The Briars cover art

The Briars

A Novel

Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

$8.99/mo after trial ends. Cancel anytime
Try for $0.00
More purchase options
Buy Now for $23.54

Buy Now for $23.54

About this listen

The USA TODAY bestselling author of Middletide returns with a lush and atmospheric novel of suspense following a young woman whose job as a game warden puts her in the path of a murderer in a small town eager to protect its own.

Desperate to escape a relationship gone bad, Annie Heston flees north to accept a job as a game warden in Lake Lumin, a picturesque town in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest.

A cougar has been spotted in the area, and as Annie warns the community of the threat, she quickly discovers that not everyone in the tight-knit town is welcoming of outsiders, except for Daniel Barela, a reclusive carpenter who lives in the shadow of the mountain. They form an instant bond, though Annie soon comes to realize there is more to his past than meets the eye.

When the body of a young woman is found in the briars that border Daniel’s property, the peace Annie has found in Lake Lumin shatters. As she assists the local sheriff with the investigation, Annie must rely on her wilderness training and intuition to find a murderer hiding in plain sight.

Urgent and emotionally complex, The Briars is a captivating literary thriller that marries an exploration of human nature with a plot as thorny and twisted as the brambles for which it is named.
Crime Thrillers Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Small Town & Rural Thriller & Suspense Crime

Critic Reviews

"Helen Laser, Shaun Taylor-Corbett and Jonathan Todd Ross narrate this tangled thriller set in a small Pacific Northwest town. Annie Heston abandons her past to become a game warden in the tiny town of Lake Lumin and finds herself drawn to reclusive carpenter Daniel Barela. Looking into complaints about a cougar, Annie finds herself instead investigating a murder. Annie must rely on her instincts to find the killer in their midst. Laser’s performance captures Annie’s complicated emotional perspective. Taylor-Corbett and Ross round out this audiobook with their own strong performances."
"Together, the three narrators capture the high stakes."
No reviews yet
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.