Bluff

De: Francine Toon

Narrado por: Cathleen McCarron

Brought to you by Penguin.

From the author of the Sunday Times bestseller, Pine, comes a haunting and atmospheric new gothic thriller, set in the brooding Scottish landscape.

In this corner of Fife, summer nights meant parties on wind-blown beaches, wrapped in hoodies and denim jackets, pretending you weren’t cold in the stubborn evening light.

Joanie, 2013. Desperate to flee the claustrophobia of St Rule, Joanie has long been looking forward to her big escape. But on the night of her school graduation this dream slips through her hands.

Devastated, Joanie falls into the orbit of an enigmatic couple – Erin and David – who offer her a new kind of escape. Charismatic, older and intellectual, they make Joanie feel alive and important in a way she didn’t know was possible.

Cameron, 2023. When Cameron arrives back in St Rule for Christmas a question burns in his mind: what ever happened to Joanie? It’s been a decade since he saw his former friend, and in truth he hadn’t given it much thought – busily building a life.

But as he starts to look for answers, it becomes clear that someone wants to keep this secret buried at all costs. How far should he go to pursue the truth?

Set amongst the ancient cobblestone of a Scottish coastal town steeped in history, Francine Toon masterfully blends the tension of a mystery with the chill of a modern gothic. This is a story where every shadow holds a secret, and every revelation brings Cameron and Joanie closer to a truth that could shatter their worlds.

Praise for Francine Toon:

‘A literary gothic thriller to chill the marrow’ Guardian

‘Hugely atmospheric, exquisitely written and utterly gripping’ Lucy Foley, bestselling author of The Hunting Party

‘A must-read for fans of eerie gothic fiction’ The Skinny

‘An evocative read which will keep you guessing’ Sunday Independent

‘Both eerie and thrilling at once…had me under its spell until the end’ Sophie Mackintosh, Man Booker Prize-longlisted author of The Water Cure

‘Gripping’ Sunday Times Scotland

© Francine Toon 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

Reseñas de la Crítica

A bravura sequence of adolescent thrill and romantic fireworks that shows Toon at the peak of her powers... What Toon’s really fabulous at… are those compelling teenage relationships that she opens the novel with and whose upshot she unfolds moreishly a decade later.

Like so much good horror, this is about guilt and unreliable memory (Wendy Holden)

Skilfully handled themes of guilt, regret and adolescent confusion coupled with dark academia make for an insidious tingle of doom

Toon’s gift for creating an otherworldly atmosphere in small towns with big secrets is present once again in a novel that explores the desire to escape the ordinary

Toon is great on atmosphere

Atmospheric... Toon layers unease and memory, crafting a chilling, slow-burn novel

[Bluff] explores youthful naivety, adult choices, and how past actions can haunt us for years

[An] atmospheric tale of buried secrets . . . This absolute masterclass in suspense is genuinely unputdownable. I devoured it in a day.

Explores youthful naivety, adult choices, and how past actions can haunt us for years

An utterly gripping novel which keeps you guessing until the end.

A taut, eerie exploration of memory, belief, and the treacherous edges of girlhood. Francine Toon has a knack for getting deep under the skin.

Dark, beguiling, and steeped in menace, Francine Toon spins a brooding mystery which shimmers with unease. It perfectly captures that dread of teenage girlhood.

Bluff is a menacing, wind-swept thriller that creeps up on you as stealthily as a figure in the dark.

Atmospheric, taut and powerfully plotted, Bluff shows how memory can act as both shield and distortion in the pursuit of truth.

Bluff weaves a chilling tale of coercion, deception, and dangerous liaisons, where the dark presence of one's past and hometown coalesce into something truly terrifying. A brilliantly gothic tale.

A literary gothic thriller to chill the marrow

[A] simmering gothic thriller

Splicing small-town domestic drama with grisly mystery and occult thrills… cleverly crafted

As gripping as any boxset

This haunting debut is a must-read for fans of eerie gothic fiction

A thrill of a book

Hugely atmospheric, exquisitely written and utterly gripping

Marries the claustrophobia of rural life with fascinating hints of Scottish myths, to create an emotional read with the pace of a thriller

Carefully calibrated to make every single hair on the back of your neck stand up on end

Eerie and thrilling

Both spooky and tender; drenched in a sense of place and yet eerily timeless

Combines the Gothic sensibilities of Shirley Jackson with the psychologically astute suspense of Gillian Flynn