The best-written thriller of the year

Read the opening pages of our pick below ^ Plus Part 25 of The Demon Inside David Lynch

Photos by Sasha Kargaltsev, Gage Skidmore, and Charlie Llewellin

In today’s issue:

—’The worst smell in the world is dead badger’: the best-written book on the shortlist for this year’s Dagger Award for best novel. The winner will be announced on the 4th of July. In a couple of days we’ll post our pick from the Dagger shortlist for best translated novel of the year.

—‘We had H2O’: How to understand Donald Trump’s appeal through the prowrestling concept of kayfabe: Club Gevurah, Part 25 of The Demon Inside David Lynch: TV Drama’s Worst Fiasco.

The entire series is available here, and a free copy of the fully illustrated .epub is available on request at auraist@substack.com. Thanks for the support Auraist readers have continued to show this series.

You can also browse our author masterclasses on prose style, picks from the best-written recent releases, from prize shortlists, the best-written books of the century, and extracts from many of these.

We seem to be the only literary publication …