Thorn

A city attracts scavengers and predators, people with malicious intent, for there are many who are vulnerable inhabiting its streets. Rosa Thorn knows how harsh an urban environment can be. A tragedy has changed her life forever and now she has taken the post of drama teacher for the local comprehensive school where her teenage son and daughter attend. But something strange is going on.

The headmaster has no qualms about insinuating himself into the private life of the attractive, available Rosa, but how does he know her every move? Then there is the sinister caretaker dealing with more than logistical problems. Or is he? At home some of Rosa's neighbours have taken to secret late night gatherings on street corners and the gardener of the park opposite seems to have a dangerously obsessive personality. And when small, inexplicable acts of malevolence turn into sudden violence, Rosa fears for her safety and even more so for the well being of her children.

For her daughter is the subject of someone's demented infatuation. But like a diseased town fox, the real threat stalks the shadows, in the night-black recesses of the undergrowth, not just of the city, but of the human mind.

Vena Cork's astonishing, thrilling debut novel is as shocking as it is unputdownable - a brilliant, menacing, psychological thriller that takes you to the edge of darkness.