Natural History

How far would you go for your own flesh and blood?

Patrick’s son Charlie has left home in disgrace. His zoologist wife Jane is on a field trip in Zaire and his daughter Jo is engrossed in her studies. So Patrick is left alone to look after the ailing Dvonshire monkey sanctuary that he and Jane took on in a bid to save their marriage. Alone, that is, for the big, panther-like cat that preys around the park, evading capture, lurking in the shadows and in the back of Patrick’s mind as he tries to uncover the truth behind the murder of their oldest female primate.

Patrick’s fears begin to fade. But then one night something happened that is so shocking, so deplorable, that it rips apart everything he ever held to be true – and unleashes a horror he could never have imagined . . .

‘Neil Cross is an astonishing writer – tautly lyrical, and able at a stroke to fill you with cold, dark fear’  Time Out

‘A masterpiece . . . seductively readable . . . dangerous’
Daily Telegraph

‘Neil Cross is an astonishing writer – tautly lyrical, and able at a stroke to fill you with cold, dark fear’
Time Out

‘Dark and densely plotted . . . the plot reaches a violent climax, challenging notions of guilt and the limits of parental responsibility’
Daily Mail

‘The sudden violence of his denouement is long anticipated but unexpected in its visceral details. Both fierce and poignant in wrapping up the habitat and hunting themes, it poses uncomfortable questions about personal and family responsibility’
Sunday Telegraph

‘Neil Cross builds the tension in this fiendishly taut novel . . . As events mount to a genuinely shocking climax, Cross asks uncomfortable questions about the differences between being human and having humanity’
Metro

‘Intelligent, brilliantly written, fascinating . . . the exquisite tension that Cross’s sharp, devastating prose builds leads to a climax so shocking it will leave you flabbergasted’
The Crack

‘Cross is an astonishing writer – tautly lyrical, and able at a stroke to fill you with cold, dark fear of the malignant forces at large in the world . . . its horrible climax will stay with you for a long time’
Time Out

‘There are moment during Neil Cross’s fifth novel when the sense of foreboding is so strong that you half expect to find cobwebs between the pages . . . The expertly delivered shocks may stay with you for a few days, but there’s something meatier and more fetid hidden that will walk behind you for considerably longer’
The Times

‘Blurring the line between human and animal sympathies, this is written with such authenticity you can practically smell the chimp excrement’
Arena

‘Highly recommended’
Literary Review

‘Powerfully intelligent . . . serious and compelling in equal measure’
Guardian

 

 

Luther - Series 1

...the actors' skill - and Cross' admirable ability to explore his characters' boundaries without either calcifying or forsaking them - allows "Luther" to be superhuman in both the ordinary and extraordinary sense.

Los Angeles Times

Luther - Series 2

“Gritty, brooding, emotionally raw . . . whatever you call it, Luther is powerful TV.”

San Francisco Chronicle

Luther - Series 3

It gets darker, scarier and more captivating with each episode as Luther matches wits with killers and cops alike . . . the outstanding Elba broods like no other actor, and adds nuance to the series beyond the excellent writing of series creator Neil Cross and his team

Sunday Mirror