbell rang. Delaying his big finish, McKay greets one Justin Lynch. A total stranger to McKay, Lynch claims he knows what McKay was about to do with the 9 mm gun in his study. Lynch convinces McKay to delay shooting himself in order to kill two men in circumstances that justify homicide. The first proposed victim is Edward Blaine, a contemptible man who killed his girlfriend but went free from lack of evidence: McKay will be righting a sure wrong. And like McKay, the second victim, a man named Wendell, is contemplating taking his own life. If McKay shoots him, hell spare the victims family the trauma of a beloveds suicide. Believing he suffers an inoperable tumor and therefore has little to lose, McKay takes the assignments, which play out in tightly written, suspenseful scenes. Alas, there are loose ends to the plans. First, evidence confronts McKay that suggests his wife and Wendell were having an affair. Then McKay is abducted to what appears to be a Boston mental hospital. Here he meets people he knows, including a therapist he had consulted to deal with his imminent demise. Pirandello-an twists and turns follow. McKay, in the reality of the hospital, learns he may not have really killed Wendell. McKay may actually be Wendell. And McKay may not really have a tumor. A demented possum, meanwhile, stalks McKay. As some characters launch into verbose, windy explanations of whats going on, the narrative slows, and some plot turns become more fatiguing than breathtaking. The conclusion is nevertheless satisfying and provocative. Fans of alternative reality tales will probably stay the course; other readers may not.

Product Details

BN ID: 2940173549068
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Publication date: 12/13/2016
Edition description: Unabridged
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