Viking snaps up two 'sun lounger thrillers' from Smith

Viking has snapped up two "sun lounger thrillers" from Nikki Smith. 

Harriet Bourton, publisher, and Vikki Moynes, commissioning editor, bought UK and Commonwealth rights to The Beach Party and The Perfect Escape from Sophie Lambert at C&W. The Beach Party will publish in paperback, e-book and audio in July 2023 with The Perfect Escape following in July 2024. 

The publisher explained: "The Beach Party promises sun, sea, sand... and just a touch of murder. Split between the 1980s and present day, it follows six friends on the post-university holiday of their dreams. A hedonistic beach party marks the pinnacle of their fun – until it isn’t fun any longer. Amid the hazy drug-fuelled partying, something terrible happens that binds them inextricably. Thirty years later, the truth has been collectively buried. But someone knows what they did that summer – and now they are going to make them pay..." 

Moynes said: “Nikki has crafted an utterly scintillating, drama-filled novel that transported me entirely to the surreally blue Mallorcan sea, doused me in tequila and compelled me to turn the pages at a rate of knots! Nikki has an instinctual understanding of human psychology that make her characters and their relationships deliciously complicated, she throws them into this gloriously opulent setting and hits them with twist after brilliant twist. I was fully on the edge of my seat as she fooled me again and again.” 

Bourton added: “I had the pleasure of publishing Nikki’s first two novels and we are so excited to seize her potential here at Viking. Nikki’s talents for intricate plotting, capturing the texture of a character and understanding what her audience want are shown at their best in these scorching thrillers that read like a glossy HBO drama! The Beach Party is the perfect sun lounger thriller."

Smith said: "I couldn’t be happier to be working with Harriet again. She, along with Vikki and the incredibly talented team at Viking, had a clear vision for both books from the start, and it’s evident their ambitions align exactly with my own. I cannot wait to introduce The Beach Party to readers next July.”