The Lizard: A taut, cerebral thriller where political betrayal meets psychological collapse

by Domenic Stansberry

S.E. Reynolds is a former investigative reporter now working as a political ghostwriter. He is thrust into the center of a conspiracy investigation after an illicit romance turns deadly. His efforts to untangle himself only entangle him deeper, drawing the attention of government agents with their own agenda.

An unlikely hero, candidly amoral, shunning idealism, Reynolds works for candidates at either side of the political spectrum. At the same time, he possesses a deep if complicated love for his beautiful, unknowable wife; his aging parents; his children.

The Lizard is the story of man trapped between a relentless security apparatus and a personal reckoning from which there is no apparent escape. As the tale unfolds, the differences between the outer world and the inner inexorably dissolve, leading to psychic and physical transformation at once unimaginable and inevitable.

Kindle Edition

Expected publication October 8, 2026

About the author

Domenic Stansberry is an Edgar Award winning novelist known for his dark, innovative crime novels. His latest novel, The White Devil, tells the story of a young American woman in Rome, an aspiring actress, who— together with her too charming brother— is implicated in a series of crimes dating back to her childhood days in Texas. Stansberry is also the author of the North Beach Mystery Series, which has won wide praise for its portrayal of the ethnic and political subcultures of San Francisco. Books from the series include The Ancient Rain, named several years after its original publication as one of the best crime novels of the decade by Booklist.

An earlier novel, The Confession, received the Edgar Allan Poe Award for its portrayal of a Marin County psychologist accused of murdering his mistress.

Stansberry grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and currently lives in a small town north of that city with his wife, the poet Gillian Conoley, and their daughter Gillis.