The Butterfly Trap - by Clea Simon (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Anya and Greg seem to be the golden couple, until dark secrets come to light and unleash inevitable devastation in this slow-burn he said/she said psychological suspense novel.

Greg has his life all planned out: become a doctor, buy a house, and have a wife and children - and when he meets Anya during his post-doc studies in Boston, all of his dreams seem to come true. It's love at first sight, and Greg doesn't shy away from changing his life to provide Anya, his beautiful butterfly, with everything she wants and needs.

Anya is a struggling artist, determined to make it as a painter in Boston's art scene - but getting involved with shy and sweet Greg could thwart her lifelong ambition. Their relationship unfolds like a classic love story . . . except that Anya seems to be hiding something that unsuspecting Greg soon must face.

Are Greg and Anya truly the perfect couple, or will jealousy, uncertainty, and dangerous machinations break them apart in the most dreadful way imaginable?

Megan Abbott meets Paula Hawkins's The Girl on the Train mixed with some Patricia Highsmith creepiness that will make you turn the pages! A psychological suspense novel "darkly inventive and full of grit" (New York Times bestselling author Caroline Leavitt).

Review Quotes

Fast-paced and deeply satisfying . . . Simon is at the height of her considerable powers . . .
The prose here is propulsive, stylish, and pleasingly spare, with narrating crime reporter Emily Kelton's voice sliding often into noir territory. Bad Boy Beat is a top-notch read, securing Simon's position as one of the sharpest voices working in crime fiction today

-- "Linda L. Richards, award-winning author of the Endings series, on Bad Boy Beat"

A sense of foreboding builds from the first page until the shocking conclusion . . . Block out time for this one - you won't be able to put it down-- "Karen E. Olson, award-winning author of An Inconvenient Wife"

Clea Simon delivers a cautionary and dark tale . . . you won't be disappointed-- "Gabriel Valjan, Agatha, Anthony, and Shamus nominated author of the Shane Cleary series"

Darkly inventive and full of grit and suspense . . . a deliciously sinister take on 'he said/she said, ' sexual politics, and what we do for what - or whom - we love. Truly, film noir on the page-- "Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Days of Wonder"

For Fans of Alexander McCall and Janet Evanovich-- "Library Journal on Hold Me Down"

If you want a swift mystery with plenty of clues, you'll enjoy this-- "Kings River Life on Bad Boy Beat"

Readers will quickly find that the twists and turns of the plot more than satisfy - with a particularly stellar final act that is guaranteed to please even the harshest critic of crime fiction-- "BOLO Books on Bad Boy Beat"

Simon draws on her career as a journalist, in particular her reporting on Boston's music scene in the 1990s, for the setting, concert scenes, and flashbacks, bringing a gritty reality to this dark suspense tale-- "Booklist on Hold Me Down"

Simon's staccato prose sets a tense mood that keeps readers on the edge . . . New territory for Simon that's definitely worth another chapter-- "Kirkus Reviews on Bad Boy Beat"

The plot is tightly written with several twists and turns to keep it interesting-- "Gumshoe Review on Bad Boy Beat"