The Poison Artist by Jonathan Moore will be featured on the Radio 2 Book Club on Monday 14 March.
The book was selected with the help of a panel made up of Reading Agency and library staff from across the UK.
You can WIN 10 copies of the book for your reading group! Just visit our Noticeboard. We even have an exclusive extract available, so you can have a taster first!
The Poison Artist
Dr. Caleb Maddox is a San Francisco toxicologist studying the chemical effects of pain. After a bruising breakup with his girlfriend, he is drinking whiskey at the speakeasy House of Shields when a hauntingly seductive woman appears by his side. Emmeline whispers to Caleb over absinthe, gets his blood on her fingers, and then brushes his ear with her lips as she says goodbye. He must find her.
As his search begins, Caleb becomes entangled in a serial murder investigation. The police are fishing men from the bay, and the postmortems are inconclusive. One man vanished from House of Shields the night Caleb met Emmeline. When questioned, Caleb can’t offer any information. But he is secretly helping the city’s medical examiner, an old friend, understand the chemical evidence on the victims’ remains. Caleb’s search for the killer soon entwines with his hunt for Emmeline, and the closer he gets to each, the more dangerous his world becomes.
Selection panel review
Our library reading panel loved The Poison Artist – here are some of their comments:
“This is a gripping thriller which moves along at a pace and has atmosphere in abundance. I was completely immersed in the plot from the start helped partly by the well-developed characters who were convincing from the outset. The story becomes darker and more sinister and psychologically involved as it evolves and I found myself changing opinions of what was happening throughout with the eventual outcome being totally unexpected.”
“A very compelling, atmospheric, creepy read that builds to a pretty terrifying climax. Once the momentum kicked in, I found it impossible to put down. It’s a shocking character study and a headfirst dive into a deeply twisted mind. The ending brings with it a slow dawning horror, and a twist that leaves you saying ‘Oh my god, of course!’”
About the author
Jonathan Moore is an attorney with the Honolulu firm of Kobayashi, Sugita & Goda. Before completing law school in New Orleans, he was an English teacher, the owner of Taiwan’s first Mexican restaurant, a whitewater raft guide on the Rio Grande, a counselor at a Texas wilderness camp for juvenile sex offenders, and an investigator for a criminal defense attorney in Washington D.C.
Jonathan Moore is rapidly coming into his own as an exciting new talent in the thriller field, as his first two books, Redheads, a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award, and Close Reach prove.
A word from Jonathan
“Just before Christmas, while I was in Japan on business, I got word from the Orion Publishing Group that The Poison Artist had been selected for the BBC Radio 2 Book Club. When that email came, I was about to leave my hotel to meet clients. I was so blown away by the news that I was late. It’s an incredible honor to be selected for this club. The Poison Artist is my third novel, and I’ve written two more since I finished it. That makes it a middle child, but it’s still my favorite. It’s got a dark heart, yet there’s a tenderness to it as well. I am so incredibly thrilled to know that libraries will stock it and book clubs will read it. Some of my favorite book stores and libraries in the world are in the U.K. (I’m talking to you, Edinburgh Central Library). It gives me a chill to think of The Poison Artist on some of those shelves. Even though I live a long way from the United Kingdom—Hawaii is about as far as you can get—I’m hoping I’ll get to meet and interact with readers.”
Get involved
Tune in to Simon Mayo’s Drivetime show on Monday 14 March to hear a live interview with Jonathan Moore talking about his book.
Have you read The Poison Artist? You can share your thoughts with us on Twitter, post a review, read reviews from other readers, or add it to your group’s reading list. You can also follow author Jonathan Moore on Twitter.
Want to find out more? Take a look at the Radio 2 Book Club Twitter feed or find out more on the Radio 2 Book Club website.
