Famous bestselling author, loving husband, generous friend—Henry Hayden is a pleasant person to have around. Or so it seems. And when his mistress, who is also his editor, becomes pregnant, his carefully constructed life threatens to fall apart.
So Henry works out an ingenious plan. Craftily and cold-bloodedly, he intertwines lies and truths and all the shades of grey in-between.
But when he tries to get rid of his mistress, Henry makes a terrible mistake. Not only are the police soon after him, but his past, which he has painstakingly kept under the carpet, also threatens to catch up with him with deadly consequences.
Read Caroline Baum's Review
If you like crime fiction that messes with your head like a brain teaser or a game of chess, you will enjoy the many plot twists and turns in this literary cat's cradle which tangles around the duplicity of a famous bestselling writer.
Henry Hayden is the handsome and affable author of hugely popular crime thrillers. Though rich, he prefers to live a low key life below the radar, in a small rural community where everyone knows who he is but no one makes a fuss. But Henry has a secret. Actually, he has two and they collide when his mistress, who is also his editor, becomes pregnant and his wife Martha, who also happens to write his books for him, dies in an accident.
Berlin screenwriter Sascha Arango has created a perfectly amoral character in Henry and choreographs a series of playful pirouettes for him to spin into lies and half-truths as he seeks to preserve the status quo. Meanwhile the police are watching him with keen interest, together with a mysterious man with a briefcase who has a unique insight into Henry's troubled childhood.
Readers who enjoy Henry's skilful manoeuvrings will be delighted to hear that a second book in the series is in the works.
About the Author
Sascha Arango was born in Berlin in 1959 and is one of Germany's most prominent screenplay writers. He has also authored audio plays and stage plays and has been awarded several prizes, including the Grimme Prize twice. The Truth and Other Lies is his first novel.
Industry Reviews
`One thing must be made absolutely clear: The Truth and Other Lies is, until further notice, this year's best achievement on the German crime book scene.' * Die Welt *
`A highly entertaining thriller...Wry humour punctuates this insightful look at a soulless man.' * STARRED Review, Publishers Weekly *
`Noir fiction of the most beautiful kind, even in its most evil moments maintaining a certain tenderness * Spiegel Online *
'This is one wicked tale...German screenwriter Arango's first novel is superior pulp, with schemers all around and plenty to say about fame, identity, and mortality.' * Kirkus *
`Riddled with delicious ironies, misdirection and plenty of black humour...This is a stunning debut and readers will look forward to more from this talented author.' * BookMooch *
`Sometimes it's a sheer pleasure to read such a clever book...a dark, funny, captivating read.' * Magnet *
`A dark, funny, captivating read. A villain in the vein of Patricia Highsmith's Tom Ripley, a book you won't soon forget.' * Sydney Morning Herald *
'A belting good read.' * Stillnotfussed *
`If you like crime fiction that messes with your head like a brain teaser or a game of chess, you will enjoy the many plot twists and turns in this literary cat's cradle.' * Booktopia Buzz *
`A marvellous book, the kind that never lets you get comfortable enough to let you think you know what's happening.' * Readings *
`Ridiculously funny and seriously wicked...one of those books you zip through rapidly, suddenly realising, blearily, it's now well into the wee hours.' * New Daily *
`Lies, deception, complexities, mysterious deaths and a dash of black humour and elegant wit. A highly captivating read.' * Nightlife with Tony Delroy *
`There's nothing tired or predictable about this blackly comic crime thriller...there's an openness, bewilderment and strange honesty to Arango's mendacious anti-hero that makes him easy to empathise with, if not admire.' * Weekly Review *
`Elegant and witty...The Truth and Other Lies is indeed an admirable accomplishment, and vastly entertaining to boot.' * Sydney Morning Herald *
'Engrossing.' * Bustle *
`Excellent...[a] riveting, bleakly existential novel.' * Playboy *
`Bears comparison to Patricia Highsmith - the book fairly twangs with paranoia, sardonic humour and razor-sharp observation.' * Guardian *
`Arango uses dark humor to probe the depths of human depravity in Henry's borderline psychotic profile.' * Booklist *
`A house of mirrors of intrigue that ends with a delicious twist. The finest crime novel I have read this year.' * Daily Mail *
`German screenwriter Arango's first novel is superior pulp, with schemers all around and plenty to say about fame, identity, and mortality.' * Kirkus *
`Deliciously twisted...Arango is hugely famous as a screenwriter in his native Germany and this is obviously the work of somebody who knows how to spin a good story.' 4 stars * Sunday Express *
'Arango...has constructed a clever plot that always surprises, told with dark humor and dry wit and bustling with apercus that show no signs of jet lag from Imogen Taylor's clean translation.' * New York Times Book Review *
'Arango is too skilled a writer to allow the farcical elements to take over. This is slick, controlled writing, witty and entertaining, light as air but with a dark heart.' * Stuff NZ *
`A darkly comic thriller with some brilliant plot twists.' * Mail on Sunday *
`It is a sharp, dark and slyly witty story about a charming sociopath, Henry Hayden (who may remind some readers of Tom Ripley)... dark, clever entertainment.' -- Best Crime Fiction Books for 2015 * Telegraph *
`It's a tricky twisting plot and The Truth And Other Lies is as smart and captivating as its awful protagonist...Henry is an awfully funny, funnily awful sociopath for our time.' * Australian Women's Weekly *
`With Sascha Arango's deft, spare hand Henry is fascinating and seductive as both man and character, and he's never telling anyone - including the reader - the entire story.' * Readings, Best Crime Books of 2015 *
