Silence
Jonah never thought he had it in him to kill a woman, but he was wrong. She was lying at his feet.
He had to make the call. Grabbing the receiver on the old landline phone, he dialled in the number. It took so long for the dial to turn back. 9 click-click-click, 9 click-click-click, 9 click-click-click.
‘Which service do you require?’
‘Ambulance ‒police ‒both.’ Her scream still drilled in his ear even though she was silent. He’d only thought to shut her up. ‘I think I’ve hurt someone.’
When Jenny, a concert violinist, moves to an atmospheric old house in Blackheath, it seems like the answer to her prayers. The eccentric owner, Bridget, is keen to share her house with like-minded artists and also living there is the charismatic actor, Jonah, who is dogged by his traumatic past; both a curse and a blessing as his edgy persona gains traction in the acting world.
Jenny is herself battling demons; unable to speak after a catastrophic incident when she was a teenager, she is reliant on strong painkillers to dull the constant pain. Gradually, an insidious addiction takes hold and Jenny’s life spirals out of control.
The housemates find themselves battling to save not only their sanity, but also their lives…
Joss was born on the borders of East London and Essex. Leaving Essex behind for Cambridge, she went on to have careers in British diplomacy, as a policy adviser for Oxfam and along the way gained a doctorate in English Literature from Oxford University. More recently she has written for children and young adults, winning awards in both categories. She has published over fifty novels that have been translated into many languages. She lives in Oxford. Don’t Trust Me is her debut novel for adults.