The Engagement

Two People. How Many Lies?

A woman and a man drive at dusk to a rural for a final weekend together.

It's all been a game. Both players understood the rules. Or so the woman thinks.

At the house a new game begins. A trap has been set. But how and why? And for Whom?

· Red Magazine, Book Club choice, Viv Groskop rev’d, ‘This is a tense, elegant, psychological thriller about an emotional tug-of-war ... this tale of self-willing entrapment keeps us guessing to the end. In Hooper’s native Australia, The Engagement has been compared to Jane Eyre and Great Expectations. There are some shades of er, Fifty Shades, but here the games are all in the mind. Compelling and memorable.’

· Guardian, John Self rev’d, ‘A sleek and sly two-hander, a thriller almost, which sets everything out clearly for the reader and yet remains filled with uncertainty ... The Engagement reminds us too of the power of fiction, both within the story and outside it. Liese feels threatened by the stories she herself has told, and we in turn flip the pages breathlessly, suspending disbelief.’

· The Sunday TimesDavid Grylls rev’d, ‘In terms of myth, it is rather like Bluebeard’s castle ... in film terms, it recalls Psycho ... Hooper is a smart, self-conscious writer ... The Engagement is both funny and scary ... it should wow the classier reading groups.’

· Financial Times,Suzy Hansen rev’d, ‘Hooper is a careful, clean and literary writer ... The Engagement is fluid and readable; I drank the story down in a day ... a Gothic tale, filled with brilliantly creepy details.’

· Independent, Lucy Scholes rev’d, ‘A complex psychological thriller that draws on the rich literary history of madwomen in the attic, from Jane Eyre and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” to Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca ... The Engagement is shot through with a deeply erotic charge without being explicitly pornographic ... The Engagement is not Fifty Shades of Grey; its kicks, and kicks inthe teeth, are much more subtle.’

· Woman & Home, Fanny Blake rev’d, ‘A chilling, compulsive read.’

· Tatler, ‘New, dark literary thriller ... read it for its seductive plot.’

· Marie Claire, ‘An unsettling thriller ... a book which deftly explores the power of money and property, romance and sex.’

· Glamour must read, ‘Part gothic novel, part thriller, this will keep you guessing until the end.’

· Readers Digest, A.N.Wilson rev’d, ‘This beautifully crafted psychological thriller really got under my skin