The Burning Time

To discover the truth sometimes you have to play with fire...

By: Peter Hanington

Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble

Old-school reporter William Carver returns in this deeply topical and dramatic international thriller.

'Smart and topical' Financial Times (An FT Best New Thriller 2023)

'A compelling, fast-paced thriller' Sun

Australian inventor and geoengineer Clive Winner is the genius who brought the Great Barrier Reef back from the brink, yet his ambition goes well beyond that. He wants to save the planet.

For the all-powerful fossil-fuel industry, Winner is their 'get out of jail free card'. If he can engineer a solution to climate change, business can continue as usual.

When old-school journalist William Carver is tipped off by a trusted Whitehall source that climate scientists have begun to go missing in suspicious circumstances, his gut instinct tells him to follow the story. It rapidly becomes clear that scientists, green campaigners and well-intentioned politicians are in the firing line; William Carver and his colleagues must move fast to find out who is behind the disappearances. They know the journalist's job is to speak truth to power - but first you must uncover that truth and this time it's buried deeper than ever.

Racing between Sydney, New York, Seville and London, The Burning Time is an intelligent, timely and fast-paced thriller for the twenty-first century.

'Deftly plotted . . . a propulsive read' Straits Times

'This adrenaline-laced adventure packs a mighty punch' Irish Independent

'A brilliant thriller with a timely and essential reminder of what journalism is supposed to be' James O'Brien, LBC

(P)2023 Hodder & Stoughton Limited©2023 Peter Hanington

Critic reviews

A smart and topical thriller

A compelling, fast-paced thriller blended with environmental issues. Hotly topical

This adrenalin-laced adventure packs a mighty punch . . . Peter Hanington's global thriller could not be more topical

Deftly plotted . . . a propulsive read

Peter Hanington is a master of his craft and in William Carver he gives us the hero we didn't know we needed in an age of fake news and egregious political liars . . . Hanington's triumph is to blend a brilliant thriller with a timely and essential reminder of what journalism is supposed to be. He rides the zeitgeist like Frankie Dettori rides horses (James O'Brien, LBC)

The Burning Time is terrific. [It] will be a classic of the genre (Peter Hennessy, author of A DUTY OF CARE)

A wonderfully taut piece of plotting and, like all good roller-coasters, it regularly turns your stomach over as you are swept along; Hanington's endlessly inventive story telling gives you that edgy feeling that everything (the whole world, in this case) could go horribly wrong by the end of the book, and it boasts more bodies than a Jacobean Revenge charity. Thank God for the reassuring presence of William Carver (Edward Stourton)

Well written and paced, this thriller is both a tribute to and a demonstration of the importance of traditional investigative journalism

Peter Hanington has a journalist's nose for stories likely to make tomorrow's Radio 4 news . . . The Burning Time is a headline-grabbing thriller

Seeks to expose the dark arts, denialism and danger of the carbon lobby and adds another fine and important thriller to an exceptional series (Material Witness blog)

Under appreciated author

Great plot and interesting, complex characters. Narrator is perfect. I’ve read all of this author’s previous books within a couple of days, and this was no exception. My favorites are his first novel and this one-The Burning Time.

Powerful and compelling

Another excellent William Carver novel from Peter Hanington, beautifully performed by Jonathan Keeble. The story is topical and compelling, the characters well drawn and the plot keeps you guessing until the end. I loved the pathos and dry humour. My only gripe (of this and the rest of the series) is I would love longer conclusion which cover the public release and reaction to each story.

Heart-wrenching, Hand-twisting, Gut-grabbing Works

I now have all four of Peter Hanington's compelling novels about the hard old-fashioned search for truth in a world of easy semblances, convenient lies, manipulative appearances, and interminable self-interest. The characters all feel somewhat flawed and very real: individuals drawn from contemporary life ... friends, neighbors, professional colleagues. William Carver's fixed determination to dig up the whole story time after time makes me feel justified in my life-long commitment to speaking truth and refusing to use simplistic labels, boxes, and colors to define anyone. Yes, greed rules our world. You can choose to close your mind and participate, or instead follow the difficult path of self-knowledge, curiosity, and empathy. It can hurt you, break you, even kill you. But don't heroes always seek this path for what they can learn along the way? For me, a five-star audiobook is one that I look forward to hearing over and over. Finally, another for my collection! I highly recommend this novel, without hesitation. Go for it!