Domestic satire meets gripping suspense in Straight Circles, the final, explosive chapter of Jackie Bateman’s Lizzy Trilogy. The original and eccentric cast of characters return in this genre-bending thriller, but not everyone’s getting out alive.
Newly pregnant Lizzy arrives to revisit old haunts in the bleak Scottish town that she escaped years ago as a teenage runaway. Along with a yearning to rediscover her roots, she wants to confront her harrowing past and learn what happened to her mother, whose disappearance has remained unsolved. Instead, she comes face to face with her estranged father, whose violent side soon emerges with devastating consequences.
In Straight Circles, Lizzy returns to the heart of the story, where the stakes are higher than ever. Where it all began is where it will all end, in a chilling confrontation with the man who has been tracking her for years.
Praise for Nondescript Rambunctious (Part One):
“a thriller that succeeds by nodding politely to the formula, then turning it on its head.” — Quill & Quire
“Vancouver’s Jackie Bateman draws on her Scottish roots for a bewitching first novel that transforms from gentle domestic comedy into gripping suspense.” — Prairie Fire
“The writing is taut, controlled, and relentless. Nondescript Rambunctious is a dark, murderous thriller, a winner with a variety of narrators, surprising turns and shifts, and some hard, hard corners.” — Mark Anthony Jarman, author of My White Planet and 19 Knives
Praise for Savour (Part Two):
“a unique and unsettling perspective to the otherwise hoary trope of the relationship between a serial killer and his victim” — Quill & Quire
“this series will leave you begging for more. Nodding to her readers’ expectations and then doing something else entirely seems to be Bateman’s trademark.” — The Winnipeg Review
“a gripping tale of the seamy side of life without moral boundaries.” — Publishers Weekly
Jackie Bateman lives with her family in North Vancouver. Her first novel Nondescript Rambunctious won a national first book competition in Canada, and grew into a trilogy of psychological thrillers. The second novel in the series, Savour, was shortlisted for the 2015 Relit Awards. Straight Circles ties up all of the disturbing threads in a grand psychotic finale. The trilogy has been optioned for a multi-episode TV series. She can be found at www.jacbateman.com.
