A Flaw in the Design

Nathan Oates

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English

Serpent Books
27 February 2024

Fiction & Literature; Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945); Thriller & suspense

'Absorbing and original . . . A very smart tale packed with jeopardy' - Daily Mail 'Keeps you guessing till the very end' - The Times 'An absolute page-turner' - Miranda Cowley Heller, author of The Paper Palace

He's in your house. He's in your family. Or is he in your mind?

Gil has been estranged from his sister ever since her obnoxious son tried to drown his daughter on a family holiday. That's Gil's interpretation; his sister thinks Matthew was just playing around.

Or did. When she and her husband perish in a car crash, Gil becomes Matthew's legal guardian. Matthew is now an urbane 17-year-old, raised on Manhattan's Upper East Side, a planet away from rural Vermont, where Gil lives with his wife and daughters, teaching at the local university.

At first, Matthew appears to have changed, but when he joins Gil's writing class, he submits a story detailing the various ways a character resembling Gil's youngest daughter might die. While Gil believes he has invited a psychopath to live under his roof, the women in his life are impressed by Matthew's intelligence and charm. Is Gil losing his mind, or are his family in desperate danger?

By: Nathan Oates
Imprint: Serpent Books
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Edition: Main
Dimensions: Height: 196mm, Width: 128mm, Spine: 24mm
Weight: 240g
ISBN: 9781800812796
ISBN 10: 1800812795
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 27 February 2024
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Nathan Oates's debut collection of short stories, The Empty House, won the 2012 Spokane Prize. He is an associate professor at Seton Hall University, where he teaches creative writing. He lives in Brooklyn, New York with his family. A Flaw in the Design is his debut novel.

Reviews for A Flaw in the Design

'Great characterisation and plenty of genuine suspense in a psychological thriller par excellence' - Guardian 'An absorbing and original plot. The writing is pitch-perfect and the observations of family dynamics are quietly excruciating. Oates has produced a very smart tale packed with jeopardy' - Daily Mail 'Terrifying and amusing ... keeps you guessing till the very end' - Times 'Horribly claustrophobic, in the best possible way' - Observer 'Compulsive, richly imagined' - Irish Times