Author Profile: Nicci French
Psychological Thrillers about the Dark Side of Passion
British author Nicci French writes edge-of-the seat thrillers with a psychological twist. In many of French's books, a chance meeting, careless act or impulsive affair or one-night stand causes an ordinary woman’s life to be turned upside down. These haunting, sensual but not graphic stories are written in soft, almost lyrical prose that whispers rather than shouts of impending danger. In each story the heroine must find inner strength to break through a web of deceit and fear and escape a situation which is in most cases partly of her own making. The heroines are not perfect—yet their plights engage sympathy.
Killing me Softly
Alice Loudon has a good job, a steady boyfriend, but craves excitement. Her life is turned upside down when by chance she meets a total stranger and has a passionate affair. She begins to turn her back on her old friends and live only for him. But their perfect, erotic world crumbles as he becomes more and more demanding and caught up in dangerous games.
Land of the Living
Abbie Deveraux wakes up to total darkness, hooded and bound, with no recollection of who she is or how she got in this state. Her only contact with reality is the man who has abducted her, who taunts her with the promise that he will soon kill her as he has his other victims. Abby survives her captivity by dreaming of returning to the land of the living, the life she knew she once had. When, after much struggle, she is able to escape her tormentor, the police don’t believe her story. She is on her own as she tries to fit together the fragmented pieces of time that led up to her abduction.
Secret Smile
This is a haunting book about a young woman who has a brief fling with a charming stranger. He seems to know her every thought and dream. But soon, he starts to get into her airspace. When she catches him reading her journal, that’s the last straw. But she hasn’t gotten rid of him. When she returns home she finds her vulnerable younger sister has taken up with him. He turns her family against her and makes it look as if she is seeking revenge for being dumped while he takes a jilted lover’s revenge to a new height.
Catch me When I Fall
Holly Krauss is a troubled woman, a borderline manic depressive. The beginning of the book finds her waking from a drunken binge in the bed of a total stranger. She does not remember the night before. She does not even know what her lover looks like, catches only a glimpse of a hairy leg before she flees the strange room for the safety of her home and long-suffering husband. Holly has extreme ups and downs and her moods are spiraling out of control, threatening to ruin her successful career, her marriage, her entire life. Now, she is being threatened by a stalker who she believes must be the stranger, a reminder of a night she wants only to forget.
Nicci French is actually the pseudonym of the husband and wife team of Nicci Gerrard and Sean French. Both attended Oxford University and worked as London journalists. They live in Suffolk, England along with four children, two from Nicci’s first marriage.
Bibliography
The Memory Game, 1997
The Safe House, 1998
Killing Me Softly, 1999
Beneath the Skin, 2000
The Red Room, 2001
The People who Went Away, 2001
Land of the Living, 2002
Secret Smile, 2003
Catch me when I Fall, 2005
Losing You, 2006
Until its Over, 2007
click here to visit the Nicci French Website
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