Lay Your Body Down
A Novel of Suspense
Published on 27. June 2023
Book
Hardback
352 pages
978-0-358-41831-3 (ISBN)
Description
A People magazine must-read of summer!
"Suiter Clarke paints a devastating portrait of a cultlike institution and a town in its thrall. It's even worse than we imagined." - New York Times Book Review
A young woman returns to her rural Minnesota hometown, where a radical evangelical pastor has poisoned everyone's minds-and may be covering up a murder.
After Del Walker fled her small hometown and its cult-like church, she vowed to never return. The man she loved, Lars, left her to marry the local golden girl Eve, and their romance is now the focus of Eve's viral blog espousing the pastor's conservative philosophy about women and marriage. But six years later, Lars is suddenly killed, and she's convinced it couldn't have been an accident.
When Del returns to her hometown for the funeral, she discovers the now mega-church-and the insidious, patriarchal teachings of Pastor Rick Franklin-has grown not only in size but in influence. Eve was clearly discontent in her marriage, despite the carefully constructed "Noble Wife" positivity of her blog posts, and Del knows better than anyone just how far she will go to get what she wants. Del is determined to cut through the church's lies and corruption to find out who killed Lars-even if it means confronting the religious trauma she's spent years trying to bury.
"There are midnight-snack-style thrillers, and those that stick with you. This one's the latter." -People magazine
"Suiter Clarke paints a devastating portrait of a cultlike institution and a town in its thrall. It's even worse than we imagined." - New York Times Book Review
A young woman returns to her rural Minnesota hometown, where a radical evangelical pastor has poisoned everyone's minds-and may be covering up a murder.
After Del Walker fled her small hometown and its cult-like church, she vowed to never return. The man she loved, Lars, left her to marry the local golden girl Eve, and their romance is now the focus of Eve's viral blog espousing the pastor's conservative philosophy about women and marriage. But six years later, Lars is suddenly killed, and she's convinced it couldn't have been an accident.
When Del returns to her hometown for the funeral, she discovers the now mega-church-and the insidious, patriarchal teachings of Pastor Rick Franklin-has grown not only in size but in influence. Eve was clearly discontent in her marriage, despite the carefully constructed "Noble Wife" positivity of her blog posts, and Del knows better than anyone just how far she will go to get what she wants. Del is determined to cut through the church's lies and corruption to find out who killed Lars-even if it means confronting the religious trauma she's spent years trying to bury.
"There are midnight-snack-style thrillers, and those that stick with you. This one's the latter." -People magazine
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Publishing group
HarperCollins Publishers Inc
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 236 mm
Width: 162 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
485 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-358-41831-3 (9780358418313)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Amy Suiter Clarke is the author of psychological thrillers, including her debut Girl, 11. Originally from a small town in Minnesota, she completed an undergraduate degree in theater in the Twin Cities. She then moved to London and earned an MFA in creative writing with publishing at Kingston University. She currently lives in Melbourne, Australia, with her husband and twin sons.