A Lovely Way to Burn: Plague Times Trilogy 1 - Softcover

An unusual and fascinating take on a crime novel from the established and endlessly inventive Louise Welsh . . . With a strong central character and vivid depictions of the disorder that accompanies social breakdown, it's a gripping book that prepares the way nicely for the next volume (Guardian)

Don't start reading this if you have a long to-do list, it's a hypnotically readable thriller and you won't get much don't until you've finished it . . . What's gripping about this is the way the two stories, the crime thriller and the gathering apocalypse combine to create something tenser and scarier than either alone. The way that society gradually disintegrates is brilliantly done; it makes you feel just how fragile civilisation is (Independent on Sunday)

A tense, claustrophobic medical whodunit with an apocalyptic tone that cranks the stakes ever higher (Herald)

I was with Louise Welsh's gutsy gripping heroine Stevie Flint every terrifying step of the way (Kirsty Wark, author of The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle)

I read it in two sittings, pausing only to sleep and dream about it. Gripping, perfectly paced and beautifully written (Erin Kelly, author of The Poison Tree)

A terrifying journey into the possible, this is dystopia for today. Feral, frightening and fascinating, A Lovely Way to Burn gripped and chilled me in equal measure (Val McDermid)

The first in a trilogy, and it should be huge (Bookseller)

We've come to expect lots of good things from Welsh, including a brilliant sense of location. She doesn't disappoint with her images of London breaking down. As ever, the writing is fluid, the dynamic taut and through the control of such small telling moments, Welsh deftly breathes life into her characters. Only an accomplished writer knows exactly when to let the reader fill in the gaps. Stevie is a gusty, gripping protagonist, beautifully drawn . . . Welsh has taken our everyday lives, given them a twist, and no supernatural manifestation of our darkest hours is any match for what real human beings can do to each other when mankind loses its humanity. This is just first part of a trilogy. Scary, shocking and touching by turns, this apocalyptic thriller will enthral. I haven't been so buried in a book in a while (Irish Independent)

I've felt for a while that we are in the mood for an intelligent slice of London-based dystopia, and I think Louise Welsh has cracked it with A Lovely Way to Burn . . . it kept me up all night nervously turning the pages (Cathy Rentzenbrink, Bookseller)

Welsh constructs an intelligent mystery within the pages of A Lovely Way to Burn . . . It's close enough to what we know to be utterly terrifying and that was part of its hold on me. Welsh has taken our everyday lives, given them a twist, and put them in the background of an intriguing, addictive novel (Girlreporter)

The first book in a thrilling new crime trilogy from the author of The Girl on the Stairs.