When I Was Ten
A Gripping, Heart-in-mouth Thriller from the Author of Into the Dark
Published on 24. April 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
400 pages
978-1-0350-6349-9 (ISBN)
Description
When I Was Ten is the stay-up-all-night thriller by acclaimed crime author Fiona Cummins.
'Grips like a vice' - Val McDermid, author of the Karen Pirie series
'Absorbing, tense and beautifully paced' - Daily Mail
Twenty-one years ago, Dr Richard Carter and his wife Pamela were killed in what has become the most infamous double murder of the modern age.
Their ten year-old daughter - nicknamed the Angel of Death - spent eight years in a children's secure unit and is living quietly under an assumed name with a family of her own.
Now, on the anniversary of the trial, a documentary team has tracked down her older sister, compelling her to break two decades of silence.
Her explosive interview sparks national headlines and journalist Brinley Booth, a childhood friend of the Carter sisters, is tasked with covering the news story.
For the first time, the three women are forced to confront what really happened that night - with devastating consequences for them all.
'I finished it with my heart in my mouth. Highly recommended' - Louise Candlish, author of Our House
'Dark, creepy and ultimately compassionate' - JP Delaney, author of The Girl Before
'Utterly compelling; a true just-one-more-chapter thriller' - Clare Mackintosh, author of The Last Party
'Grips like a vice' - Val McDermid, author of the Karen Pirie series
'Absorbing, tense and beautifully paced' - Daily Mail
Twenty-one years ago, Dr Richard Carter and his wife Pamela were killed in what has become the most infamous double murder of the modern age.
Their ten year-old daughter - nicknamed the Angel of Death - spent eight years in a children's secure unit and is living quietly under an assumed name with a family of her own.
Now, on the anniversary of the trial, a documentary team has tracked down her older sister, compelling her to break two decades of silence.
Her explosive interview sparks national headlines and journalist Brinley Booth, a childhood friend of the Carter sisters, is tasked with covering the news story.
For the first time, the three women are forced to confront what really happened that night - with devastating consequences for them all.
'I finished it with my heart in my mouth. Highly recommended' - Louise Candlish, author of Our House
'Dark, creepy and ultimately compassionate' - JP Delaney, author of The Girl Before
'Utterly compelling; a true just-one-more-chapter thriller' - Clare Mackintosh, author of The Last Party
Reviews / Votes
Fiona Cummins evokes the dark arts of journalism and politics with an insider's relish in this rich, intricately woven novel of childhood crime and adult redemption. I finished it with my heart in my mouth. Highly recommended -- Louise Candlish A chilling and compelling tale of lost childhoods, guilt and redemption * Sunday Express * Absorbing, tense and beautifully paced * Daily Mail * Utterly compelling; a true just-one-more-chapter thriller -- Clare Mackintosh The Neighbour is masterfully written and intricately plotted to keep the reader captivated until a hugely enjoyable finale -- Jon Coates * Daily Express * A crime novel of the very first order -- David Baldacci on <i>The Collector</i> Creepy as hell and kept me guessing to the very end -- Ian Rankin on <i>The Neighbour</i> This thriller explores typically dark territory for this author, who has a gift for tapping a rich seam of evil that underpins the surface of the every day. Superbly sinister -- <i>Sunday Mirror</i> on <i>The Neighbour</i> It's rare that a debut has this much polish. Harrowing and horrifying, head and shoulders above most of the competition -- Val McDermid on <i>Rattle</i> She is the master of depicting the way the most terrifyingly grotesque and evil psychopaths inveigle their way into the lives of ordinary people . . . When writing from the perspective of ordinary people caught up in horrific events, Fiona Cummins is unbeatable -- Jake Kerridge on <i>The Neighbour</i> * Sunday Express * Trust me - Cummins is a keeper -- Lee Child on <i>The Collector</i>More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Pan Macmillan
Target group
Interest Age: From 18 years
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 194 mm
Width: 128 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
272 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-0350-6349-9 (9781035063499)
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
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
04/2021
Pan Books
€14.49
Available for download
Person
Fiona Cummins is an award-winning former journalist and a graduate of the Faber Academy Writing a Novel course. Rattle, her debut novel, received widespread critical acclaim from authors and reviewers, was the subject of a huge international auction and has been translated into several languages. She has since written bestsellers The Collector, The Neighbour, When I Was Ten and Into the Dark, in which she introduces DC Saul Anguish, a brilliant young detective with a dark past. Fiona lives with her family in Essex.