It’s a brutal winter in Des Moines, Iowa, and the city is gripped by fear. A serial attacker known as the Sin Eater is stalking women and has just struck again. It’s a tough time and a tough place for Riley Fisher, a former small-town sergeant, to be reporting for duty as an FBI agent on her first assignment.
Teamed with a man she’s not sure she can trust and struggling to prove herself – while fighting the pull of her old life and family dramas – Riley is tasked with investigating a vicious death threat against the newly elected female state governor. Gradually, she traces a disturbing connection between this case and the hunt for the Sin Eater. Through snow, ice, violence and lies, Riley Fisher is drawn towards a terrifying revelation.
Erin Young follows up her acclaimed crime debut, The Fields, which has drawn comparisons with Mare of Easttown, Silence of the Lambs and True Detective, with another stunning thriller full of dark menace and suspense.
Teamed with a man she’s not sure she can trust and struggling to prove herself – while fighting the pull of her old life and family dramas – Riley is tasked with investigating a vicious death threat against the newly elected female state governor. Gradually, she traces a disturbing connection between this case and the hunt for the Sin Eater. Through snow, ice, violence and lies, Riley Fisher is drawn towards a terrifying revelation.
Erin Young follows up her acclaimed crime debut, The Fields, which has drawn comparisons with Mare of Easttown, Silence of the Lambs and True Detective, with another stunning thriller full of dark menace and suspense.
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Reviews
This book will chill you to the bone. So atmospheric I feel like I've actually been to Des Moines. A complex, tense, dark thriller with a cop to root for and a killer to fear. So good!
Praise for Original Sins:
The Fields was an assured and thought provoking debut, but with Original Sins Erin Young takes the authenticity and pacing of her story telling to a new level. This book is both meticulously researched and enthralling.
A meticulously plotted police procedural that absolutely has it all: an icy setting in rural Iowa, a timely political backdrop... and one of the most chilling villains I've read in recent history. This book is perfect for fans of Tana French.
. . . intricate plotting, breakneck pacing - and, in FBI agent Riley Fisher, a compelling heroine you'll not soon forget.
Bold, gritty and deeply immersive, the compelling plotline, richly drawn characters and authentic sense of place wrapped up in taut heartfelt prose, drew me in and had me racing through the pages well into the night. A stunning and hugely suspenseful follow up to The Fields.
Original Sins is compelling from the first page to the last, dealing with important and challenging issues through a propulsive, edge-of-the-seat narrative. A brilliant thriller, and Young's superb writing on every page, along with her engaging cast of characters, lifts the novel into a class of its own.
A proper cinematic thriller!
Incredible. A chilling, terrifyingly plausible and white-knuckle of a thriller. Erin Young's masterful writing makes you not only feel you've been airdropped into Des Moines but that the horrors that unfold are happening around you
a high-octane, ardently feminist thriller
A totally fresh take on the FBI procedural, ORIGINAL SINS is beautifully written and utterly absorbing - an absolute must-read
An intoxicating, atmospheric and tense thriller that compels you from the first page
Horrifyingly compelling, ingeniously twisted, each character, every plot turn meticulously crafted. Forensic knowledge of middle America & pitch perfect detail. Brilliant
Erin Young knocks it out of the park with this one
Dark, menacingly atmospheric and characters that vibrate off the page. At times poetic, I loved ORIGINAL SINS. Riley Fisher just might be my favourite ever detective!
A nimble, assured thriller
The plot explodes with excitement and suspense, proving that Young has become a thriller writer to treasure
Original Sins shows Young can take what could be a routine procedural and reshape the plot into a feminist thriller . . . starts on a high note, barely giving the characters, or the readers, time to take a breath as the plot careens to a stunning finale. Fans of thriller writer Karin Slaughter will find much to like
The plot explodes with excitement and suspense, proving that Young has become a thriller writer to treasure
Erin Young has the unusual gift in a British author of being able to convey superbly her US setting, which is all snow and skyscrapers. A thriller to be on your radar, not under it
Young delivers a disturbing, twist-riddled thriller stocked with well-drawn characters
[A] well-crafted procedural . . . vivid portraits of Black Hawk's denizens provide a compelling draw.
Praise for The Fields:
The sharp prose and explosive plot immediately drew me in, but the richly textured exploration of life in rural America stayed with me long after I finished. This is a classic crime series in the making
Loved the vivid sense of place. Hints of True Detective & The Silence of the Lambs. EXCELLENT
