The Long Shadow

Ben Makepeace has barely thought of Jacob since school. What he remembers is a competitive, manipulative boy, impinging on his life like a cuckoo planted in a nest.

Now Ben is the wrong side of forty with a young son to support and in need of a backer to bankroll his latest film script. A call to meet hedge-fund billionaire Victor Sheldon is promising, but there's a surprise in store - Victor is Jacob, now firmly entrenched in a gilded world of riches and glamour.

History can cast a long shadow and while Ben believes his childhood is well over, he soon discovers the roots of the past dig deep, and some can't let it go.

“I really enjoyed this book... The plot is excellent and as a reader we're not sure what is genuine and what is sabotage until near the end”

A writer of real psychological acuity - his most richly textured work yet - Independent

A clever, teasy hybrid of genres and fraught with tensions about money, class and the super-rich. A taut, gripping psychodrama and a wonderful, twisted take on the 'wild divergences' of contemporary Britain - The Spectator

An elegantly written and irresistible thriller - Mail on Sunday

- NewBooks Magazine

A sure grasp of character...An enthralling mystery, not least because the author's gift for an elegantly turned sentence is fully and generously in evidence - Express

Mark Mills graduated from Cambridge University in 1986. He has lived in both Italy and France, and has written for the screen. His first novel, THE WHALEBOAT HOUSE, won the 2004 Crime Writers' Association Award for Best Novel by a debut author. His second, THE SAVAGE GARDEN, was a Richard and Judy Summer Read and a No. 1 bestseller. His third, THE INFORMATION OFFICER, was shortlisted for the 2009 CWA Ellis Peters Historical Fiction Award. His most recent novel, HOUSE OF THE HANGED, was published in 2011. He lives in Oxford with his wife and two children.

Ben Makepeace has barely thought of Jacob since school. What he remembers is a competitive, manipulative boy, impinging on his life like a cuckoo planted in a nest. Now Ben is the wrong side of forty with a young son to support and in need of a backer to bankroll his latest film script. A call to meet hedge-fund billionaire Victor Sheldon is promising, but there's a surprise in store - Victor is Jacob, now firmly entrenched in a gilded world of riches and glamour.History can cast a long shadow and while Ben believes his childhood is well over, he soon discovers the roots of the past dig deep, and some can't let it go.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.