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HQ has grabbed a new thriller from Christina Dalcher, author of VOX.
Cicely Aspinall, senior commissioning editor, acquired world all-language rights for Vita directly from the author. It will publish in summer 2023.
Aspinall said: “VOX was a genre-defining novel and now with Vita, Christina Dalcher has delivered an extraordinarily gripping, high-concept read that no thriller fan will want to miss. I inhaled it in two sittings, on the edge of my seat as it built to the pulse-pounding finale. This is a smart, slick, thought-provoking page-turner with stakes about as high as they can get. We’re delighted to continue working with Christina and reach even more readers for her books.”
Dalcher added: “HQ have been a champion of my books from the very beginning. The entire team, from editorial to publicity to graphics support, provides a model every publisher should emulate and I couldn’t be happier to continue working with them.”
Vita is described as a “propulsive, high-concept thriller set in a Virginia where a new law tries to remedy what can’t be undone”.
The synopsis says: “A prosecutor can still seek the death penalty but her own life is forfeit if it turns out that the person executed was innocent. Justine Boucher Callaghan is one such prosecutor. After a life campaigning against the death penalty, she never expected to ask for it. But in the aftermath of the death of her husband, and faced with the monstrous murder of a child and absolute certainty of Jake Milford’s guilt, she seeks the death penalty. Yet shortly after his execution, Justine is presented with evidence that could prove his innocence—evidence that could send Justine to the electric chair. She now faces a choice: investigate the evidence and risk her own life, or bury it and know the real killer walks free. But is the choice really hers to make?”