BEAUTIFUL ANIMALS - Hardcover

Born in England, Lawrence Osborne is the author of the critically acclaimed novels The Forgiven, The Ballad of a Small Player and Hunters in the Dark. His non-fiction ranges from memoir through travelogue to essays, including Bangkok Days, Paris Dreambook and The Wet and the Dry. His short story 'Volcano' was selected for Best American Short Stories 2012, and he has written for the New York Times Magazine, Conde Nast Traveler, the New Yorker, Forbes, Harper's and other publications. He lives in Bangkok. www.lawrenceosborne.net

"Let's not mince words. This is a great book. Truly difficult to put down" -- Lionel Shriver * Washington Post * "Often almost literally bristling with menace... his Hydra is rugged with physical immediacy. Silhouetted against it, emotions fluctuate, sexual frissons flicker back and forth, destinies tremble in the balance... It's the brilliance with which Osborne conjures all this up that leaves you eager to see where his nomadic imagination will take him next" -- Peter Kemp * Sunday Times * "Osborne is a startlingly good observer of privilege, noting the rites and rituals of the upper classes with unerring precision and an undercurrent of malice... The novel takes on the tone of an existential noir, evoking writers like Jean-Patrick Manchette and Georges Simenon... An heir to Graham Greene... he shares with Greene an interest in what might be called the moral thriller" -- Katie Kitamura * New York Times Book Review * "Complex and thrilling, Beautiful Animals confirms Osborne as one of Britain's very best novelists" -- Anthony Gardner * Mail on Sunday * "Beautiful Animals is terrifically well constructed, written with mean authority, brilliantly evocative about place ... A masterpiece of disaffection" -- David Sexton * Evening Standard * "Cracking Greek noir" * Guardian * "A thriller that is full of dazzling sunshine" -- Robert Douglas-Fairhurst * The Times * "Osborne crafts a rich, nourish mood in his sun-drenched tale, while offering astute observations of privilege and obscene wealth ... a perfect read to devour in one go on a white-hot, breezeless day" -- Meadhbh McGrath * Irish Independent * "A stylish, slow-burn novel... Atmospheric and well observed, with Osborne's sinuous prose exerting its own fascination" * Tatler * "Lawrence Osborne is an enigmatic, unpindownable writer" -- Alex Preston * Observer * "Beautiful Animals supplies two satisfying, but contradictory, feelings. On the one hand, you are immersed in the languid atmosphere of Hydra... But slipping through the charm with all the page-turning excitement of a beautifully written literary thriller is the nagging dread that something is about to go horribly wrong..." * Emerald Street * "Beautiful Animals supplies two satisfying, but contradictory, feelings. On the one hand, you are immersed in the languid atmosphere of Hydra... But slipping through the charm with all the page-turning excitement of a beautifully written literary thriller is the nagging dread that something is about to go horribly wrong..." * Emerald Street * "Osborne is both a consummate stylist and an acute observer of moral ambivalence and this quietly simmering, intoxicatingly good book lingers uneasily in the air, like a hangover" * Metro * "Tense, fateful" -- Patricia Nicol * Sunday Times * "A masterful and sophisticated psychological thriller that explores moral ambiguity from multiple perspectives" * BBC.com *