Flat 401

All Jay wants is to start again, to set himself up in a small, quiet town where no one knows him. Because here, no one will let him forget what they think he did the day his neighbour died in Flat 401.

He just needs to keep doing what he's always done: treat people with kindness and respect, and try to stay out of trouble. But when a threatening note makes its way into the hostel he's forced to call home - Everyone is going to know what you really did - his hope for a fresh start begins to crumble.

Jay fears that the secret he's fought so hard to hide, that he went to prison to protect, might finally come out. How far is he willing to go to keep his freedom alive? And with a shadowy figure from his past tracking Jay's every move, perhaps it's not just his freedom Jay should be worried about being taken from him, but his life...

Flat 401 is a tense, character-driven thriller perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell, Paula Hawkins and Mark Billingham.

This is a propulsive thriller that's rich with deliciously dark undertones. Pearson's writing is insightful on the themes of race, sexuality, guilt, grief and internalised homophobia. The fact that Pearson is a psychologist comes through in the layered depiction of the characters in this cleverly written multi narrator novel. -- Chris Bridges
Flat 401 by Kingsley Pearson asks a simple question: what happens when you are sent to prison for something you didn't (quite) do - and then return to the free world? An intense exploration of the shadows that lie between guilt and innocence. Vaseem Khan
I loved it! What a great read... Written with real insight into the human condition. Pearson's skills as a clinical psychologist are put to good use in this accomplished debut, where nothing is as it seems... This cerebral thriller is a welcome addition to a genre that rarely steps out of its comfort zone. Iqbal Hussain
Flat 401 is a brutally raw story of how corrosive shame and longing can spiral into terrible tragedy, and is a nuanced exploration of the legacy of guilt and the desperate fight to free ourselves from the mistakes of the past. Philippa East
Flat 401 is a compelling and psychologically astute thriller about the difficult choices we take in life, and the ongoing impact of trauma and guilt. A great new voice in crime fiction. Anna Sharpe
Flat 401 is a deliciously dark thriller about an ex-offender's attempt to rebuild his life under the long shadow of a heinous crime. Richly layered and brimming with authentic detail, it explores trauma, guilt and redemption, and asks who deserves a second chance? Kia Abdullah
A contemporary, authentic, compelling mystery suffused with intrigue, Flat 401 will hook you in from the start and keep you turning the pages until its final, shocking twists. But this is much more than a thriller - it's a social novel for the 2020s: an exploration of identity, relationships, and redemption. Pearson is a gifted storyteller who brings a vivid, multisensory, ungentrified London to life, using his experience as a frontline Clinical Psychologist to take us deep into his characters' inner worlds. An outstanding debut. Chris Merritt
Flat 401 by Kingsley Pearson asks a simple question: what happens when you are sent to prison for something you didn't (quite) do - and then return to the free world? An intense exploration of the shadows that lie between guilt and innocence. Vaseem Khan
I loved it! What a great read... Written with real insight into the human condition. Pearson's skills as a clinical psychologist are put to good use in this accomplished debut, where nothing is as it seems... This cerebral thriller is a welcome addition to a genre that rarely steps out of its comfort zone. Iqbal Hussain
Flat 401 is a brutally raw story of how corrosive shame and longing can spiral into terrible tragedy, and is a nuanced exploration of the legacy of guilt and the desperate fight to free ourselves from the mistakes of the past. Philippa East
Flat 401 is a compelling and psychologically astute thriller about the difficult choices we take in life, and the ongoing impact of trauma and guilt. A great new voice in crime fiction. Anna Sharpe
Flat 401 is a deliciously dark thriller about an ex-offender's attempt to rebuild his life under the long shadow of a heinous crime. Richly layered and brimming with authentic detail, it explores trauma, guilt and redemption, and asks who deserves a second chance? Kia Abdullah

Kingsley Pearson works as a Clinical Psychologist in digital mental health. He wants to tell compelling stories that engage, reward re-reading, are well-written, and speak to people on deeper personal or social-issue levels. He is a mixed-race British gay man, all of which influences his approach to writing: the perspective he takes on it, the issues he wants to address, and the stories he wants to tell.

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