HAVOC

The New York Times'' #1 Thriller of 2024''Highsmithian… highly readable, twisty and shrewd'' HANYA YANAGIHARA (on Instagram), author of A Little Life''Atmospheric, diabolical fun'' LUCY FOLEY, author of The Midnight Feast''Disturbingly enjoyable'' EMMA HEALEY, author of Elizabeth is Missing''A taut, wicked masterpiece'' MONA AWAD, author of BunnyFive years ago, 81-year-old Maggie Burkhardt fled her native Wisconsin in suspicious circumstances. She has come to rest somewhere she can imagine staying forever: the Royal Karnak Hotel in Luxor, Egypt.Maggie is no sweet little old lady. She has a nasty, nosy habit: she spies on her fellow guests and manipulates situations to ''liberate'' them from what she sees as unhappy relationships.Wrongly assuming eight-year-old Otto and his well-meaning mother will be easy targets, she is soon locked in a death-spiral with her young prey. Has she finally met her match in a child one-tenth her age?Crackling with the perceptive, acid wit of The White