200,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock πŸ‡³πŸ‡Ώ 

Overnight NZ-wide delivery | πŸ“ Visit our Auckland bookstore β€’ Open 7 days, 8:30am–5pm

And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks

By William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac
Penguin Classics
Series: Penguin Modern Classics
0.0 (0 reviews)
3.72 goodreads logo

Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.

Check link for latest rating. ( 14,876 ratings, 1,113 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks is a collaborative novel by William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac. Set in the 1940s, it delves into the lives of two young men entangled in a complex web of friendship and rivalry, leading to a shocking act of violence. The narrative offers a raw and vivid portrayal of the Beat Generation's urban lifestyle and their struggle with existential themes.
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
TEMPORARILY OUT OF STOCK Please add to wishlist to be notified when back in stock

Sorry, we're currently out of stock of And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks. Please add to your Wishlist and we'll send you an email as soon as it's back in stock.

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This intriguing collaboration offers a rare glimpse into the early literary styles of two iconic Beat Generation authors. You might enjoy this book if you're drawn to true crime-inspired fiction with a noir atmosphere, set against the backdrop of 1940s New York, as it explores themes of friendship and betrayal.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

In 1944, Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs, then still unknown writers, were both arrested following a murder: one of their friends had stabbed another and then come to them for advice - neither had told the police.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

First paperback publication of the legendary collaboration between William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, a hard-boiled crime novel about a shocking murder at the dawn of the Beat Generation.

In 1944, Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs were charged as accessories to murder. One of their friends, Lucien Carr, had stabbed another, David Kammerer. Carr had come to each of them and confessed; Kerouac helped him get rid of the weaponβ€”neither told the police. For this failing, they were arrested.

Months later, the two writersβ€”unpublished at the timeβ€”collaborated on And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks, a fictionalised account of the summer of the killing.

Series: Penguin Modern Classics

View all
  • Tim's Pick Tim's Pick
    East of Eden
    A stunning new series look for one of the greatest writers of the 20th century in Penguin Modern Classics Set in the rich farmland of the Salinas Valley, California, this powerful, often brutal novel, follows the interwined destinies of two families - the Trasks and the Hamiltons - whose generations hopelessly re-enact the fall of Adam and Eve and the...
    By John Steinbeck
    Paperback
    $2499
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • On Sale
    18% off
    The Origins of Totalitarianism
    The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt is a seminal examination of the rise of totalitarianism in the 20th century. Through a profound and thorough analysis, Arendt explores the complex mechanisms and underpinnings that facilitated the emergence of totalitarian regimes, specifically delving into the horrors of Nazi Germany and Stalinist Soviet Union. Arendt masterfully dissects the various elements that contribute...
    By Hannah Arendt
    Paperback
    $2200
    Usually:
    $2699
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Grapes of Wrath
    The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck is a profound and evocative tale that captures the journey of the Joad family as they traverse the harsh landscapes of America during the Great Depression. As drought and economic hardship ravage their farming homeland in Oklahoma, the resilient Joads are driven from their beloved home and journey westward in a desperate bid...
    By John Steinbeck
    Paperback
    $2600
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • A Month in the Country
    A sensitive portrayal of the healing process that took place in the aftermath of the First World War, J.L. Carr's A Month in the Country includes an introduction by Penelope Fitzgerald, author of Offshore, in Penguin Modern Classics. A damaged survivor of the First World War, Tom Birkin finds refuge in the quiet village church of Oxgodby where he is...
