Author: Sarah SultoonModern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)Published on 4 December 2025 by Orenda Books in the United Kingdom.Paperback | 276 pages196 x 130 x 20 | 196g The world is counting down to the millennium – and to disaster. When a child’s body is found on a remote island east of London, journalist Jonny Murphy is sent to investigate. What he uncovers is more than a tragedy. It’s a warning. Something catastrophic is coming … and Jonny might be the only one who can stop it.‘A propulsive, atmospheric thriller that ratchets up the tension with every page’ TM Logan‘A powerhouse writer’ Jo Spain‘Cleverly layered and beautifully atmospheric … Sarah Sultoon has become an auto-buy author for me’ Kia Abdullah‘The clock ticks down towards a fantastic payoff … Abandoned islands, thrilling chases, investigative journalists – what more could you want?’ Holly Watt––––They feared the machines. They should have feared the people…London, Christmas 1999. The world is on edge. With the new millennium just days away, fears of the Millennium Bug are spiralling – warnings of computer failures, market crashes, even global catastrophe. But fifty miles east, on the frozen Blackwater Island, a different kind of mystery unfolds. A child’s body is discovered on the bracken, untouched by footprints, with no sign of how he died. And no one has come forward to claim him.At the International Tribune, reporter Jonny Murphy senses something is off. Police are appealing for relatives, not suspects. An anonymous call led officers to the scene, but no one knows who made it. While the world fixates on a digital apocalypse, Jonny sees the real disaster unfolding closer to home. With just twenty-hour hours before the century turns, he heads to Blackwater – driven by curiosity, desperation, and the sting of rejection from his colleague Paloma.But Blackwater has secrets buried deep in the frozen ground. More victims – some dead, others still paying for past sins. And when Paloma catches up to him, they stumble onto something far bigger than either of them imagined. Something that could change everything. The millennium is coming. The clock is ticking. Can Jonny stop it? Should he?And what if Y2K wasn’t a hoax, but a warning…?––––––‘Propulsive characters and a simmering mystery explode into a race against time … it had me gripped’ Rod Reynolds'Atmospheric, tense and all the more shocking for mirroring real state crimes’ Eve Smith‘Authenticity that demands your attention’ Will Carver‘A distinctively chilling roller-coaster’ Peter Hain ‘Readers who love mysteries, bleak landscapes and a lingering sense of dread will enjoy this, and the author’s notes may haunt you’ Mature Times‘A thrilling, tightly plotted, and important read’ Michael J MalonePraise for Sarah Sultoon**Longlisted for the John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger****WINNER of the Crime Fiction Lover Debut Thriller Award**‘A first-class political thriller’ Steve Cavanagh‘A bitingly sharp, pacy thriller. Devilishly good. I inhaled it’ Freya Berry‘A brave and thought-provoking debut novel’ Adam Hamdy‘A taut and thought-provoking book that's all the more unnerving for how much it echoes the headlines in real life’ CultureFly‘A tense thriller, a remarkable debut, heartbreaking, but ultimately this is a story of resilience and survival’ NB Magazine‘A powerful, compelling read that doesn't shy away from some upsetting truths … written with such energy’ Fanny Blake‘Brilliant and gripping’ S J Watson‘Gripping, intriguing, action-packed and powerful, I raced through this hard-hitting thriller in just two days!’ Philippa East
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