From Lee Child… Like any reader, I love old favourites…but I love new voices too, and I especially love it when a new voice starts to become an old favourite. It doesn’t happen often, but right now it’s happening with Marcus Sakey. He’s got it all. He writes like a dream, he creates characters exactly like people you know, he scares you, and above all keeps you turning the pages. But most of all he does the ‘what if’ thing better than anyone in the business. ‘What if’ questions power a lot of plots, but Sakey is special. He doesn’t just check a box or construct a neat twist for the sake of it. Reading him between the lines, I guarantee he lives this stuff…he thinks it through and sweats it out, probably for weeks at a time. I can see him, looking around at all the things he loves, looking at his house, turning and looking at his wife, asking himself, ‘What if? What if I had to put all this at risk? Would I? Could I? How would it feel? What would be the effect on me?’ It’s that kind of depth and intelligence and passion and emotion that sets Sakey apart. These are not just clever plots. These are real people with night sweats and wide eyes and everything to lose.
The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes takes ‘what if’ in a new direction and to new heights. Every writer muses, ‘What if the reader isn’t sure whether the husband killed his wife, or not?’ That’s a basic whodunit. But Sakey asks, ‘What if the husband isn’t sure whether he killed his wife, or not?’ That’s a terrific premise, and it boosts an already-terrific thriller plot into the stratosphere.