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The Ninth Guest

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About this listen

There's more than one way to capture a life.

When Elspeth arrives at her ex-husband's LA mansion for his 50th birthday party, she's expecting a crowd for the British film director. Instead, there are just seven other guests and Richard's pet octopus, Persephone, watching over them from her tank.

Come morning, Richard is dead.

In the weeks that follow, each of the guests comes under suspicion: the school friend, the studio producer, the actress, the actor, the new boyfriend, the manager, the cinematographer and the ex-wife, Elspeth herself. As stories of Richard's past surface, colliding with Elspeth's memories of their marriage, she begins to question not just who killed Richard, but why these eight guests were invited and what sort of man would want to trap this mysterious, intelligent creature.

From the LA hills to the Norfolk marshes, The Octopus is a stylish exploration of power: the power of memory, the power of perception, the power of one person over another.

©2020 Tess Little (P)2020 Hodder & Stoughton Ltd Crime Thrillers Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Thriller & Suspense Women's Fiction
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Great novel with a brilliant performance. Really interesting and powerful in places. Accents were very good and helper with following the story.

Great novel with a brilliant performance

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The Octopus is a brilliant, multi layered book. It is beautifully written and the sense of place is impressive, but for me the most compelling part was definitely the characters. They were so vivid that my feelings about them changed as the book progressed, and I found that they linger long in the mind after the book is finished. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

Absolutely LOVED this!

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Great first novel, well paced plot and nicely constructed characters. Contemporary flavour to a classic genre.

Strong debut

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