[]
The Lover
  • Published: 4 July 2026
  • ISBN: 9780857506054
  • Imprint: Bantam
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 384
  • RRP: $55.00
Categories:

The Lover

Formats & editions
Tr. Paperback
2 June 2026
Hardback
4 July 2026
EBook
4 June 2026
Audiobook
4 June 2026
Pre-order from…
Amazon Booktopia Dymocks QBD Readings Your Bookstore Abbeys Boomerang Find local retailers Find local retailers Collins Fishpond Gleebooks Harry Hartog Kinokuniya Robinsons The Nile Mighty Ape

The unputdownable new domestic thriller from the instant Irish Times bestselling author of THE CLEANER, about a woman accused of murdering her lover.

You never know what happens behind closed doors.

Rafe seems like your perfect man – intelligent, charming, attractive.

He also happens to be your boss.

You’re too swept up to care for office gossip. In Rafe, you have found the one.

You go back to his house one evening and falls asleep in his arms.

When you wake, you reach out for him. But something feels cold beside you…

Rafe is dead – murdered in bed as you lay next to him – and everyone is going to think you did it.
  • Published: 4 July 2026
  • ISBN: 9780857506054
  • Imprint: Bantam
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 384
  • RRP: $55.00
Categories:

About the author

Mary Watson

Mary Watson is from South Africa and now lives on the west coast of Ireland. She has a PhD from the University of Cape Town, where she taught for many years. She won the Caine Prize for African Writing for her adult publishing in South Africa, and in 2014 was named on the Africa39 list of writers under 40 with the potential to define trends in African literature. Her YA novels have been nominated for the Irish Book Awards and the Carnegie medal. Her adult debut, The Cleaner, was an instant Irish Times bestseller.
MW

Also by Mary Watson

The Cleaner
See all

Praise for The Lover

Praise for Mary Watson

:

A heart-thumping thriller packed with exciting twists.

Daily Mail

Thrilling and otherworldly.

Sunday Times

A masterclass in tension. Plotted like an intricate spider's web, I was glued to the page for the entirety.

Jennie Godfrey, Sunday Times bestselling author of The List of Suspicious Things

Revenge is a dish best served up spotless...The relentless attention to detail is wonderfully claustrophobic.

Sunday Independent

Domestic noir at its finest.

i Paper

A modern fairy tale – beautiful, dark, visceral, truly spellbinding.

Sunday Times and Irish Times No. 1 bestselling author Andrea Mara

Tense from the first page, the pressure builds inexorably. A multifaceted tale of secrets, obsessions and betrayals.

Sam Lloyd, bestselling author of The Memory Wood

Absolutely thrilling. Mary Watson is fast establishing herself as one of the most sophisticated and elegant contemporary domestic thriller writers around.

Edel Coffey

Tight, tense and beautifully written and very human - my favourite kind of thriller.

Kitty Murphy, author of the Dublin Drag Mysteries

The Lover is the kind of book that gets under your skin — in the best way. Mary Watson has delivered another unputdownable thriller!

Jen Bray, author of The Lies Between Us

A hooky, twisty psychological thriller. It kept me turning the pages until the satisfying end.

Fiona Gartland

No one does creeping domestic noir like Mary Watson. Tense and truthful – with a killer ending.

Gill Perdue, author of If I Tell

The Lover is a thrillingly fast-paced and addictive read. Hallie’s voice pulls you in from the very first page and breathlessly drags you along for the ride.

Deborah Masson, author of I'll Be Watching You

I was hooked from the first page. Pacy, twisty and full of suspense.

Lisa Hall

I DEVOURED The Lover!

Michelle McDonagh, bestselling author of There’s Something I Have to Tell You

Engrossing and twisty.

Amy Jordan, author of The Dark Hours

A gripping twisty whodunnit exploring the line between love and obsession, care and coercion. An entirely thrilling read with a punch of an ending. Loved it!

L. D. Smithson

I absolutely loved this book - didn't see the twist coming at all. Beautiful pacing and a gripping read.

Emma Mason