Substitute

by Susi Holliday

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Pub Date 12 Aug 2021 | Archive Date 15 Feb 2022

Amazon Publishing UK | Thomas & Mercer

General Fiction (Adult) | Mystery & Thrillers

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Description

“Susi Holliday is one of our best and most original creators of tense and twisty tales.” —Ian Rankin

Three people live. Three people die. You make the choice.

Like any mother, Chrissie wants to protect her family. She would do anything to keep them safe. So when a mysterious stranger turns up at her door, offering to prevent the deaths of the people she loves, it sounds too good to be true. The only problem: she must choose someone to die in their place. A substitute.

When her daughter Holly has a terrible accident, Chrissie has no option but to enter the programme. In that horrifying moment, she would do anything to save her. But even after Holly makes a miraculous recovery, Chrissie is convinced it’s just a coincidence. After all, who can really control the laws of life and death?

But as the dangers to her family escalate and her chosen substitutes begin to disappear, Chrissie finds herself in an underworld of hidden laboratories and secretive doctors. And the consequences of playing by their rules are far deadlier than she ever imagined…

“Susi Holliday is one of our best and most original creators of tense and twisty tales.” —Ian Rankin

Three people live. Three people die. You make the choice.

Like any mother, Chrissie wants to...

A Note From the Publisher

Susi Holliday grew up near Edinburgh and worked in the pharmaceutical industry for many years before she started writing. A life-long fan of crime and horror, her short stories have been published in various places, and she was shortlisted for the inaugural CWA Margery Allingham Prize. She is the bestselling author of eight novels and a novella, several of them written as SJI Holliday. Along with three other female authors, she provides coaching for new crime writers via www.crimefictioncoach.com. You can find out more at her website, www.susiholliday.com, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SJIHolliday, on Twitter @SJIHolliday, and on Instagram @susijholliday.

Advance Praise

“Loved it. Could you sentence someone to death to save a loved one? A thrilling speculative thriller for fans of Blake Crouch and John Marrs.” —Mark Edwards, author of The Hollows

“A future-possible plot and richly drawn characters kept me hooked from start to finish. Easy to devour and hard to forget.” —John Marrs, author of What Lies Between Us

“Wowzers—I’ve just finished reading a proof of Susi Holliday’s twisty-turny thriller Substitute and it’s epic!! Mind-bending, pulse-pounding, techno-thriller brilliance! Perfect for fans of John Marrs’s The One, JP Delaney, Blake Crouch.” —Steph Broadribb, author of Deep Down Dead

“Susi Holliday knocks it out of the park with this book. It’s everything you want in a thriller—imaginative, credible, and engaging; rocketing relentlessly towards a gut-wrenching conclusion as the stakes grow higher and higher…Brilliant.” —Louise Voss, author of The Last Stage

“Absolutely loved it! Original and compelling, with a killer premise and gut-wrenching dilemmas. And I do love a rogue scientist.” —Roz Watkins, author of the DI Meg Dalton thriller series

“A twisty, super creepy tale that kept me turning the pages well into the night—be careful what you wish for!” —Emma Haughton, author of The Dark

“I always get excited when a new Susi Holliday book comes out and Substitute didn’t disappoint. A wild ride and a highly original story you won’t want to miss.” —C S Green, author of Sleep Tight

“Deliciously disturbing, thought-provoking, and unforgettable. Everything I want in a thriller.” —Jo Jakeman, author of Safe House

“If you’re looking for a pacy, smart, and twisty plot, Substitute is an absolute must read. This is a book that feels terrifyingly real.” —Lisa Cutts, author of Don’t Trust Him

“You’d be mad to substitute Susi Holliday’s clever, complex & compelling thriller for anyone else’s: who lives and who dies?” —Claire Seeber, author of The Street Party

“A chilling and addictive tale of the price of good intentions, devastating choices, and science gone wrong. Frankenstein meets The Chain in Susi’s most powerful thriller yet.” —Heleen Kist, author of Stay Mad, Sweetheart

“Loved it. Could you sentence someone to death to save a loved one? A thrilling speculative thriller for fans of Blake Crouch and John Marrs.” —Mark Edwards, author of The Hollows

“A future-possible...