Head of Zeus scoops Wolf’s ‘propulsive’ thriller

Head of Zeus has landed Five Nights by Rachel Wolf, a standalone thriller set on a cruise ship. 

Laura Palmer, publishing director for fiction, acquired world English language rights from Eve White at Eve White Agency. It will be published by Head of Zeus in September 2023 in hardback, trade paperback, e-book and audio, with the paperback publishing in June 2024.

“Five Nights stars a powerful family, the Scarmados, who start to unravel when the head of the family decides to take his four adult children and his new, young wife on the maiden voyage of one of his luxury cruise ships,” the synopsis reads. “From the moment they arrive on the ship, sinister things start to happen. And, looming over everyone, is the question that haunts them all. What really happened to Mattia’s first wife three years ago?”

Palmer said: “I love Rachel’s lyrical and compelling writing, and she is in her element here with this tightly plotted, claustrophobic and propulsive novel about a family’s dark secrets coming to light over five nights at sea. What makes this thriller really memorable, though, is Rachel’s characters: fundamentally flawed, and with skeletons in their closets rattling to come out, but nevertheless psychologically real, vulnerable and loveable.”

Wolf is also, under the pen name Rachael Blok, the author of a series of police procedurals set in St Albans. Ever since travelling on a luxury cruise at the end of the pandemic in 2021, she has wanted to write a thriller set amid the glamour and isolation of luxury life at sea.

She commented: “I couldn’t be more excited to work with the amazing Head of Zeus team on Five Nights. This book burst out of lockdown with me, when travelling abroad was still impossible. Cruising was luxurious and felt like an escape, and yet we didn’t leave the channel. The story was born on board: claustrophobia and a deep dive into the darker side of family and friendship. I started writing it on board and I can’t wait to see it realised.”

White added: “I am thrilled that Head of Zeus will be publishing this cracking page-turner of a novel. Rachel has crafted such a clever and moreish plot so full of suspense that I simply couldn’t put it down.”