The Quiet People

Cameron and Lisa Murdoch are successful crime-writers. They have been on the promotional circuit, joking that no one knows how to get away with crime like they do. After all, they write about it for a living.
So when their 7 year old son Zach goes missing, naturally the police and the public wonder if they have finally decided to prove what they have been saying all this time – are they trying to show how they can commit the perfect crime?

"On almost every page, this outstanding psychological thriller forces the reader to reconsider what is real."
— Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

"Breaking Bad reworked by the Coen Brothers."
— Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)

"Uses words like lethal weapons."
— New York Times

"Tense, thrilling, touching. Paul Cleave is very good indeed."
— John Connolly, NYT bestselling author

"A riveting and all too realistic thriller. Cleave is a writer to watch."
— Tess Gerritsen, NYT bestselling author

"Cleave writes like the fine-tuned punches of a middleweight boxer—with short sharp jabs to the solar plexus that make you gasp. The Kiwi crime writer scores another knock-out punch with his latest novel . . . The pace and the carnage accelerate toward a climax lasting for several pages and leaving you breathless."
— Courier Mail, Brisbane

"Cleave's whirligig plot mesmerises."
— People Magazine

"Most people come back from New Zealand talking about the the breathtaking scenery and the amazing experiences. I came back raving about Paul Cleave. These are stories that you won't forget in a while: relentlessly gripping, deliciously twisted and shot through with a vein of humour that's as dark as hell. Cleave creates fictional monsters as chilling and as charming as any I've ever come across. Anyone who likes their crime fiction on the black and bloody side should move Paul Cleave straight to the top of their must-read list."
— Mark Billingham

Paul Cleave is currently dividing his time between his home city of Christchurch, New Zealand, where all of his novels are set, and Europe, where none of his novels are set. His novels have so far been translated into 20 languages. He has won the Saint-Maur book festival's crime novel of the year, has been shortlisted for the Ned Kelly award, the Edgar Award, the Barry Award, and has won the Ngaio Marsh award three times for NZ crime fiction.
On top of praise from the press -"the next Stephen King," "uses words as lethal weapons," "a writer to watch," and "a rising star in the genre" - Cleave numbers among his fans top crime and thriller writers.