    By J L Carr
    Paperback
    $1900
    Elsewhere:
    $2299
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Trouble With Being Born
    The Trouble With Being Born by E. M. Cioran is a deeply introspective and profoundly philosophical exploration of the human condition. The book navigates the bleak and often darkly comic territories of existence, examining fundamental questions such as birth, death, the concept of God, the relentless passage of time, the complexity of human relationships, and the daily struggle to find...
    By E. M. Cioran
    Paperback
    $2300
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Fountainhead
    The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand is a gripping narrative that revolves around the unwavering and fiercely independent architect, Howard Roark. Roark’s vision and uncompromising integrity lead him to clash with a conformist society that resists innovation and creativity. The novel intricately explores Roark's journey as he battles against traditional norms, challenges mediocrity, and strives to preserve his unique artistic vision...
    By Ayn Rand
    Paperback
    $2500
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Storm of Steel
    Storm of Steel chronicles the harrowing experiences of Ernst JΓΌnger, a German officer during the First World War. From the moment he enters the trenches on the Western Front, JΓΌnger immerses readers in the brutal, relentless combat that defined an era. His narrative is a visceral journey through the realities of war: the brief moments of camaraderie, the relentless artillery...
    By Ernst Junger
    Paperback
    $2300
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • On the Road
    "The most beautifully executed, the clearest and the most important utterance yet made by the generation Kerouac himself named years ago as 'beat.'" - The New York Times On the Road swings to the rhythms of 1950s underground America, jazz, sex, generosity, chill dawns, and drugs, with Sal Paradise and his hero Dean Moriarty, traveller and mystic, the living epitome...
    By Jack Kerouac
    Paperback
    $2300
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    Backorder
    Ships mid November
  • The Haunting of Hill House
    The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson is an unparalleled classic in the genre of horror literature, weaving an atmosphere of dread and suspense that continues to captivate readers. The story follows four distinct characters brought together by a shared curiosity about the supernatural phenomena reported at the infamous Hill House. Dr. Montague, a determined and scholarly investigator of...
    By Shirley Jackson
    Paperback
    $2499
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Myth of Sisyphus
    The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus explores one of the most profound philosophical questions: Is life worth living? Set against the tumultuous backdrop of the Second World War, Camus delves into the existential crisis faced by humanity, particularly the struggle to find meaning in a world devoid of higher purpose. Through a captivating blend of philosophical discourse and literary...
    By Albert Camus
    Paperback
    $2700
    Elsewhere:
    $3000
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Fire Next Time
    The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin is a seminal work that offers a profound and personal exploration of race relations in America. Structured as two poignant letters, Baldwin addresses his 14-year-old nephew on the one hand, and on the other, an open letter to his fellow countrymen. Through these missives, Baldwin intimately reflects on his experiences growing up in...
    By James Baldwin
    Paperback
    $2299
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • On Sale
    23% off
    Steppenwolf
    A new translation of this counterculture classic by David Horrocks. At first sight, Harry Haller seems like a respectable, educated man. In reality, he is the Steppenwolfβ€”wild, strange, alienated from society, and repulsed by the modern age. But as he is drawn into a series of dreamlike and sometimes savage encountersβ€”accompanied by, among others, Mozart, Goethe, and the bewitching Hermioneβ€”the...
    By Hermann Hesse
    Paperback
    $2000
    Usually:
    $2600
    In Stock
    Ships today

