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Tell Him He's Dead
Tell Him He's Dead
May 6, 2025 3:54 PM

Author:Tony Parsons

Tell Him He's Dead

From the Number One Bestselling Crime Author, a brilliant new SHORT STORY featuring murder detective Max Wolfe who is haunted by a nightmare of his own making ...

As detective Max Wolfe recovers from the injuries sustained in The Murder Bag, a figure from his past comes back into his life: his childhood sweetheart, now stalked and threatened by her violent ex-partner.

As Max attempts to protect her, he is haunted by a nightmare of his own: the reappearance of the terrorist he killed with his car at the start of The Murder Bag.

Are they visions brought on by the medication Max is taking? Or is he going mad?

Or do some people just have to be killed twice?

Praise for the DC Max Wolfe series

'Tense and human, fast and authentic' Lee Child

'A relentless plot, evocative prose and compelling characters conspire to make this a must read' Jeffery Deaver

'Great plotting, great characters and at least two eye-widening twists I didn't see coming' Sophie Hannah

'I've long been a fan of Tony Parsons' writing. This is brilliant stuff!' Peter James

Reviews

A wonderful treat... He takes care to craft well-rounded characters; even subsidiary figures have interesting backgrounds and believable motivations...One last bravura flourish...proclaims Masello a master entertainer unafraid to pull out all the stops, as gifted in his own way as the Florentine artist whose biography is so beguilingly embellished in The Medusa Amulet

—— Chicago Tribune

Masello chucks everything he can at the story, taking readers on a breathless history tour from the Medici dynasty to the French Revolution to the Third Reich. The result is a fast-moving caper...

—— Imagine, FX

A fascinating and unconventional new thriller

—— Associated Press

I loved Gillian's latest book. Another winner. One of the most inventive and original thrillers I've read in recent memory. The Sliding Doors structure kept me turning page after page to discover Joanna's destiny. I devoured this book in one sitting. It's official! Gillian McAllister is fast becoming one of my favourite authors!

—— Hollie Overton

An addictive, exciting and devilishly clever book . . . exceptional

—— Holly Seddon

A Sliding Doors thriller with a moral dilemma at its heart. Brilliant

—— Claire Douglas

A smartly conceived psychological thriller

—— Sunday Times

This gripping thriller will make you wonder: What would I do? We couldn't put this book down!

—— Take a Break

This clever novel reminds me of Sliding Doors - it will challenge every belief you have

—— Sun

Joanna has two choices: does she call 999 or run? Ingeniously, the novel's alternating chapters depict both riveting options

—— Heat

All the hallmarks of a stunning psychological thriller: Pace, twists and turns and the heart-stopping realisation that it could easily be you

—— Adam Croft

Completely original. I was gripped

—— Jane Fallon

Hard to put down. The two storylines work so well and the balance is perfect . . . A gripping story with real characters

—— Emma Curtis

A Sliding Doors-style thriller that will keep you gripped until the final page

—— Closer

The novel is ingenious . . . a beautiful and original book

—— Claire Kendal

An expertly crafted novel full of drama and tension . . . An impossible feat accomplished with great skill. Bravo

—— Imran Mahmood

Praise for Everything but the Truth

—— -

Perfection. Intriguing and compelling. An exceptional debut

—— Clare Mackintosh

Wonderful writing and a brilliant story. An amazing debut

—— B A Paris

Packed with twists and turns that will make it almost impossible to put down

—— Hello

A beautifully written domestic noir full of secrets and lies

—— Claire Douglas

This contemporary love story wrapped up in a thriller is a brilliant read. Compelling and intense

—— Sunday Mirror

A gripping, compelling page turner that kept me up half the night

—— Liz Nugent

You won't be able to put it down!

—— Hollie Overton

An utterly unique story . . . my heart was in my mouth the whole time

—— Holly Seddon

An assured and gripping debut

—— Alex Marwood

Tense and compelling

—— Paula Daly

I found myself wanting to pick it up at every opportunity. Brilliant

—— Jenny Blackhurst

Top domestic noir

—— Sun

Once I'd started I was powerless to stop. Brilliantly executed, clever and utterly realistic

—— Jill Mansell

This is a book to devour

—— Elizabeth Haynes

Startlingly good. Gillian McAllister is a new star in psychological thrillers

—— Miranda Dickinson

Intriguing and atmospheric

—— Sheila O'Flanagan

Breathlessly brilliant

—— Heat

A thrilling book club read

—— Prima

Prepare to be gripping by this tense thriller

—— Fabulous Magazine

Prepare to be gripped by this tense thriller

—— Fabulous Magazine

Genuinely creepy books don't come along very often, but this one can hold its missing head up high

—— Heat

There are shades of Stephen King in this very creepy timeslip, as well as an evocative portrait of small-town life in 1980s Britain

—— Guardian, Books of the Year

My favourite crime book of 2018 would have to be The Chalk Man. It initially brought to mind twisted tales of suburban Americana such as Stand by Me and Carrie. However, by weaving in authentic and evocative period detail C. J. Tudor manages to create a story that tells of the darkness at the heart of small-town life that is, like the rotten pastoral in a M. R. James ghost story, uniquely English. Unsettling, taut and skillfully plotted, The Chalk Man grabbed me by the throat from the very first sentence and didn't let go until the final, heart-stopping page

—— Nuala Ellwood, author of The Day of the Accident

[I] haven't had a sleepless night due to a book for a long time. The Chalk Man changed that. Many congrats C. J. Tudor

—— Fiona Barton , bestselling author of The Widow

What a great book. A twisty thriller and downright creepy ending. 5 stars.

