2024 Astounding Award for Best New Writer (nominee)
2024 British Fantasy Award for Best Newcomer (nominee)
A TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY HAMLET
Hayden Lichfield’s life is ripped apart when he finds his father murdered in their lab, and the camera logs erased. The killer can only have been after one thing: the Sisyphus Formula the two of them developed together, which might one day reverse death itself. Hoping to lure the killer into the open, Hayden steals the research. In the process, he uncovers a recording his father made in the days before his death, and a dying wish: Avenge me…
With the lab on lockdown, Hayden is trapped with four other people—his uncle Charles, lab technician Gabriel Rasmussen, research intern Felicia Xia and their head of security, Felicia���s father Paul—one of whom must be the killer. His only sure ally is the lab’s resident artificial intelligence, Horatio, who has been his dear friend and companion since its creation. With his world collapsing, Hayden must navigate the building’s secrets, uncover his father’s lies, and push the boundaries of sanity in the pursuit of revenge.
Genre: Science Fiction
Hayden Lichfield’s life is ripped apart when he finds his father murdered in their lab, and the camera logs erased. The killer can only have been after one thing: the Sisyphus Formula the two of them developed together, which might one day reverse death itself. Hoping to lure the killer into the open, Hayden steals the research. In the process, he uncovers a recording his father made in the days before his death, and a dying wish: Avenge me…
With the lab on lockdown, Hayden is trapped with four other people—his uncle Charles, lab technician Gabriel Rasmussen, research intern Felicia Xia and their head of security, Felicia���s father Paul—one of whom must be the killer. His only sure ally is the lab’s resident artificial intelligence, Horatio, who has been his dear friend and companion since its creation. With his world collapsing, Hayden must navigate the building’s secrets, uncover his father’s lies, and push the boundaries of sanity in the pursuit of revenge.
Genre: Science Fiction
Praise for this book
"Shakespeare, a haunted-house escape room, and a plot full of tenderness, philosophy, brazenness, and terror." - C S E Cooney
"A breathless, piercingly immersive Hamlet reimagining that feels at once futuristic and timeless. Each scene is layered with creeping dread and tension that builds masterfully to a harrowing climax. This is the kind of story that will be crawling at the edges of your brain like static for a long while." - Ren Hutchings
"Blazingly ambitious, immaculately written, imaginative, and oh goodness, I can absolutely keep going. The Death I Gave Him is the locked-room murder mystery queer Hamlet retelling of my dreams." - Cassandra Khaw
"The Death I Gave Him is the Hamlet retelling of my wildest dreams, and Liu's prose cuts like a scalpel: precise, unflinching, unafraid to draw blood. Read this book, and then read it again." - Grace D Li
"This is both a locked-room mystery with some pointed things to say about science, hubris and mortality, and one of the best versions of Hamlet I've ever come across. Smart, wildly propulsive, and tense as a muscle held at the snapping point. After this, I'll read anything Liu cares to put in front of me." - Freya Marske
"Don't tell anyone.... I've always been kinda lukewarm about Hamlet. But The Death I Gave Him finally gives me a Prince of Denmark I can feel: someone whose pain and brokenness are so powerful and beautiful that they can change the world." - Sam J Miller
"Liu's exquisite prose perfectly marries physicality and emotionality, the visceral and the sterile. This is Hamlet reflected in a fractured mirror. Every angle on the familiar comes as a surprise; every new edge cuts with razor intelligence. And oh, the tension! It will murder you." - Shelley Parker-Chan
"Brilliant. Breath-taking. An absolute page-turner. The Death I Gave Him is a complex and gritty story unlike anything you've seen." - K B Wagers
"A breathless, piercingly immersive Hamlet reimagining that feels at once futuristic and timeless. Each scene is layered with creeping dread and tension that builds masterfully to a harrowing climax. This is the kind of story that will be crawling at the edges of your brain like static for a long while." - Ren Hutchings
"Blazingly ambitious, immaculately written, imaginative, and oh goodness, I can absolutely keep going. The Death I Gave Him is the locked-room murder mystery queer Hamlet retelling of my dreams." - Cassandra Khaw
"The Death I Gave Him is the Hamlet retelling of my wildest dreams, and Liu's prose cuts like a scalpel: precise, unflinching, unafraid to draw blood. Read this book, and then read it again." - Grace D Li
"This is both a locked-room mystery with some pointed things to say about science, hubris and mortality, and one of the best versions of Hamlet I've ever come across. Smart, wildly propulsive, and tense as a muscle held at the snapping point. After this, I'll read anything Liu cares to put in front of me." - Freya Marske
"Don't tell anyone.... I've always been kinda lukewarm about Hamlet. But The Death I Gave Him finally gives me a Prince of Denmark I can feel: someone whose pain and brokenness are so powerful and beautiful that they can change the world." - Sam J Miller
"Liu's exquisite prose perfectly marries physicality and emotionality, the visceral and the sterile. This is Hamlet reflected in a fractured mirror. Every angle on the familiar comes as a surprise; every new edge cuts with razor intelligence. And oh, the tension! It will murder you." - Shelley Parker-Chan
"Brilliant. Breath-taking. An absolute page-turner. The Death I Gave Him is a complex and gritty story unlike anything you've seen." - K B Wagers
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