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks has been described in reviews as a compelling piece of work offering a fascinating glimpse into the early collaboration between Burroughs and Kerouac. Reviewers appreciate its raw, unpolished style and the alternating narrative voices, which paint a portrait of adventure and the counterculture of the time. Readers who enjoy noir elements and literary exploration of real murder case elements find its authenticity and historical context intriguing.

Book Hero reading reviews

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780141189673

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 06 August 2009

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Penguin Classics

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 13.0mm

Width: 130.0mm

Height: 197.0mm

Weight: 171g

Pages: 224

Collections

Crime & Thriller Fiction General Fiction Jack Kerouac Penguin Books Penguin Classics Penguin Classics: Crime & Thriller Series: Penguin Modern Classics William S. Burroughs

About the Author

William S. Burroughs was born in 1914. His first published novel was the largely autobiographical Junky, which remains a classic depiction of drug dependency. He died in 1997. Jack Kerouac was born in 1922. In 1947, he hitchhiked across America and wrote his most famous novel On the Road. He died in 1969.

Also by Jack Kerouac

View all
  • On the Road
    "The most beautifully executed, the clearest and the most important utterance yet made by the generation Kerouac himself named years ago as 'beat.'" - The New York Times On the Road swings to the rhythms of 1950s underground America, jazz, sex, generosity, chill dawns, and drugs, with Sal Paradise and his hero Dean Moriarty, traveller and mystic, the living epitome...
    By Jack Kerouac
    Paperback
    $2300
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    Backorder
    Ships mid November
  • On the Road
    Jack Kerouac's Great American Novel, now in a delightful new Clothbound Classics edition. On the Road swings to the rhythms of 1950s underground America, jazz, sex, generosity, chill dawns and drugs, with Sal Paradise and his hero Dean Moriarty, traveller and mystic, the living epitome of Beat. Now recognized as a modern classic, its American Dream is nearer that of...
    By Jack Kerouac
    Hardback
    $4300
    Elsewhere:
    $4800
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Mexico City Blues
    Kerouac's famed freewheeling poem joins the Penguin Modern Classics. 'I want to be considered a jazz poet blowing a long blues in an afternoon jam session on Sunday' Freewheeling and spontaneous, Mexico City Blues is Jack Kerouac's most significant and emblematic poem. Consisting of 242 loosely linked 'choruses', it takes in life, death, spirituality, jazz improvisation, memory, fantasies and dreams,...
    By Jack Kerouac
    Paperback
    $2200
    Elsewhere:
    $2400
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Big Sur
    Big Sur is Jack Kerouac's stunningly vivid and gritty second novel, newly added to the Penguin Modern Classics series. In 1960, Jack Kerouac was near breaking point. Driven mad by constant press attention in the wake of the publication of On the Road, he needed to 'get away to solitude again or die'. Seeking refuge, he withdrew to a cabin...
    By Jack Kerouac
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Piers of the Homeless Night
    Fifty new books at Β£1 each, celebrating the pioneering spirit of the Penguin Modern Classics series, from inspiring essays to groundbreaking fiction and poetry. See my hand up-tipped, learn the secret of my human heart... Soaring, freewheeling snapshots of life on the road across America, from the Beat writer who inspired a generation.
    By Jack Kerouac
    Paperback
    $699
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • On the Road
    The exhilarating novel that defined the Beat Generation. What's your road, man? - holyboy road, madman road, rainbow road, guppy road, any road. It's an anywhere road for anybody anyhow. Sal Paradise, young and innocent, joins the slightly crazed Dean Moriarty on a breathless, exuberant ride back and forth across the United States. Their hedonistic search for release or fulfilment...
    By Jack Kerouac
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Tristessa
    Tristessa is a strange fever-dream of morphine sickness and belly-deep sadness. Or, in the words of Allen Ginsberg: 'a narrative meditation studying a hen, a rooster, a dove, a cat, a chihuahua dog, family meat, and a ravishing, ravished junky lady, first in their crowded bedroom, then out to drunken streets, taco stands, and pads at dawn in Mexico City...
    By Jack Kerouac
    Paperback
    $1700
    Elsewhere:
    $1799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Visions of Gerard
    A devastating semi-autobiographical novel and the first volume of Kerouac's memoir cycle. Gerard Duluoz was born in 1917, 'a sickly little kid with a rheumatic heart'. Based on Jack Kerouac's memories of the beloved older brother who died when he was a boy, Visions of Gerard is unique among his novels for its dreamlike evocation of the sensations of childhood...
    By Jack Kerouac
    Paperback
    $2200
    Elsewhere:
    $2400
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Kerouac: Selected Letters
    An exhilarating (Chicago Tribune) selection of Jack Kerouac's most personal, truthful, and mesmerizing letters that trace his life and craftβ€”edited by Ann Charters. "As we just now begin to map fully the fallout of the Beat Generation's creative explosion, these letters offer an invaluable blueprint to the intricate, high-yield ballistics that went into creating it." - San Francisco Examiner It...
    By Jack Kerouac
    Paperback
    $8200
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • Tristessa
    A haunting portrayal of addiction and a troubled young woman. She understands Karma, she says- "What I do, I reap" Her name means sadness, yet Tristessa, a prostitute and morphine addict, lives without cares in her shabby room with a menagerie of pets and an altar to the Virgin Mary. Based on Jack Kerouac's own real-life love affair in Mexico...
    By Jack Kerouac
    Paperback
    $2200
    Elsewhere:
    $2400
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Dharma Bums
    Another addition to Penguin Modern Classics' key Kerouac holdings. The Dharma Bums appeared just one year after the author's explosive On the Road had put the Beat Generation on the literary map and Kerouac on the best-seller list. The same expansiveness, humour, and contagious zest for life that sparked the earlier novels sparks this one too, but through a more...
    By Jack Kerouac
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Subterraneans
    One of Kerouac's most enduring and touching works. The Subterraneans haunt the bars and clubs of San Francisco, surviving on a diet of booze and benzedrine, Proust and Verlaine. Living amongst them is Leo, an aspiring writer, and Mardou, half-Indian, half-Negro, beautiful and neurotic. Their bittersweet and ill-starred love affair sees Kerouac at his most evocative. Many regard this as...
    By Jack Kerouac
    Paperback
    $2700
    Elsewhere:
    $3000
    In Stock
    Ships today

