A Gift Before Dying

“Hypnotically good—instantly immersive, intense, and ultimately inspiring.”—Lee Child

“Kempt infuses his lived experience into the gripping story, balancing the darkness with a terse writing style that doesn’t get in the way. I await further stories of the area, and of its people.”—The New York Times

“Tautly written, this first novel by a former criminal lawyer who spent 17 years in the Arctic is a hard look at the desolate lives of people resigned to life in the bleak far north.”—The Denver Post

“Kempt, who worked as a criminal lawyer in the Arctic for almost two decades, conjures this forbidding landscape and its residents with artful authority. A Gift Before Dying merges harsh realism, insomniac perceptions and tribal visions in a story that shocks and engages.”—The Wall Street Journal

“This extraordinary, beautifully crafted debut mystery blends together an arresting setting, a background of systemic social net failures in an Indigenous community, and a spiky police procedural . . . If you only read one mystery this year, this should be it.”—Booklist, starred review

“One of those crime novels where, once you read the opening scene, you’ve got no choice but to fall through the rest as fast as possible.”—Stephen Graham Jones, New York Times bestselling author of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter

“Malcolm Kempt has done what often seems impossible—a debut that is absolutely brilliant, with no hanging plotlines, no extraneous characters, and a story that breaks the heart as it powers along at just the right length. No need for filler here. Character and setting do the job wonderfully.”—The Globe and Mail

“A Gift Before Dying announces Malcolm Kempt as the new guy in town. A gripping thriller—both serious and propulsive, Kempt’s debut is delivered with insight and authority, pacing and style and is sure to win him fans on both sides of the border.”—Ivy Pochoda, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller and author of Sing Her Down

“Rich in atmosphere and relentlessly suspenseful . . . Kempt conjures his frigid, dark world with graceful prose and haunting imagery that recalls the best of Jo Nesbø and Henning Mankell. If you enjoyed True Detective: Night Country, you’ll be overjoyed by this story.”—Michael Kortya, New York Times bestselling author of An Honest Man

“A Gift Before Dying is a haunting, immersive, moving story—told by an expert, with great authority and emotion. Keep an eye on Malcolm Kempt—one of my favorite voices in contemporary dark fiction.”—Richard Thomas, Bram Stoker, Shirley Jackson, and Thriller Award finalist

“It’s a testament to Malcolm Kempt’s talent that I didn’t want his ghostly crime novel to end. A Gift Before Dying is sure to be considered one of the finest debuts of the year.”—Donald Ray Pollock, author of The Devil All the Time

“There’s a river of warmth running under this icy, Arctic thriller, with a big bang of an ending you won’t soon forget. Hold on tight, because A Gift Before Dying will grip you until the last page.”—Rene Denfeld, bestselling author of The Child Finder

“Malcolm Kempt is a brave new author I’d follow anywhere. Set in the Arctic Circle, his illuminating debut, A Gift Before Dying, is ice-cold, yet it still managed to warm my heart by the end.”—Eli Cranor, author of Ozark Dogs

“It’s a knockout.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“With its gripping opening, exciting climax, powerful sense of place and eerie, nicely unforced mysticism, this is a strong debut. A terrific, permafrosted mystery you may want to read with gloves on.”—Kirkus Reviews