Burn After Reading

By: Catherine Ryan Howard

Narrated by: Heather O’Sullivan, Barry Fitzgerald

Brought to you by Penguin.

A ghostwriter is locked in an interview room with a man who might be a murderer, in this gripping new mystery thriller from the #1 bestselling author of 56 Days and The Trap.

The night Jack Smyth ran into flames in a desperate attempt to save his wife from their burning home, he was, tragically, too late - but hailed a hero. Until it emerged that Kate was dead long before the fire began.

Suspicion has stalked him ever since. After all, there's no smoke without fire.

A year on, he's signed a book deal. He wants to tell his side of the story, to prove his own innocence in print. He just needs someone to help him write it.

Emily has never ghostwritten anything before, but she knows what it’s like to live with a guilty secret. And she's about to learn that there are some stories that should never be told . . .

'A masterclass in suspense, utterly addictive, intelligently crafted, and impossible to put down' --Clémence Michallon, internationally bestselling author of The Quiet Tenant

'The perfect thriller' -- L. V. Matthews, author of the Richard and Judy Book Club pick The Twins

'This is one red hot thriller that boasts a vivid, true-crime authenticity at its molten core' --Janice Hallett, bestselling author of The Appeal

© Catherine Ryan Howard 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

Critic reviews

Once again, CRH has upped her game and come up with the most devious plot yet. The relationship between a ghost writer and her subject is separated by the thinnest of veils, especially when he is a murder subject, in this ingeniously twisted, intriguing and entertaining mystery. Bravo!

Catherine Ryan Howard will glue your eyes to the page with Burn After Reading! This is one red hot thriller that boasts a vivid, true-crime authenticity at its molten core. A psychological cat-and-mouse game between a potential wife-killer and his reluctant ghost-writer is played out with a host of brilliant twists, all delivered in Ryan Howard’s lively, effortless style. Five sizzling stars.

Catherine Ryan Howard has once again delivered the perfect thriller. Superbly paced, effortlessly elegant writing, and complex characters who keep you on your toes throughout the narrative. I loved it!

Claustrophobic and menacing, Burn After Reading is a taut thriller that makes for breathless reading as Ryan Howard masterfully takes us from the picture postcard Sanctuary into an ever-tightening knot of scorching hot lies. From the first page to the last satisfying twist, don't pick this book up if you have an early start the next morning!

In Burn After Reading, Catherine Ryan Howard delivers yet another pulse-racing, nerve-jangling masterpiece that grips tight and never lets go. Ingeniously plotted, daring and darkly original

Burn After Reading is a scorcher . . . It. Has. Everything. The setting, the characters, the inside-publishing chit-chat, the echoes of real-life cases, the athlete mentality and most of all the heart-stopping tension. I will always drop everything to read a new Catherine Ryan Howard novel and you should too

Catherine Ryan Howard is one of the most exciting writers working today. In Burn After Reading, she delivers another fascinating, thrilling and truly unputdownable book. I devoured it in a single sitting

I’ve been turning the pages like mad on Catherine Ryan Howard’s book Burn After Reading, which will be out in the new year. It’s a cracking story… I was lucky to get a preview copy and it was perfect for the morning train journey

Tense, atmospheric . . . A couldn't-put-it-down psychological thriller

In Burn After Reading, Catherine Ryan Howard uses her mastery of perspective to craft a brilliant jigsaw puzzle of a story. Sea-soaked and eerily perfect, small-town Florida never felt more claustrophobic