Title: A LESSON IN CRUELTY
Author: Harriet Tyce
ISBN: 9781472280152
Publisher: Hachette Book Group
Pages: 499
Source: Private Copy
WHAT PRICE WOULD YOU PAY FOR THE PERFECT LIFE?
They say you can’t always get what you want. But you can take it.
Anna wants a fresh start. She doesn’t believe she deserves it, but after three years behind bars she has finally paid her dues. Most of them, anyway.
Lucy craves the attention of the only man she can’t have, her alluring Oxford professor. He’s married – not for the first time. Maybe she should be next in line?
Marie the recluse has been locked up for too long. She’s not ready to be free, but some rules are meant to be broken.
Everyone wants a perfect life. But not everyone is prepared to take it.
Unless someone decides to teach them a lesson.
Official Summary
03 June 2025
What a deliciously dark and sharply addictive read! Harriet Tyce once again delivers a novel brimming with psychological tension, morally murky characters, and her signature unflinching look at the cost of desire and ambition.
A Lesson in Cruelty introduces us to three women—Anna, Lucy, and Marie—each trapped in very different kinds of prisons, both literal and emotional. Tyce masterfully draws their lives together, building an atmosphere thick with suspense and subtle menace. Anna’s attempt at a fresh start after prison is both moving and unsettling; you feel her struggle for redemption while suspecting the past isn’t done with her yet. Lucy, bold and reckless, dances with danger as she navigates a toxic obsession with her Oxford professor, and Marie’s quiet isolation adds an eerie stillness that lingers long after the final page.
Tyce plays with power dynamics beautifully, especially between women and the men who underestimate them. But what truly shines is her ability to make you sympathize with flawed, morally grey characters—even as they cross lines that can’t be uncrossed. You may not agree with them, but you understand them, which makes their choices all the more chilling.
The pacing is pitch-perfect: just when you think you’ve figured someone out, the rug is pulled from beneath you. It’s a clever, compulsively readable thriller that explores guilt, revenge, and how far someone might go to take what they think they deserve.
A Lesson in Cruelty is Harriet Tyce at her best—twisty, bold, and utterly captivating. Highly recommended for fans of psychological suspense that doesn’t flinch from the darker side of the human psyche.
Also By Harriet Tyce
BLOOD ORANGE
Alison has it all. A doting husband, adorable daughter, and a career on the rise – she’s just been given her first murder case to defend. But all is never as it seems…
Just one more night. Then I’ll end it.
Alison drinks too much. She’s neglecting her family. And she’s having an affair with a colleague whose taste for pushing boundaries may be more than she can handle.
I did it. I killed him. I should be locked up.
Alison’s client doesn’t deny that she stabbed her husband – she wants to plead guilty. And yet something about her story is deeply amiss. Saving this woman may be the first step to Alison saving herself.
I’m watching you. I know what you’re doing.
But someone knows Alison’s secrets. Someone who wants to make her pay for what she’s done, and who won’t stop until she’s lost everything….
About the Author
Author bio from the author’s site
Harriet Tyce was born and grew up in Edinburgh. She graduated in 1994 with a degree in English Literature before working as a criminal barrister for nearly a decade.
Having escaped law and early motherhood, she started writing and completed the MA in Creative Writing – Crime Fiction at the University of East Anglia. She has written three novels to date, the Sunday Times bestsellers Blood Orange and The Lies You Told. It Ends At Midnight was published in April 2022 to critical acclaim. She lives in north London with her husband and children, and two very nice dogs.
Harriet Tyce is another author on my backlist reads for 2025. I love her work and this one did not disappoint. A Lesson in Cruelty took a little longer to have me hooked, but it was worth it. I highly recommend adding this one to your TBR. Until next time… Happy Reading!
