Suspicion is cast on two successful crime writers, when their seven-year-old son goes missing. Are they trying to show that they can commit the perfect crime? A mesmerisingly twisty, dark thriller from number-one bestselling New Zealand author Paul Cleave…

‘You may think you know where it’s going, but you couldn’t be more wrong. A true page-turner filled with dread, rage, doubt and more twists than the Remutaka Pass’ Linwood Barclay

‘Paul Cleave is an automatic must-read for me, and The Quiet People shows why – it grabbed me by the throat, shook me around, and left me breathing hard. Fantastic, and highly recommended’ Lee Child
‘A true page-turner, with an intriguing premise, a rollercoaster plot and a cast of believably flawed characters’ Guardian
‘An absolute BELTER of a book … I’d forgotten how good Paul Cleave is!’ Sarah Pinborough
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Can two crime writers get away with murder?

Cameron and Lisa Murdoch are successful New Zealand crime writers, happily married and topping bestseller lists worldwide. They have been on the promotional circuit for years, joking that no one knows how to get away with crime like they do. After all, they write about it for a living.

So when their challenging seven-year-old son Zach disappears, the police and the public naturally wonder if they have finally decided to prove what they have been saying all this time…

Are they trying to show how they can commit the perfect crime?

Electrifying, taut and immaculately plotted, The Quiet People is a chilling, tantalisingly twisted thriller that will keep you gripped and guessing to the last explosive page.

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Best Indie Novel: Crime Fiction Lover Awards

2021 INDIES Book of the Year Award Finalist**
‘The psychological depth of the leads bolsters the complex plot. This merits comparison with the work of Patricia Highsmith’ Publishers Weekly STARRED REVIEW
‘What is really compelling about The Quiet People is neither its neat twists nor the topical examination of mob rule, but Cleave’s portrait of Cameron as he goes rogue under pressure and tries to use his writer’s skills to save his son’ The Times

‘Gripping from the first page and full of deliciously dark twists and turns. You can’t be a true fan of crime fiction if you’re not reading Cleave’s books’ Tom Wood

‘The sense of dread builds unstoppably in this gripping page-turner … an intense, chilling read’ Gilly Macmillan

‘I don’t think I breathed from about halfway through to the end. A masterpiece from a crime genius’ Susi Holliday
‘His best book yet … by the end, readers will find themselves holding their breath’ Bolo Books

‘Uses words as lethal weapons’ New York Times

‘What starts out as a slow burn, quickly ratchets up the tension and the twists, sending you spiralling down a hill of depravity and desperation’ Kirsten McKenzie

‘A cinematic, raging, rollercoaster of a plot … wildly entertaining, and will keep you guessing right to the end’ New Zealand Herald

‘Cleave has become one of my go-to authors for a chilling slice of cleverly crafted crime’ LoveReading
‘Super-clever and properly gripping’ The Sun

‘A superb novel from a champion storyteller’ Crime Watch

Praise for Paul Cleave

‘Cleave writes the kind of dark, intense thrillers that I never want to end. Do yourself a favour and check him out’ Simon Kernick

‘Tense, thrilling, touching. Paul Cleave is very good indeed’ John Connolly

‘Compelling, dark, and perfectly paced’ Booklist

‘Relentlessly gripping, deliciously twisted’ Mark Billingham

‘An intense adrenaline rush from start to finish’ S J Watson

‘A riveting and all too realistic thriller’ Tess Gerritsen

‘A gripping thriller …I couldn’t put it down’ Meg Gardiner

‘This very clever novel did my head in time and again’ Michael Robotham

‘Cleave’s whirligig plot mesmerises’ People

‘This thriller is one to remember’ New York Journal of Book

Author Biography

Paul Cleave is an award-winning author who often divides his time between his home city of Christchurch, New Zealand, and Europe. He’s won the New Zealand Ngaio Marsh Award three times, the Saint-Maur book festival’s crime novel of the year award in France, and has been shortlisted for the Edgar and the Barry in the US and the Ned Kelly in Australia. His books have been translated into more than twenty languages. The critically acclaimed The Quiet People was published in 2021, with The Pain Tourist (2022) and His Favourite Graves following in 2023.