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Daniel Isn't Real: A Novel Audiobook
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Publisher Description
Now a major motion picture!
A breathtaking debut of literary suspense about a young boy’s struggle against his inner demons—a fight to the death against his secret shadow self.
On a chilly November afternoon, six-year-old Luke Nightingale’s life changes forever. On the playground across from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, he encounters Daniel. Soon the boys are hiding from dinosaurs and shooting sniper rifles. Within hours, Luke and his mother, Claire, are welcoming Daniel into their Upper East Side apartment—and their lives.
Daniel and Luke are soon inseparable. With his parents divorcing, Luke takes comfort in having a near-constant playmate. But there’s something strange about Daniel, who is more than happy to bind himself to the Nightingales. The divorce has cut Luke’s father out of the picture, and as his increasingly fragile mother struggles with the insidious family depression, Daniel—shrewd, adventurous, and insightful—provides Luke both recreation and refuge.
As Luke grows from a child to an adolescent to a young man, he realizes that as much as his mother needs him, Daniel needs him more. Jealous of Luke’s other attachments, Daniel moves from gestures of friendship into increasingly sinister manipulations. In the end, Luke finds himself in a daily battle for control of his own life—wondering whether he or Daniel will emerge victorious.
Brian DeLeeuw’s debut is a haunting and provocative story of a family’s love and madness that you will not be able to put down.
*This title was previously published as In This Way I Was Saved.
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“[Daniel Isn’t Real] is a frightening, gripping tale about a sadistic secret sharer, a shadow self who is ready to devour its host. This is one of the most fascinating and controlled first novels I’ve ever read—a sustained performance that hypnotizes and terrifies the reader.”
— Edmund White, author of A Boy’s Own Story
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“Elegant, unsettling, and wildly original…[Daniel Isn’t Real] reads like a coming-of-age-story with the heart of a nasty thriller.”
— Gillian Flynn, #1 New York Times bestselling author -
“Original, subversive, funny, twisted, and totally engrossing, [Daniel Ins’t Real] is a mind-bending tour de force. I read the last page, flipped back to the beginning, and immediately started it again.”
— Chelsea Cain, New York Times bestselling author -
“[Daniel Isn’t Real] gave me chills, not only for its dead-on depiction of the searing loneliness of a hermetically sealed mind, but because it is so thrillingly well-executed. A superb first novel.”
— Kate Christensen, PEN/Faulkner Award–winning author -
“A riveting exploration of the dark side of self…Suspenseful and terrifying, this tale about one’s shadow-self running rampant is highly recommended.”
— Library Journal (starred review) -
“Spellbinding.”
— Publishers Weekly -
“DeLeeuw debuts with a strange tale seething with disturbing psychological overtones…Hitchcock would have loved the premise.”
— Kirkus Reviews -
“Terrifying and terrifyingly good.”
— Vanity Fair -
“A story of friendship and betrayal, violence, madness, lust, and power that will keep you guessing until the very last page—and leave you gasping for air.”
— BookPage -
“I haven’t been this entertained by a debut novel in years.”
— Dale Peck, author of What We Lost
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About Brian DeLeeuw
Brian DeLeeuw is a novelist and screenwriter living in Los Angeles. He is the author of the novels The Dismantling and In This Way I Was Saved, which was long-listed for the Dylan Thomas Prize, as well as the independent horror film Some Kind of Hate. He is a graduate of Princeton University and received his MFA in Fiction from The New School.
About Kirby Heyborne
Kirby Heyborne is a musician, actor, and professional narrator. Noted for his work in teen and juvenile audio, he has garnered over twenty Earphones Awards. His audiobook credits include Jesse Kellerman’s The Genius, Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother, and George R. R. Martin’s Selections from Dreamsongs.