New York Times bestselling author Laura Lippman returns with a superb novel of psychological suspense about a pair of lovers with the best intentions and the worst luck: two people locked in a passionate yet uncompromising game of cat and mouse. But instead of rules, this game has dark secrets, forbidden desires, inevitable betrayalsβand cold-blooded murder.
One is playing a long game. But which one?
They meet at a local tavern in the small town of Belleville, Delaware. Polly is set on heading west. Adam says heβs also passing through. Yet she stays and he staysβdrawn to this mysterious redhead whose quiet stillness both unnerves and excites him. Over the course of a punishing summer, Polly and Adam abandon themselves to a steamy, inexorable affair. Still, each holds something back from the otherβdangerous, even lethal, secrets.
Then someone dies. Was it an accident, or part of a plan? By now, Adam and Polly are so ensnared in each otherβs lives and lies that neither one knows how to get awayβor even if they want to. Is their love strong enough to withstand the truth, or will it ultimately destroy them?
Somethingβor someoneβhas to give.
Which one will it be?
Inspired by James M. Cainβs masterpieces The Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity, and Mildred Pierce, Sunburn is a tantalizing modern noir from the incomparable Laura Lippman.
Since Laura Lippmanβs debut, she has been recognized as a distinctive voice in mystery fiction and named one of the βessentialβ crime writers of the last 100 years. Stephen King called her βspecial, even extraordinary,β and Gillian Flynn wrote, βShe is simply a brilliant novelist.β Her books have won most of the major awards in her field and been translated into more than twenty-five languages. She lives in Baltimore and New Orleans with her teenager.