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Dangerous games of cat and mouse: a choice of crime fiction

A sadistic octogenarian meets her match in a malevolent eight-year-old at a Luxor hotel. Thrillers by Christopher Bollen, Henry Wise, Charlotte Philby and Cristina Rivera Garza reviewed

Andrew Rosenheim
Christopher Bollen, the author of Havoc.  Jack Pierson
EXPLORE THE ISSUE 19 April 2025
issue 19 April 2025

Psychosis and thriller writing are never friends. Even when told from the psychotic’s point of view, madness is always hard to portray since it involves a form of chaos irreconcilable with the resolutions we find in any thriller worth its salt. Havoc (The Borough Press, £16.99), by the American writer Christopher Bollen, is a remarkable exception, with the added bonus of being brilliantly written.

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