Tony Strong also writes under the pseudonym J.P. Delaney.
Tony Strong was born in 1962 in Uganda, though his parents came back to the UK when he was six weeks old. He read English at Oxford under the playwright and poet Francis Warner and then went on to work as an advertising copywriter at Ogilvy and Mather, an agency which had already bred writers such as Salman Rushdie and Fay Weldon.
Tony Strong has made more than thirty television commercials, including the celebrated BUPA 'You’re Amazing, We Want You To Stay That Way ' campaign, and the American Express campaign. He has won a BAFTA for a campaign aimed at reducing solvent abuse - one of the very few drug abuse campaigns that have ever been shown to have a measurable effect. Tony Strong was recently poached by Abbot Mead Vickers, whose main account is British Telecom. He has published four novels: THE POISON TREE, THE DEATH PIT, THE DECOY and TELL ME LIES. THE DECOY has been bought for film by Twentieth Century Fox for Arnold Kopelson. TELL ME LIES was recently adapted by Granada Television into a series entitled LIE TO ME.
He has also written under several pseudonyms, including Anthony Capella.
This was quite a rivetting read until right at the end when it became a little disappointing with the 'as if' ending which made me drop what would have been a 4 star rating back to a 3. Still I will be interested in reading another of Tony Strong's works, this being the first of his books I have read.
Update of Review - A couple of days after I wrote this review I realised that what I thought of as a "as if" ending is actually based on a true story apparently, so I was probably wrong with my view. Not sure it would deserve a 4 star rating though so am leaving it at 3 (and a half?)!
What a terrific book. Can easily understand how Tony Strong is the pre-runner of J.P.Delaney.... All the characters in this story are so 3 dimensional I could almost touch them. There were times I just wanted to put this book down it was that stressful, but thankfully I didn't and carried on to the end. unfortunately I have read all the published Delaney books apart from the new one which doesn't get on to the shelves until March..... but in the meantime will grab myself what Tony Strong books I can find. !
Oh what a tangled web we weave...& there's certainly a tangled web of lies here! A really gripping read which had me hooked throughout. I particularly liked the format of having the story told in the first person by both Ros & Bill. My only criticism is the ending (isn't it always)- not too credible? Don't want to say too much & spoil it for future readers but lets just say I wasn't expecting what Ros, & Bill for that matter, could be capable of - although what makes the tale all the more shocking is the fact that it's based on a true story. Wonder how it all ended for the "real" Ros......
Guter, spannender Thriller. Das Ende wird dann wieder ganz schön abstrus. Ich hab auch nicht ganz kapiert, ob der Hinweis darauf, dass das ganze auf einem 'echten' Fall basieren soll, ebenfalls fiktional ist und zur Geschichte gehört, oder ob es dafür tatsächlich eine reelle Vorlage gegeben hat.
Was a gripping read! I knew the film to this beforehand so I thought I was prepared for what was coming - boy was I wrong! 😅 Only four out of five stars though because some things around the end just feel off and out of character. Still really enjoyed reading!
Wow...what a fantastic read. I didn't want to put it down...I actually truly wanted to know what was going to happen to Ros - how much of what she told us was true...who really was the rapist.
A fantastic tale of truth and fiction that shows just what lenghts people will go to in order to save themselves.
One of the best thrillers I have ever read - and you have no idea whatsoever of what will happen or who the killer is. There were nights when I couldn't sleep because of this book, not because I read it - but because it scared me so much. Excellent!!
I liked this book. I couldn't put it down once I started reading it, and I read it in one day. The many turns the plot took was always unexpected, but good.