False Hearts is a near-future thriller out now in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audio.
Purchase links:
Forbidden Planet / Indiebound / Book Depository / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Audible / Barnes & Noble / Powells / Booksamillion / Waterstones / Fishpond / Kobo / iBooks / Hive / Indigo
Audiobook is available on Audible and iTunes.
Read the prologue and chapter one on the Tor/Forge blog!
UK Hardcover
UK Paperback
UK cover copy:
One night Tila stumbles home, terrified and covered in blood.
She’s arrested for murder, the first by a civilian in decades. The San Francisco police suspect involvement with Verve, a powerful drug, and offer her twin sister Taema a chilling deal. Taema must assume Tila’s identity and gather information – then if she brings down the drug syndicate, the police may let her sister live. But Taema’s investigation raises ghosts from the twins’ past.
The sisters were raised by a cult, which banned modern medicine. But as conjoined t
wins, they needed surgery to divide their shared heart – and escaped. Taema now finds Tila discovered links between the cult and the city’s underground. Once unable to keep secrets, the sisters will discover the true cost of lies.
US cover copy:
US Cover
A near-future thriller of underworld intrigue, murder, mistaken identity, shared dreams, and next-generation biotechnology.
Twin sisters Taema and Tila, conjoined until the age of sixteen, are in their midtwenties when they’re drawn into a deadly battle for control of a drug that facilitates a disturbing form of lucid dreaming.
One night Tila stumbles home, terrified and covered in blood. She’s arrested for murder, the first homicide by a civilian in decades. The San Francisco police suspect involvement with Verve, an illicit narcotic that allows violent minds to enact their darkest desires in a terrifying dreamscape, and they offer her twin, Taema, a chilling deal. If Taema assumes Tila’s identity and obtains the information needed to take down the city’s drug syndicate, the police may let her sister live. But Taema’s investigation stir up ghosts from the twins’ past.
Raised in the closed cult of Mana’s Heart and denied access to modern technology, Taema and Tila dared to dream of a life beyond the walls of the compound. When the heart they shared began to fail, the twins escaped to San Francisco, where they were surgically separated and given new artificial hearts. From then on they pursued lives beyond anything they could have potentially imagined.
But that freedom comes with a price; once unable to keep secrets from each other, Taema and Tila learn the true cost of lies.
Praise:
BBC Radio 2 Book Club Selection, July 2016
Romantic Times Top Pick for June 2016
Wired’s Summer Reads List 2016
io9’s Summer Reads List 2016
Marie Clare’s Summer Reads List 2016
Locus Magazine Recommended Read 2016
Trade:
“Lam expertly explores themes of identity, totalitarian governments, cults, mind control, and familial love.”
– Publishers Weekly
“Its vision of the future is seductively terrifying.”
– SFX
“An intriguing and fast-paced tale.”
– Heat
“A chilling read that will have you gripped from page one . . . A must read.”
– Woman’s Own
“A strong sci-fi thriller.”
– SciFiNow
“Laura has been slowly building her name up in the publishing world the last few years. But it’s False Hearts that is likely to get her worldwide recognition. This novel fits in between the genres of a thriller and a sci-fi and is likely to be a hit within the UK [. . .] A truly great read from a great writer.”
– Starburst
“This is an original, riveting, multi-layered, suspenseful page-turner with vivid character development that is flawlessly executed throughout. You will be sucked in from the very first words.”
– Romantic Times (Top Pick)
“Fast-paced and full of intrigue from start to finish [. . .] [False Hearts] is a high-wire act, and Lam pulls it off brilliantly, playing each sister at her own game and doling out backstory with masterful timing. Like Taema, you’ll hardly have a chance to catch your breath.”
– Barnes & Noble
“False Hearts does exactly what it says on the tin—it’s a near-future crime thriller featuring psychoactive drugs, dreamscapes, corruption, futurist technology and power struggles. It’s also about two young women who are bound by love just as tightly, as strongly as they were once by shared flesh. This is the story of them re-discovering each other, and in doing so, understanding more about themselves too.”
– tor.com
Authors:
“Just fantastic. Rarely have I torn through a book so quickly. Dark, smart, fast-paced & sexy.”
– Samantha Shannon, author of The Bone Season
“A strong debut from someone who’s clearly got what it takes.”
– Peter F. Hamilton, bestselling author of the Commonwealth saga
“False Hearts is that rarest of things – a fast-paced thriller with tons of heart and soul. Set in a chillingly believable future, it’s bursting with original concepts and unforgettable characters. I defy anyone to put it down.”
– Sarah Lotz, author of The Three
“I thoroughly enjoyed it, from its explosive beginning right through to a very satisfying end. This is very much a character-driven piece, and although the story is of twins, it is really Taema’s tale. I can happily say False Hearts has been the highlight of my year’s reading so far.”
– James Oswald, author of the Inspector McLean series
“Gorgeous prose, vividly rendered characters, and a story that moves like a ballistic missile.”
– Wesley Chu, author of Time Salvager and the Tao series.
“A taut futuristic thriller, set in a San Francisco where everybody is beautiful… and nobody is exceptional. Two unusual sisters are caught in a war for control of a society that quietly suffocates its outsiders, rebels, and the damaged. Taema and Tila are all three, and their strange past and unique bond make False Hearts a difficult book to put down.”
– A. M. Dellamonica, author of Child of a Hidden Sea
“A multi-layered, suspenseful thriller, False Hearts explores themes of identity and power in a breakneck plot that keeps the pages turning.”
– Ilana C. Myer, author of Last Song Before Night
“Riveting and genuinely moving.”
– F. Paul Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of the Repairman Jack series
“An ingenious premise, and Laura Lam executes it flawlessly. Gritty and wise, your own pulse will be racing as you get caught up in this exciting tale.”
– Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award winning author of Red Planet Blues
Publishers:
UK – Pan Macmillan
US – Tor/Forge
Italy – Fanucci Editore
France – Bragelonne
Germany – Heyne Verlag
Media Inquiries:
For publicity, contact Emma Draude at ED Public Relations (UK) or Alexis Saarela at Tor/Forge (US)
Foreign rights are held by Juliet Mushens of Caskie Mushens.
Film/TV rights represented by Michelle Kroes & Jon Cassir of Creative Artists Agency.
