The Burning Time cover art

The Burning Time

To discover the truth sometimes you have to play with fire...

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The Burning Time

By: Peter Hanington
Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
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About this listen

 Old-school reporter William Carver returns in this deeply topical and dramatic international thriller.

'Smart and topical' Financial Times (An FT Best New Thriller 2023)

'A compelling, fast-paced thriller' Sun

Australian inventor and geoengineer Clive Winner is the genius who brought the Great Barrier Reef back from the brink, yet his ambition goes well beyond that. He wants to save the planet.

For the all-powerful fossil-fuel industry, Winner is their 'get out of jail free card'. If he can engineer a solution to climate change, business can continue as usual.

When old-school journalist William Carver is tipped off by a trusted Whitehall source that climate scientists have begun to go missing in suspicious circumstances, his gut instinct tells him to follow the story. It rapidly becomes clear that scientists, green campaigners and well-intentioned politicians are in the firing line; William Carver and his colleagues must move fast to find out who is behind the disappearances. They know the journalist's job is to speak truth to power - but first you must uncover that truth and this time it's buried deeper than ever.

Racing between Sydney, New York, Seville and London, The Burning Time is an intelligent, timely and fast-paced thriller for the twenty-first century.

'Deftly plotted . . . a propulsive read' Straits Times

'This adrenaline-laced adventure packs a mighty punch' Irish Independent

'A brilliant thriller with a timely and essential reminder of what journalism is supposed to be' James O'Brien, LBC

(P)2023 Hodder & Stoughton Limited©2023 Peter Hanington Crime Thrillers Fiction Political Spies & Politics Thriller Thriller & Suspense Crime Law Espionage Exciting

Critic reviews

A smart and topical thriller
A compelling, fast-paced thriller blended with environmental issues. Hotly topical
This adrenalin-laced adventure packs a mighty punch . . . Peter Hanington's global thriller could not be more topical
Deftly plotted . . . a propulsive read
Peter Hanington is a master of his craft and in William Carver he gives us the hero we didn't know we needed in an age of fake news and egregious political liars . . . Hanington's triumph is to blend a brilliant thriller with a timely and essential reminder of what journalism is supposed to be. He rides the zeitgeist like Frankie Dettori rides horses (James O'Brien, LBC)
The Burning Time is terrific. [It] will be a classic of the genre (Peter Hennessy, author of A DUTY OF CARE)
A wonderfully taut piece of plotting and, like all good roller-coasters, it regularly turns your stomach over as you are swept along; Hanington's endlessly inventive story telling gives you that edgy feeling that everything (the whole world, in this case) could go horribly wrong by the end of the book, and it boasts more bodies than a Jacobean Revenge charity. Thank God for the reassuring presence of William Carver (Edward Stourton)
Well written and paced, this thriller is both a tribute to and a demonstration of the importance of traditional investigative journalism
Peter Hanington has a journalist's nose for stories likely to make tomorrow's Radio 4 news . . . The Burning Time is a headline-grabbing thriller
Seeks to expose the dark arts, denialism and danger of the carbon lobby and adds another fine and important thriller to an exceptional series (Material Witness blog)
All stars
Most relevant
Hanington is one of the best thoughtful writers around. His first books were excellent — this is brilliant. Hope to meet Carver and team again!

The best climate change novel yet

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William Carver is quickly like Jackson Lamb v
becoming one of my favourite characters the series is well written as is this new story could stop listening, really look forward to the next one

Great Series and Great story

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Thank you Peter Hanington for this new book. Have been waiting for the next in the series. Performed brilliantly by Jonathan Keeble you make the books come alive !!!! Looking forward to more from our favourite journalist.

Fabulous listen.

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Another excellent story from Peter Hanington. Good character evolution for the interesting 'family' of journalists. I love the defence and maintenance of the overall idea that investigative and honest journalism is important and relevant. Also entertaining and varied plot. Overall an excellent and compelling listen.

Relevant

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All of Peter Hanington's audio books are first class. The intriguing and beautifully drawn characters, the political machinations, the complexity of the stories and the vivid locations make them all compelling. But this one is the very best of the best. I only regret that I devoured it so quickly - I will have to go back to the beginning and listen again.

What a fantastic listen

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