The Book Of You

Claire Kendal’s debut novel opens on Clarissa living a nightmare — she is being stalked by a colleague after a one-night stand months beforehand. Except she has doubts the one-night stand was a choice and fears stalker Rafe may have been preying on her beforehand.

Feeling isolated from her friends and family by the ever-present Rafe, Clarissa thinks she sees a way out when she is asked to sit on a jury for a seven-week trial. But seeing the woman in the dock under such close scrutiny makes her begin to doubt that she could ever prove what her own stalker is doing to her.

Forming a close friendship with another juror makes her jealous tormentor even angrier and soon Clarissa’s world has contracted to just her flat, the courtroom, and her train journey there and back each day.

The book has a horrible familiarity for any woman who’s ever felt threatened by unwanted attention, but it doesn’t stop this chilling tale from being utterly addictive.