A Flaw in the Design by Nathan Oates

A professor’s life is turned upside down when he takes in his charming, wildly dangerous nephew, whose wealthy parents have just died under mysterious circumstances, in this propulsive, edge-of-your-seat debut psychological thriller.

“An absolute page-turner…I read it in a single sitting.”—Miranda Cowley Heller, bestselling author of The Paper Palace

Gil’s quiet life as a creative writing professor in a bucolic Vermont town is upended when he receives some shocking news: His sister and her husband have been killed in a car accident, and their only son is coming to live with him and his family.

Gil and his wife are apprehensive about taking in seventeen-year-old Matthew. Yes, he has just lost both his parents, but they haven’t seen him in seven years—and the last time the families were together, Matthew lured their young daughter into a terrifying, life-threatening situation. Since that incident, Gil had been estranged from his sister and her flashy banker husband.

Now Matthew is their charge, living under their roof.

The boy seems charming, smart, and urbane, if strangely unaffected by his parents’ deaths. Gil hopes they can put the past behind them, though he’s unnerved when Matthew signs up for Gil’s creative writing class. Then Matthew begins turning in chilling stories that imagine the deaths of his parents and Gil’s family. Bewildered and panicked, Gil must take matters into his own hands—before life imitates art.

In limber, mesmerizing prose, and delving into the complex tensions surrounding trust and family, A Flaw in the Design is a twisting novel of suspense that brilliantly asks: How far will someone go to control their own story?

Story Locale: Vermont; Manhattan

Nathan Oates’s debut collection of short stories, The Empty House, won the Spokane Prize. His stories have appeared in The Missouri Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, The Best American Mystery Stories, and elsewhere. He teaches creative writing at Seton Hall University and lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his family.

Author Residence: Brooklyn, NY

Author Hometown: St Louis, MO