How far will you to go to protect the one you love?

It’s a question Cal has never really thought about before. Married to a successful business man, she’s always let her life carry her along. Until now. Recently divorced and perilously sort of money, she is forced to work as a cleaner to support herself and her teenage daughter.

Cal’s sister Zoe is her polar opposite. A detective inspector working out of Bath Central, she’s efficient, loves her job, and oozes self-confidence. No one would guess that she hides a crippling secret that dates back twenty years, and which – if exposed – may destroy her.

Then Cal’s daughter gets into difficulties, and Cal finds she needs cash – lots of it – fast.

With no one to help her, she is enters a criminal world she never knew existed: a world of extreme pornography and illegal drugs; a world in which teenage girls can go missing.

Two sisters intent on survival. Until one does something so terrifying that there’s no way back …

‘One of Hayder’s great strengths is showing the connection between economic hardship and criminal actions…Hanging Hill is an authentically disturbing, gripping winner.’ Financial Times

‘Hayder is an excellent writer who deals as convincingly with teenage angst as she does with forensic science. She has the priceless ability to keep you turning the pages.’ Spectator

‘In this superb stand-alone…Hayder uses her trademark violence to perfect sinister effect.’ Publishers Weekly, December 12th 2011

‘Mo Hayder’s tightly plotted Hanging Hill keeps the suspense taut, and the characters are realistic and multifaceted as well as (in most cases) sympathetic. Hayder delights in exposing the dark side–of domestic life, of family, of childhood and growing up–and her gritty, gruesome bits are not for the faint of heart. But there are love affairs, too, sweetly relieving the grimness. Hanging Hill is finely put together and entirely satisfying–at least until the terrifying ending, which uproots the safe feeling of resolution into which the reader was lulled…A suspenseful, fast-paced thriller…’ Julia Jenkins, Shelf Awareness for Readers (February 14, 2012)

‘Hanging Hill…continues [Hayder’s] astonishing string of brilliant, hypnotically readable mysteries…part of a golden era of literary crime novels. She is among a clutch of writers who use crime and punishment the way Shakespeare used kings and wars: as the scaffolding from which to explore central questions about love, hate, guilt, ambition and fate…Hanging Hill features an ending so shocking it may reverberate through you long after you’ve finished the book. It’s not the standard conclusion to a well-plotted whodunit, the kind that makes you thump the side of your head and exclaim, “Oh, I should’ve figured that out!” Yes, the ending is a surprise — but it’s the implication of that ending, spiraling off in horrific directions, that rocks you back in your seat.’ Julia Keller, Chicago Tribune (17.02.12)

‘Thrilling…Readers would be making a mistake if they overlooked the masterful British crime writer Mo Hayder’s new novel HANGING HILL.’ Sherryl Connely, NY Daily News (25.03.12)

Mo Hayder’s HANGING HILL, has bounced around my unquiet cerebellum since I read it earlier this year…Part of my mind is still driving through those lanes with a shotgun, and I think it always will be.’ Imogen Russell Williams, The Guardian, 20.11.12