—— Sarah Pinborough, the number 1 bestselling author of , Behind Her Eyes

Tense, skillful storytelling

—— Ali Land, bestselling author of , Good Me Bad Me

Absolutely brilliant. I was expecting a creepy horror story that I'd have to read with all the lights on but this book is so much more than that - it's witty, insightful, clever, thoughtful, mysterious, gripping, nostalgic and utterly compelling. Publishers often talk about "an exciting new voice in fiction" and I genuinely think C. J. Tudor is going to be huge. This book has bestseller written all over it and if it doesn't go to number one I will eat my crime writing hat

—— C. L. Taylor , author of The Missing

What an amazing debut! Such an ingenious, original idea. I was engrossed from the very first page. I loved how the 1986 and present day storylines weaved so skilfully together to create that unforgettable and unexpected ending. Compelling, taut and so very, very chilling. This book will haunt you!

—— Claire Douglas , Sunday Times bestselling author of Last Seen Alive

It's been a while since I've read such an impressive debut. The pace was perfectly judged, the characters superbly drawn and there's a creeping sense of unease that starts with the prologue and grows throughout the book. And then that ending! It feels so fresh and deserves to be a huge success

—— James Oswald , Sunday Times bestselling author of the Inspector McLean series

Utterly Hypnotic. The Chalk Man is a dream novel, a book of nightmares: haunted and haunting, shot through with shadow and light - a story to quicken the pulse and freeze the blood. A dark star is born

—— Mr A. J. Finn

Impossible to put down, cleverly constructed and executed

—— Ragnar Jonasson , author of the bestselling Dark Iceland series

Kept me up until five in the morning. Wonderfully written. I loved it!

—— Kimberley Chambers , bestselling author of Backstabber

I absolutely loved The Chalk Man . . . It's a dark, mesmerising thriller with an ending that left me with goosebumps!

—— Nuala Elwood , author of My Sister’s Bones

One of the best books I've read since I first read Stephen King's IT when I was 14. Go get it!

—— Rachel Burton , author of The Many Colours of Us

I've just finished The Chalk Man by C. J. Tudor. WOW! I could not put it down. If you like Stephen King, you'll LOVE this!

—— Hayley Barker , author of Showstopper

At the heart of this accomplished debut lies a shocking crime stumbled upon by a group of teenage friends. It is a discovery that shatters their innocence and haunts the whole community. Now, twenty years later, someone is sending anonymous letters - chalk drawings of a stick figure with a noose around its neck - someone who hasn't forgotten what happened in the woods all those years ago. The past is very much alive in this book where memory is unreliable and old secrets fester, threatening to turn as odorous as a rotting corpse. Tudor's sharp eye for detail and ear for dialogue lend the childhood scenes an immediacy and authenticity that completely convince. With its driving plot and sensitive evocation of friendship and loneliness, The Chalk Man is an utterly gripping read, with an ending that will make the hairs on the back of your neck bristle

—— Karen Perry , bestselling author of Can You Keep a Secret?

Just finished The Chalk Man. Dark and addictive. This page-turner is more twisty than a rollercoaster. And one hell of a ride.

—— Will Dean , Dark Pines

The Chalk Man is a stunning debut, a riveting thriller about the powerful grip of the past and the unbreakable bonds of childhood friendship. The ending of this smasher will completely throw you for a loop

—— David Bell, bestselling author , Bring Her Home

The Chalk Man is an intricate and surprising book that will reward the reader who approaches it with the attention it deserves

—— Thomas Perry, New York Times bestselling author of , The Old Man

Absolutely loved it! Creepy, brilliant and tense, I could not put it down!

—— Karen Hamilton , The Perfect Girlfriend

Blasted through this beauty in one intense and thrilling sitting

—— S R Masters , The Killer You Know

The Chalk Man stole my weekend! Wow. Just wow. The tension just builds and builds. And what a final page . . .

—— Simon Lelic , The House

Finished reading The Chalk Man by C.J Tudor last night. What a book! Enjoyed every minute of it. A total banger!

—— Amy Lloyd , author of The Innocent Wife

C.J. Tudor brilliantly weaves past and present into a haunting, vividly imagined tale. Much more than a murder mystery, it is a sharp, terrifying exploration of the bonds and limitations of childhood friendships and of secrets that refuse to remain buried. I fell in love with the guiding voice of this novel, the thoughtful and solitary Eddie. Prepare to be surprised again and again, even until the final page

—— Michelle Richmond, author of , The Marriage Pact

The Chalk Man is an unpredictable and engaging thriller: sinister, tragic, and with a beautifully rendered sense of time and place. That final page still haunts me

—— Helen Callaghan, bestselling author of , Dear Amy

The grip the past has on the present reveals itself in ever more sinister and macabre ways in this utterly original and relentlessly compelling psychological thriller. The Chalk Man kept me guessing all the way to the end

—— Fiona Neil , bestselling author of The Betrayals

The Chalk Man is superb: compelling, beautifully written and utterly chilling

—— Steve Mosby , author of I Know Who Did It
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