The Twenty: A Thriller

by Sam Holland

Overview

A tense novel from a fast-rising star, Sam Holland, The Twenty fuses a chilling race-against-time with blood-curdling crime fiction. For fans of Harlan Coben and Thomas Harris, Sam Holland offers readers a page-turning serial killer thriller with “echoes of Lisa Gardner” (AJ Finn, #1 NYT bestselling author, on The Echo Man).

When DCI Adam Bishop arrives at the crime scene in the dead of night, the sight of the body is bad enough—but what Adam notices next chills him to his core. More bodies surface. And the spray-painted numbers daubed above the corpses reveal the horrific truth: the killer is counting down. But to what end?

Adam has no idea—until Dr. Romilly Cole knocks on his door with damning evidence pointing to a series of murders twenty five years earlier—a case she knows intimately from her past. Now, it’s personal—and the next knock on his door could be fatal.

Sam Holland’s gripping debut novel, The Echo Man, riveted readers and critics alike with its raw and brutal depiction of the unthinkable depredations of a serial killer. With The Twenty, Holland kicks her depraved milieu into even higher gear with a page-turning, up-all-night read that will leave readers breathless.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781639102563
Publisher:	CROOKED LANE BOOKS
Publication date:	05/02/2023
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.46(w) x 9.55(h) x 1.19(d)

About the Author

Having always been fascinated with the dark and macabre, Sam Holland studied psychology at university then spent the next few years working in HR, before quitting for a full-time career in writing. A self-confessed serial killer nerd, her debut novel, The Echo Man, shocked and enthralled readers and reviewers alike with its sinister depiction of a serial killer copying notorious real-life murderers of the past. The Twenty is her second novel.
Sam can be found on Twitter and Instagram at @samhollandbooks.

Editorial Reviews

03/13/2023

Holland’s second serial killer whodunit, after 2022’s The Echo Man, pales in comparison to that impressive debut. After a corpse is found at an abandoned construction site, too damaged by the elements to identify, Hampshire Det. Chief Insp. Adam Bishop is called in to investigate. Bishop spots the characters “XII” in green spray paint at the scene, and a search of the area uncovers more bodies and more Roman numerals, suggesting the work of a killer keeping count of his victims. Then Bishop’s ex-wife, Romilly Cole, approaches him with a lead: decades earlier, when Romilly was 11, she unlocked her family’s off-limits outhouse to find that her father, Elijah Cole, had used the building to confine multiple women, whom he raped, tortured, and killed. Though Elijah’s been locked up ever since, Romilly is convinced he had a hand in the new murders, and Bishop fears the next victim could be extremely close to home. Holland is better at generating momentary tension than sensibly moving the story forward or ushering it to a satisfying conclusion. The result is intermittently exciting but largely unsatisfying. Agent: Noah Ballard, Verve Talent & Literary. (May)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for The Twenty:
“A wild ride . . . for fans of serial homicide.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Spectacular . . . An impressive crime thriller that will have you reading well into the night.”
—Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine

“Sam Holland is a master storyteller and each of her novels is a superb blend of horror and mystery.”
—Gumshoe Reviews

“Some authors spook you. Some authors unnerve me. Very few authors frighten you—but very few authors are Sam Holland. The Twenty is smart and brooding, icepick-sharp and shadow-dark.”
—AJ Finn, New York Times bestselling author

“Disturbing and gripping . . . Lots of fun in a very nightmarish way.”
—Harriet Tyce, Sunday Times bestselling author 

“A wonderfully dark and gruesome serial killer story that isn't afraid to put its protagonists through the wringer.”
—Tariq Ashkanani, author of the award-winning Welcome to Cooper

“Relentless, twisted, terrifying; like its killer, The Twenty stalks readers as prey.”
—Dominic Nolan, author of Vine Street

“The Twenty gripped me right from page one—superbly written, beautifully plotted, with a cast of fantastic characters. I inhaled it.”
—LV Matthews, author of The Prank

“A truly gripping page turner that will make your veins pump and your fingers curl.”
—Heather Critchlow, author of Unsolved

“The Twenty has the pace of a rocket! . . . Sam Holland delivers and then some.”
—Rachael Blok, author of Into the Fire

“Sharp as a razor and jam packed with heart-in-mouth moments that’ll leave you reeling.”
—Robert Scragg, author of End of the Line

“Compulsive, complex and utterly brilliant!”
—Marion Todd, author of See Them Run

“A sharp, visceral, fast paced novel that you won’t be able to put down—not one for the faint hearted! Sam Holland is fast becoming the master of the serial killer thriller.”
—Niki Mackay, author of The Lies We Tell

“Clever and addictive . . . The killer’s crimes are gory, the investigators’ relationships are messy, and the narrative’s twists are shocking—but the prose is often lovely.”
—Jo Furniss, author of All The Little Children

“Unrelentingly dark and masterfully plotted.”
—Cressida McLaughlin, author of The Staycation

“Dark and unflinching . . . The characters are so real and well drawn you feel their pain and urgency as if it were your own.”
—Steph Sowden, author of After Everything You Did
 
“Fast and furious, Sam Holland doesn’t take her foot off the pedal for a second.”
—Victoria Selman, author of Truly Darkly Deeply

“Spine-chilling . . . [A] brilliantly written thriller.”
—Karen Hamilton, author of The Perfect Girlfriend

“So dark you almost have to look away yet so compelling you can’t stop turning the next page.”
—Tim Glister, author of Red Corona

From the Publisher

2023-02-08
A series of brutal English murders is unmistakably linked to a convicted killer with the world’s best alibi.

The discovery of five bodies near the Northbrook Bridge would be disturbing enough if it weren’t for the Roman numerals that mark the places they were dumped: XVI, XV, XIV, XIII, XII. “The killer is counting down,” realizes DCI Adam Bishop of the Major Crimes Unit. Learning of the numerals, National Health Service oncologist Dr. Romilly Cole is instantly convinced these new crimes are linked to the four murders that landed her father, mild-mannered general practitioner Dr. Elijah Cole, in Belmarsh Prison back in 1995. At first Adam doesn’t even want to see Romilly, whom he divorced three years ago over an affair she confessed. Even after he hears her out, he’s certain that her father, who’s still in Belmarsh, can’t have committed these new crimes. But are they the work of a copycat so attentive that, like Cole, he also kidnaps and tortures his victims and conscientiously drains them of their blood? Has Cole inspired someone to continue his countdown from 20 victims to the last one? Or is he actively collaborating with a murderous conspirator to complete the series? As Bishop and his DS, newlywed Jamie Hoxton, work the case, the body count rises, and the threats come ever closer to the investigators’ inner circle. Many of the tropes here, from the unsparingly detailed descriptions of the victims’ final hours to the tormented backstory of a leading character whose father was a serial killer, are depressingly familiar, but Holland handles them adroitly, and readers prepared for a wild ride will glide over every implausible twist, shocked and eager for the next one.

Meat and drink (sorry) for fans of serial homicide.

Kirkus Reviews