The House of Fame: A Novel

From the author of the acclaimed The Hollow Man and Deep Shelter, comes the third installment featuring the shrewd, cynical, and brilliant London detective, Nick Belsey, whose investigation into a child’s disappearance pulls him into the hedonistic orbit of a young, hot celebrity actress/musician and the dark world lurking underneath its glamorous exterior.

Twenty-seven, rich and beautiful, Amber Knight is living everyone’s dream. Her music career is established, her acting career is taking off, and she has a lifestyle fit for the top of the A-List.

So why has she started acting so strangely?

At least, that’s how it seems to Nick Belsey. A less celebrated resident of North London, Belsey’s decade-long career at Hampstead CID is coming to an abrupt end, but he still can’t seem to kick his habit of getting into serious trouble. When he’s asked by a desperate mother to help find her only son, Belsey has to infiltrate Amber’s glittering world. The seedy underside to her seemingly perfect life—a realm of excess, obsession, lust, and greed—doesn’t surprise him. What does is the blood trail that leads directly to Amber.

As one twisted crime is followed by another, Belsey finds himself chasing even more answers than when he started out. And when the stakes are raised dangerously high, Belsey’s own survival is at stake. It may be too late to save his reputation but he’s not ready to die just yet—and especially not at the hands of a celebrity.

“Harris has a terrific sense of place, hurtling between the wealthiest and most-run-down areas of London. But the cleverest thing about his third Belsey novel is the way the plot unfolds in a chilling and totally unexpected direction.”—Sunday Times (London)

Twenty-seven, rich, and beautiful, Amber Knight is living everyone’s dream. Her music career is established, her acting career is taking off, and she has a lifestyle fit for the top of the A-list.

So why has she started acting so strangely?

At least, that’s how it seems to Nick Belsey. A less celebrated resident of north London, Belsey’s decade-long career at Hampstead Criminal Investigative Department is coming to an abrupt end, but he still can’t seem to kick his habit of getting into serious trouble. When he’s asked by a desperate mother to help find her only son, Belsey has to infiltrate Amber’s glittering world. The seedy underside to her seemingly perfect life—a realm of excess, obsession, lust, and greed—doesn’t surprise him. What does is the blood trail that leads directly to Amber.

As one twisted crime follows another, Belsey finds himself chasing more answers than when he started out. The stakes are raised dangerously high and Belsey’s own survival is at stake. It may be too late to save his reputation, but he’s not ready to die just yet—and especially not at the hands of a celebrity.

“Harris’s heart-pounding second outing for Det. Constable Nick Belsey (after 2012’s Hollow Man), an unsuccessful manhunt leads Belsey to the entrance of a disused underground bunker in London’s Belsize Park. Upon discovering a cache of champagne and pharmaceuticals in this Cold War-era bomb shelter, Belsey decides to impress his art-student girlfriend, Jemma Stevens, by taking her there. During the underground tour, Jemma vanishes. Belsey, who fears that he’ll be the prime suspect in her disappearance, soon starts receiving taunting messages from Jemma’s kidnapper, who has taken the name of a notorious Soviet spy, Ferryman. Belsey must discover Ferryman’s identity, uncover the secrets of a vast network of shelters underneath London, and avoid capture both by the city’s police force and U.K.security services. His frenetic quest to save Jemma and clear his name will keep readers turning the pages.” - Publishers Weekly

Praise for Deep Shelter: “Harris’s heart-pounding second outing for Det. Constable Nick Belsey (after 2012’s Hollow Man)…. His frenetic quest…will keep readers turning the pages.” - Publishers Weekly

Praise for Deep Shelter: “Extremely entertaining…. This is a real nail-biter and a great ride for readers.” - Suspense Magazine

Praise for The Hollow Man: “A twisting spiral of lies and corruption, a pitch-perfect portrait of contemporary London and a beguiling bastard of a hero—what a recipe for a great read.” - Val McDermid

“This is an astonishingly good first novel. Its plot is original, its dialogue lively, and in DC Belsey—the man who can’t make up his mind whether he’s a corrupt slacker or a dedicated detective and seems cursed to be both at once—it has a protagonist who truly stands out from the crowd.” - Morning Star

“Harris has a terrific sense of place, hurtling between the wealthiest and most-run-down areas of London. But the cleverest thing about his third Belsey novel is the way the plot unfolds in a chilling and totally unexpected direction.” - Sunday Times (London)

“Harris’s stellar third crime novel featuring North London police detective Nick Belsey combines an intriguing and surprising plot with an uncompromisingly bleak worldview that fans of Cornell Woolrich’s despairing noir fiction will relish…. Belsey emerges as a memorably flawed protagonist.” - Publishers Weekly, starred and boxed review

“Oliver Harris is a new British writer of great promise.” - Philip Pullman, New York Times bestselling author of trilogy His Dark Materials (NYTBR)

“Wonderful setup…. A character you can’t quite shake, especially if you find a certain fascination in bent cops.” - Booklist Online

“As eerie as le Carré‘s Berlin or Larsson’s Stockholm.” - Evening Standard (UK)

“A picture perfect portrait of contemporary London.” - Val McDermid

“A fast-paced thriller that is also nuanced and evocative…hats off to Harris, who has, once again, managed it with style and authority.” - The Guardian

“Non-stop activity is exhaustingly gripping, and Oliver Harris is punchy and perceptive.” - The Times (UK)

“Meticulously plotted, with a delirious, haunted, paranoid atmosphere. Belsey is an irresistible mixture of the reliable and the reckless, laconic and tightly wound… Harris writes beautifully… Imbued with an uncommon subtlety and intelligence, House of Fame is a superb novel.” - Irish Times

“A superb novel about the demonic detective who breaks all the rules.… Harris has a rare ability to combine storytelling that has a freewheeling, improvisatory feel with a plot that has been long hours in the concocting. Belsey…is fast becoming the best anti-hero in British crime fiction.” - Telegraph