Price range: £4.99 through £9.99
A compelling psychological thriller about a young girl who is forced to confront her past demons after a mysterious new neighbour moves in next door.
Portia Willows was a high school senior in Los Angeles when a devastating car accident took the lives of her mother and sister. After their death, Portia’s social anxiety grows worse. She and her father become heavily dependent on cigarettes and alcohol to cope with their grief.
The book starts five years in the future when she must confront her distorted memory of the past – Portia has committed a crime, and she can’t remember it. As investigators close in, her fractured mind becomes a puzzle she must solve before it’s too late. Then Ethan Torke moves in across the street. At first, he seems like a distraction, but soon, his presence forces Portia to confront a possibility that she would have never expected. The deeper she digs, the more the walls of her safe reality crumble. Sinister pasts are bound to be revealed; the truth always catches up, and fantasies never last.
An unforgettable tale of memory, love, and strength through the darkest of times, Remember announces a brave new voice in psychological suspense.
“Right from the opening chapter, where the narrator wakes up with no memory of who she is, The Glass Woman instantly hooks you with a timely take on the rise of AI, and burrows under your skin. It manages to be both a deliciously creepy and mysterious thriller and also a thought-provoking meditation on identity and memory. Hugely entertaining and relentlessly readable.”
– Alex Michaelides, bestselling author of The Silent Patient
“Stepford Wives meets 2001 Space Odyssey, The Glass Woman is a twisty, thought-provoking read with characters full of heart engaging with the debate around AI in a truly inventive and original way.”
– Chris MacDonald, author of Happily Ever After and The Actor
“More than simply a psychological thriller, The Glass Woman is a chilling invitation to witness what might be our future. The science is well-researched and completely believable. A novel that stayed in my mind long after I read the final page. The definition of a thought-provoking read.”
– Julie Corbin, author of Whispers of a Scandal
“McIlroy packs a lot into this slim novel, calling into question the permanence of memory, the infallibility of technology, and the trustworthiness of those we love. Taking central themes of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Severance, and Dennis Lehane’s Shutter Island to new dramatic heights, McIlroy’s well-paced novel will keep readers guessing until the final pages.”
– Booklist
“Completely absorbing, I haven’t been able to put it down.”
– Sarah Ward, author of The Birthday Girl and The Sixth Lie
“Raises fascinating questions about consciousness and its relation to objective and subjective reality.”
“A twisty psychological thriller that plays on our current fears about AI as well as ideas about memory, trauma and the self.”
– The Guardian
“A successful example of the genre with a chilling modern feel.”
– The Critic
“The Glass Woman is that too-rare a beast – an urgent thriller with solid intellectual underpinning.”
– Shots Magazine
“McIlroy’s sharp sci-fi thriller debut is one part Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and two parts Black Mirror… raising salient questions about the ethics of AI. This will keep readers up late.”
– Publishers Weekly
