The Calling

The Calling

NEW NOVEL:

A brilliant mind. A violent passion. Is DCI John Luther a force for good or a man hell-bent on self-destruction?

“Luther is to crime fiction what his historical counterpart was to religion. The mystery he is trying to solve is the murder of his soul in an imperfect world. Fallen from grace but struggling for salvation, Luther’s most formidable foe is himself. Gripping, taut fiction by a new master in the genre…”
Guillermo del Toro

“Quite literally bloody brilliant”
Metro
(see full article)

DCI John Luther has an extraordinary clearance rate. He commands outstanding loyalty from friends and colleagues. Nobody who ever stood at his side has a bad word to say about him. And yet there are rumours that DCI Luther is bad – not corrupt, not on the take, but tormented. Luther seethes with a hidden fury that at times he can barely control. Sometimes it sends him to the brink of madness, making him do things he shouldn’t; things way beyond the limits of the law.

Luther: The Calling, the first in a new series of novels featuring DCI John Luther, takes us into Luther’s past and into his mind. It is the story of the case that tore his personal and professional relationships apart and propelled him over the precipice. Beyond fury, beyond vengeance. All the way to murder…

“Neil Cross has created such a compelling character”
Idris Elba, star of Luther and The Wire

“Cross has always dealt in darkness and been so adept at conjuring bogeymen from the catacombs of mythology that you start to see them everywhere”
Guardian 
(see full review)

“Cross is an amazing writer, capable of lyricism and pathos as well as some of the most traumatising scenes you’re ever likely to experience in a mainstream crime novel.”
Eurocrime
(see full review)

“This goes beyond the vicarious pleasure of standard crime, and into the territory inhabited by horror writers; we read because we wish to see the killer brought to justice, but more so because we cannot look away.”
Book Geeks (see full review)

Radio New Zealand National review of The Calling
Nine-to-noonlisten to the review

Podcast interview with Neil about The Calling

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Excerpt from The Calling

John Luther, a big man with a big walk, crosses the hospital car park, glistening with night rain. He strides through sliding doors into Accident and Emergency, approaches the desk and badges the Filipino triage nurse.

“I’m looking for Ian Reed?’

“That’s the police officer?” She glances at her monitor. “He’s in cubicle eighteen. Over on the far side.”

Luther marches through the waiting area, weaves through nurses in rubber clogs. He ignores the moans of the binge drinkers, the beaten women, the self-mutilators, the overdosers.

He sweeps aside the heavy curtain to cubicle 18 and there’s Ian Reed, sitting tieless on the edge of the bed.

Download the First Chapter of – The Calling

Neil discusses The Calling


Covers

UK Publication Details
ISBN: 978-0857203366
Format: Hardback
Pages: 368
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
1st Edition Published: August 2011
Publication Australia & New Zealand: August 2011

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