When a major London art gallery is alerted to the presence of a human bone in one of its sculptures, the gallery contacts the artist’s representatives, who fly into panic mode. The sculpture, which features bones encased in glass presumed to have belonged to a deer, is the work of Vanessa Chapman, a reclusive artist who recently died. Chapman lived on Eris, a remote Scottish island with a single house on it, which is cut off from the mainland by the tide for 12 hours a day.
To get to the bottom of the mystery – and to quell a possible scandal – James Becker, who runs the foundation responsible for Chapman’s work, is dispatched to Eris, which is now home to Grace, Chapman’s close friend and fierce protector of her legacy. Grace is meant to be sorting through Chapman’s belongings to determine what should go to the foundation, but seems curiously reluctant to part with them. Before travelling, Becker learns that Chapman’s estranged husband, a known philanderer, disappeared in odd circumstances decades earlier and is presumed dead.
This latest thriller from The Girl on the Train author Paula Hawkins is a slow-burning affair where complex relationships and drip-fed secrets gradually build the tension. The Game of Thrones actor Gemma Whelan is the narrator, who goes a little overboard with the plummy accents of art world bigwigs, but who otherwise captures the clashing interests and inner complexities of Hawkins’ protagonists. The audiobook also includes a bonus conversation between Whelan and Hawkins in which they discuss the inspiration for the book’s characters and its unusual setting.
• Available via Penguin Audio, 10hr 17min
Further listening
Nexus
Yuval Noah Harari, Penguin Audio, 17hr 28 min
Vidish Athavale narrates this history of information networks and the implications of AI from the author of Sapiens.
The Vulnerables
Sigrid Nunez, Little, Brown Audio, 5hr 18 min
The ninth novel from Nunez is set in Manhattan and features an unnamed narrator finding companionship during the Covid-19 pandemic. Read by Hillary Huber.
