Official Website of Author

Paul Burston

‘The best psych thriller I’ve read this year’ Sarah Pinborough

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Tom is a successful author, but he’s struggling to finish his novel. His main distraction is an online admirer, Evie, who simply won’t leave him alone.

Evie is smart, well read and unstable; she lives with her father and her social-media friendships are everything she has.

When she’s hit with a restraining order, her world is turned upside down and Tom is free to focus on his writing.

But things aren’t adding up. Tom is distracted but also addicted to his online relationships – and when they take a more menacing turn, he feels powerless to change things. 

A compulsive, disturbingly relevant, twisty and powerful psychological thriller, The Closer I Get is also a searing commentary on the fragility and insincerity of online relationships, and the danger that can lurk just one ‘like’ away…

‘An absolute stunner, with a deliciously twisted ending’ Lisa Hall

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‘A gripping ride through the heartlands of need and hurt. Even at his most thrilling, never loses his sense of real pain and suffering’ Philip Hensher

‘As perfect a thriller as you’ll read all year’ Caz Frear

‘Dangerous from page one. Terrifically readable’ Sarah Hilary

‘Absurdly gripping, and enough to unnerve anyone who has ever spent any time online’ Angela Clarke

‘So good. Great premise and a thrilling read’ Nina Pottell, Prima

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‘Chillingly recognisable. A delicious tour de force’ Alex Marwood

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‘Effortlessly readable, intensely chilling’ Chris Whitaker

‘Taut. Menacing. Puts the killer into killer twist’ Jonathan Harvey

‘Witty and insightful’ Susie Boyt
 

‘A masterpiece in sustained suspense’ Derek Farrell

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‘A fiercely provocative novel, and as well as being a boldly entertaining read, it really, really made me think’ LoveReading

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‘Taut and tense, with a truly unexpected ending’ Russell T Davies

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‘A brilliant, twisty book about fandom and obsession’ Erin Kelly 

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‘A brilliantly sinister and sophisticated thriller’ EC Fremantle

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‘Absolutely sensational’ Elly Griffiths 

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‘Compelling, creepy and completely believable’ Mel McGrath

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‘Dark, devious and with a growing sense of dread’ Neil Broadfoot

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‘Brilliantly written, tense and compelling’ Amanda Jennings

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‘Dark twisty fiction at its very best’ SJI Holliday​

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‘One of the best books you’ll read this year’ Ed James 

‘The kind of book you read in one breathless gulp’ Cass Green

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‘Beautifully written, dark and compulsive’ Syd Moore

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‘A gripping, chilling tale of obsession’ Katerina Diamond

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‘Intelligent, well written, funny, dark and relevant’ Susie Lynes

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‘Dark, thought-provoking and totally riveting’ Matt Cain

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‘Brilliantly written, compulsive and twisty’ Anne Cater

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‘A deliciously unsettling read’ Lesley Thomson 

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‘Thrilling, twisting, creepy and enthralling’ Araminta Hall

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Longlisted for the Not

The Booker Prize 2019

Signed limited edition hardback available exclusively from Goldsboro Books

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Signed paperback available from Printed Matter 

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To read about the true life story  behind the book, see the Guardian

Events

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Author events on hold until further notice, due to the coronavirus outbreak. 

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