The Stalker : A nail-bitingly tense thriller that will have you looking over your shoulder until the final shocking twist

She thinks she understand stalkers. Until she becomes a target . . . 

Book blurb

Elly is an expert in stalking – an academic at Cambridge University and a popular media pundit. She knows the subject intimately: what motivates a stalker, how they behave, how to rehabilitate them.

But now it’s personal. Someone is following her, making silent phone calls and sending her ominous notes. The message is always the same – me or you.

Elly can’t trust anyone – not her family, her friends or her colleagues. She knows that her stalker must be someone close to her. And when they suddenly turn violent, she realizes she’s running out of time to find out who it is.

Because it looks like only one of them will survive.

A terrifying cat-and-mouse chase, told from the perspective of the stalker and the stalked – a roller-coaster ride with an ending you won’t see coming.

My thoughts

Eloise, Elly, is an academic at Cambridge University she is an expert on stalking. Nevertheless, when she finds that she is being stalked the reality is as she expects but her actions are far from being as she knows they should be.

This story is a fascinating observation of how stalking can affect a person and make them react or behave in a way that they know will escalate, antagonise and elicit anger from the stalker, how debilitating it is and yet they are unable to fully control their actions even though, and Eloise is an expert in this subject, she knows how she should respond.

What happens to Elly, how she responds to the situation and how those around her who know what is going on respond is at the heart of this tragic story but Elly wants to find out who the stalker is because she knows it won’t just be her they come after, it will be those she loves as well!

In this tense, gripping, powerful and impassioned story of how Elly journeys through the nightmare world of stalking the impact on her family, marriage, work and life is enormous – so will she finally be rid of her stalker?

Its subject matter is not for the faint hearted but stalking is an important issue which deserves to be given the attention it needs. It is an isolating experience and those who are targeted often find it difficult to prove what is happening and therefore very difficult to get the help needed from the police.

This was quite an intense read the ending leaves you with a shudder and an ominous sense of what the future holds.

Although something of a departure for author Kate Rhodes whose Hell Bay series and Dr Alice Quentin series I am a huge fan of I found The Stalker to be a fascinating, intense and taut read which may, for some, be an emotional experience but well worth the time and effort.

Book: Purchased

Previous books read and reviewed

Crossbone’s Yard | A Killing of Angels | The Winter Foundlings | River of Souls | Blood Symmetry | Fatal Harmony

Hell Bay | Ruin Beach | Burnt Island | Pulpit Rock | Devil’s Table | The Brutal Tide | Hangman Island

Information

Published: Simon & Schuster UK | September 26, 2024 | 384 pages

Hardback ISBN: 978-1-3985-2930-4 | Paperback ISBN: 978-1-3985-2933-5 | eBook ISBN: 978-1-3985-2931-1 | Audio ISBN: 978-1-3985-2932-8

Simon & Schuster: Celebrating 100 Years of Publishing in 2024

Buy: Publisher links | AmazonSmileUK | Bookshop.org (affiliate link) | Hive | Your local library | Your local bookshop

Kate Rhodes – © John Goddard, 2014

Author

Kate Rhodes was born in Greenwich, South London, but now lives in Cambridge. She is a member of the crime writing group Killer Women and an award-winning writer of crime fiction and poetry. 

She began her writing career as a poet, winning a Bridport Prize, and twice being shortlisted for the Forward Prize. In 2014 she won the Ruth Rendell Short Story prize. She has written 6 crime novels in the acclaimed Alice Quentin series, set in London. Her Hell Bay series is set on the Isles of Scilly and has been optioned for TV.

She visited the Scilly Isles every year as a child which gave her the idea for this series.

Kate worked in a wide variety of jobs before becoming a writer. Her first job was as an usherette at Greenwich Theatre, followed by years as a sales assistant in a record shop, waitressing, then finally going to university. Kate completed a PhD, then spent two years travelling and teaching in Florida and Texas, before returning to the UK, where she has taught in sixth form colleges and universities.

She often gives creative writing workshops in schools, colleges, libraries and prisons. Kate also contributes regularly to panels at literary festivals.

Simon and Schuster author page | RLF page |@K_RhodesWriter| Kate Rhodes on Facebook | Kate Rhodes Website

News

The Isles of Scilly Mysteries – optioned by Two Cities

I’m looking forward to seeing my Isles of Scilly Mysteries on TV before too long. They have been optioned by Two Cities, the production company behind brilliant crime and drama series, including The Fall, and Patrick Melrose. KATE RHODES (WEBSITE)

Books

Poetry: Reversal – Enitharmon Press (2 Mar. 2005) | The Alice Trap – Enitharmon Press (15 Sept. 2008)

Dr Alice Quentin Series

Crossbone’s Yard | A Killing of Angels | The Winter Foundlings | River of Souls | Blood Symmetry | Fatal Harmony

The Isles of Scilly Mysteries 

Hell Bay | Ruin Beach | Burnt Island | Pulpit Rock | Devil’s Table | The Brutal Tide | Hangman Island