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The Broken
The Broken
May 5, 2025 7:58 AM

Author:Tamar Cohen

The Broken

The Daily Mail bookclub favourite read of 2015

'It's essential you get your hands on this thriller' Closer

'A work of near genius' Daily Mail - the best psychological thriller for fans of GIRL ON THE TRAIN and I LET YOU GO

'Chillingly brilliant thriller' Red Magazine

'Taut, tense, addictive' Good Housekeeping

Best friends tell you everything; about their kitchen renovation; about their little girl’s schooling. How one of them is leaving the other for a younger model.

Best friends don’t tell lies. They don’t take up residence on your couch for weeks. They don’t call lawyers. They don’t make you choose sides.

Best friends don’t keep secrets about their past. They don't put you in danger.

Best friends don’t always stay best friends.

'Chillingly real psychological drama. I loved it' LISA JEWELL

'A shocking twist' PAULA DALY

'A gripping thriller of betrayal and revenge' Essentials magazine Book of the Month

Reviews

A chillingly real psychological drama that had me in a total reading frenzy. I absolutely loved it.

—— Lisa Jewell

Darkly compelling .... a pacy story that kept me turning the pages right until the final, shocking twist.

—— Paula Daly

A brilliant and skilfully plotted depiction of the unexpected breakdown of a friendship between two couples, with one of the most chilling twists I've read in a long time. I couldn't put it down.

—— Louise Millar, author of THE PLAYDATE

A wonderfully compelling and exciting book, a storyline that had sparks flying from every page, terrific writing and a hugely exhilerating and thrilling read. I loved it!

—— Louise Douglas

An inexorable drama in which the characters' prejudices and loyalties leave them unable to separate face value from reality. THE BROKEN explores manipulation, deceit, betrayal and abuse, and how loss can both shape and destroy us.

—— Elizabeth Forbes, author of NEAREST THING TO CRAZY

I raced to finish this story of a couple caught in the fall-out of their best friends' split. Beautifully written and peppered with moments of stunning observation, it's a superb read.

—— Amanda Jennings

Reading Tamar Cohen's THE BROKEN is like sitting down with your most eloquent, quick-witted friend. She sees every side of the story. She's always one step ahead of you, full of empathy and insight. This is a story of the implicit social pacts of marriage, a fresh examination of human nature. And also, let's just say it. It's downright, utter, nasty, page-turning, delicious fun.

—— Caroline Kepnes, author of YOU

Fabulous. I was drawn in from the very first page. Tamar is very skilled at creating characters that seem so real, almost as if we're their best friends too, yet beneath their exteriors, you just know there's so much more simmering away. The tension grew with every page turn, until it was almost unbearable, yet I couldn't stop reading! I literally gasped out loud, so shocked by the very unexpected ending. This brilliant book will be on my mind for a long time.

—— Samantha Hayes, author of UNTIL YOU'RE MINE

Compulsive reading ... the tension racks up and the book switches from domestic drama into full-blown, chilling thriller

—— Essentials, Book of the Month

Everyone's talking about this ... A gripping cocktail of betrayal and revenge

—— Prima Magazine

Dramatic, sad and tense, it's essential you get your hands on this thriller. (Five stars)

—— Closer

A chillingly brilliant thriller

—— Red Magazine

A sustained work of near genius that takes a very familiar theme - man leaves wife for younger model - and not only brilliantly dissects the breakdown of the marriage but also teh consequences for the couple's close circle of friends ...Cohen's first foray into psychological suspense is a triumph.

—— Daily Mail

Taut, tense and addictive

—— Good Housekeeping

Cohen’s marital drama morphs into a psychological thriller, and a last-minute twist set into motion much earlier in the narrative is brilliant.

—— Publishers Weekly US

A war novel like no other“Dark desires sizzle” and explode with a furious climax. Ellroy is not only back in form – he’s raised the stakes.

—— Kirkus Review (starred review)

One of the most original and daring writers alive.

—— Independent on Sunday

It’s an epic 687-page undertaking that is at times disturbingly violent – a must for noir fans.

—— Stylist

Ellroy, writing in his signature telegraphic style, strives to depict reality, every dark aspect of it: there’s murder, apparent ritual suicides, hate crimes and a world of characters that you just cannot root for. Ellroy successfully establishes his four main characters, alongside a wealth of fully developed, clever and sophisticated secondary characters, within his own creation of a microcosm of a community challenged by politics and an unavoidable history.

—— Culture Fly

James Ellroy is the best crime writer in the world.

—— Irish Times

A brash, two-fisted tour-de-force of spleen and invective which holds up a cracked and tarnished mirror to a turbulent period of American history … powerful in scope, theme and character … for blood and guts, he could give Beowulf a run for its money … it is impossible to deny the power and energy that has gone into Perfidia, which is more than a crime novel whilst showing, at the same time, what the crime novel is capable of.

—— SHOTS

The prose is as tight and fast moving as ever … If you are in pursuit of vintage Ellroy, this book is for you.

—— The Register

A sprawling, uncompromising epic of crime and depravity.

—— Publishers Weekly

As unflinching and sharp as ever, even more so . . . Perfidia might be his [Ellroy’s] finest novel yet . . . Its story is full of tectonic movements, fascinating and dangerous characters with ambiguous morality, and events bigger than life itself. It’s brilliant in its complexity and vastness.

—— Upcoming4.me

As abrasive and compelling as always.

—— Me and My Big Mouth
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