The Lemur

'The Lemur has pace and bravado; the writing is sharp and the timing flawless while the prose, naturally, is brilliant’ – Time Out

From the Booker Prize-winning author of The Sea, John Banville writes as Benjamin Black in The Lemur: a compulsive, emotional thriller set amongst the peak of New York's business elite.

William ‘Big Bill’ Mulholland is an Irish-American electronics billionaire. An ex-CIA operative, he now heads up the Mulholland Trust, with the help of his daughter Louise. When Mulholland gets wind of a hostile biography planned by journalist Wilson Cleaver, he commissions his daughter’s husband, John Glass, to pen the official line. But neither he nor Glass had reckoned on the sinister services of ‘the Lemur’.

It turns out that silence cannot be bought – even by one of New York’s wealthiest dynasties . . .

Originally comissioned as a high-profile serial by New York Times Magazine, this is a stylish thriller from a master of literary crime

‘The Lemur lives up to expectations. The writing is lighter and sleeker than his literary fiction but without any loss of his ability to perfectly describe situations and sensations. Engrossing reading’ – Irish Mail on Sunday

‘The Lemur displays an emotional poignancy that is present in both of Black’s previous works’ – Independent on Sunday

‘What stands out is Black’s portrayal of contemporary New York, its towers of steel and glass providing a glossy background for a tale in which no one is trusted. It’s an edgy read, worthy of Don DeLillo’ – Evening Standard