A terrifying psychological thriller which plays on your deepest, darkest, most primeval fears|It's the news every parent dreads: Ed Lister's world changes forever the day he hears his art-student daughter has been brutally murdered in Florence. A year later, frustrated with the police inquiry, Ed vows to find Sophie's killer. His quest leads to a mysterious website -- and its owner, Ward, a charming, brilliant psychopath. But as the search for Ward follows a trail of bodies across Europe to America, some of Ed's own secrets begin to emerge. And the question arises: is Ed the hunter, or the hunted?|'Utterly gripping - the best thriller of the Internet age I have ever read. It lures you into the seductive world of the chat-room, where nothing is quite what it seems, and the mundane shades chillingly into the sinister. There were times when I scarcely dared to turn the page.' -- Magnus Linklater 20080427 'A classic thriller of the highest quality -- complex, meticulously researched and skilfully told -- but it goes further, taking the genre into cyber-space and giving terror a whole new dimension. The murderous hacker enters unobserved into his victims' lives. Reality and virtual reality become confused. The protagonists criss-cross the globe by train and plane but the digital avenger is always one step ahead. A compulsive read.' -- Piers Paul Read 20080427 'Tautly crafted and chilling, if there's a rush of people cancelling internet chatroom accounts this month blame the dark talent of Charles Maclean' -- Daily Record 20080702 'I was SO impressed by Charles Maclean's HOME BEFORE DARK - what a gripping, disturbing, utterly up to the minute thriller - such an achievement' -- Joanna Trollope 20080702 'Packed with blood, murder and mayhem, HOME BEFORE DARK is a particularly disturbing thriller - menacing!gruesome!original. Gird yourself and don't underestimate Maclean.' -- Spectator 20080702 'A thriller that gripped me by the throat and wouldn't let go for 36 tortured hours, HOME BEFORE DARK chills the eyes as well as the spine. I have never seen such evil leak out of a computer screen. Maclean is a master of electronic horror.' -- Ferdinand Mount 20080702 'Like the best horror stories, HOME BEFORE DARK creates a stifling, claustrophobic atmosphere; it catches you up so you feel you are a player in the plot, not just an observer. It doesn't let you rest: you wake in the night and carry on reading -- and as more pieces of the jig-saw fall into place, you begin to see the potential horror just as the protagonists become aware of it. Marvellously ingenious and unexpected.' -- Scotch Whisky Review 20080702 'Intricately plotted and cast in understated prose, HOME BEFORE DARK kept me up long after midnight.' -- Bloomberg 20080702 'A very well written thriller, with moments of genuine suspense and jeopardy, HOME BEFORE DARK is a modern horror story full of very human demons.' -- Mike Ripley's Crime File 20080702|Charles Maclean is married with four children and lives on the west coast of Argyll, where he runs a small estate and holiday cottage business. An associate editor of Travel and Leisure magazine, Maclean spent ten years in New York, from where he wrote a column for the London Evening Standard. He was a founder member of the Ecologist magazine and with Edward Goldsmith helped launch 'Blueprint For Survival', which became a handbook for the environmental movement in the UK. He has written several acclaimed works of fiction and non-fiction including the prize-winning classic Island on the Edge of the World.