Also by William S. Burroughs

View all
  • Junky: Popular Penguins
    Junk is not, like alcohol or weed, a means to increased enjoyment in life. Junk is not a kick. It is a way of life. Junky, Burroughs's cult classic, is a raw, semi-autobiographical account of drug addiction, which outraged America and influenced generations of writers to come. He relates with unflinching realism the highs and lows of dependencyβ€”euphoria, hallucinations, ghostly...
    By William S. Burroughs
    Paperback
    $1599
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Naked Lunch
    At long last, William S. Burroughs's cult classic and undoubted masterpiece enters Penguin Modern Classics. A cultural landmark and the most shocking novel in the English language, Naked Lunch is an exhilarating ride into the darkest recesses of the human psyche. An unnerving tale of an addict unmoored in New York, Tangier, and ultimately a nightmarish wasteland known as Interzone,...
    By William S. Burroughs
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Finger
    Fifty new books at Β£1 each, celebrating the pioneering spirit of the Penguin Modern Classics series, from inspiring essays to groundbreaking fiction and poetry. The Finger explores a myriad of bizarre and compelling vignettes. "He felt a sudden deep pity for the finger joint that lay there on the dresser, a few drops of blood gathering around the white bone."...
    By William S. Burroughs
    Paperback
    $699
    Backorder
    Ships mid November
  • Cities of the Red Night
    The first part in a trilogy of novels, Cities of the Red Night satirises modern society in a shocking story of sex, drugs, disease, and adventure. An opium addict is lost in the jungle; young men wage war against an empire of mutants; a handsome young pirate faces his execution; and the world's population is infected with a radioactive epidemic....
    By William S. Burroughs
    Paperback
    $2700
    Elsewhere:
    $3000
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Junky
    Junky, Burroughs' first novel, remains the most unflinching, unsentimental account of addiction ever written. A largely autobiographical account, Junky explores the constant cycle of drug dependency, cures, and relapses. It takes readers through junk neighbourhoods in New York, New Orleans, and Mexico City, detailing time spent kicking, dealing, and rolling drunks for money. The narrative delves into junk sickness and...
    By William S. Burroughs
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Queer
    The definitive 25th-anniversary edition of Burroughs's legendary second novel. Originally written in 1952 but not published till 1985, Queer is an enigma. It serves as both an unflinching autobiographical self-portrait and a coruscatingly political novel. It is Burroughs' only realist love story and a montage of comic-grotesque fantasies that paved the way for his masterpiece, Naked Lunch. Set in Mexico...
    By William S. Burroughs
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Interzone
    An indispensable addition to the canon of Burroughs's works, this series of short stories and sketches guides the reader through his literary evolution. Interzone portrays the development of Burroughs's mature writing style by presenting a selection of pieces from the mid-1950s. His outrageous tone of voice represents the exorcism of four decades of oppressive sexual and social conditioning. Burroughs's close...
    By William S. Burroughs
    Paperback
    $2700
    Elsewhere:
    $3000
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Junky
    New edition of the Penguin Essential of the most mesmerising account of heroin addiction ever written. Junk is not, like alcohol or weed, a means to increased enjoyment of life. Junk is not a kick. It is a way of life. William Burroughs, legendary drug addict, founder member of the Beats and author of Naked Lunch, relates with unflinching realism...
    By William S. Burroughs
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Naked Lunch
    A stunning clothbound edition of William S. Burroughs's cult classic and undoubted masterpiece. A cultural landmark and the most shocking novel in the English language, Naked Lunch is an exhilarating ride into the darkest recesses of the human psyche. An unnerving tale of an addict unmoored in New York, Tangier, and ultimately a nightmarish wasteland known as Interzone, Naked Lunch's...
    By William S. Burroughs
    Hardback
    $3600
    Elsewhere:
    $4000
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Don't Hide the Madness
    Two seminal figures of the Beat movement, Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs, discuss literary influences and personal history in a never-before-published three-day conversation following the release of the David Cronenberg film of Burroughs' classic novel Naked Lunch. The visit coincided with the shamanic exorcism of the demon that Burroughs believed had caused him to fatally shoot his common law...
    By William S. Burroughs
    Hardback
    $4499
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Place of Dead Roads
    Sci-fi meets the Old West in this obscene and hilarious novel from Naked Lunch author and Beat icon William S. Burroughs. This surreal fable, set in America's Old West, features a cast of notorious characters: The Crying Gun, who breaks into tears at the sight of his opponent; The Priest, who goes into gunfights giving his adversaries the last rites;...
    By William S. Burroughs
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Dead Fingers Talk
    Dead Fingers Talk
    Only edition in print First published in 1963 and representing Burroughs’s literary breakthrough in the UK, Dead Fingers Talk is, in the words of Burroughs scholar Oliver Harris, β€œa prophetic work of haunting power”, and is perhaps the most commercial and accessible of his works. Combining new material with selections from Naked Lunch and his cut-up novels The Soft Machine...
    By William S. Burroughs
    Paperback
    Sold Out

Browse lists from our team

The Latest at Book Hero

View all

More from Crime & Thriller

View all
  • New Release
    Adam and Eve
    THE FINAL NOVEL FROM THE MASTER STORYTELLER Armistice Day 1918. Two children are born on the same day, hours – but worlds – apart. One the son of a shepherd, the other the daughter of an Earl. Adam and Eve. Their births mark the end of one war. Their love will change the outcome of another. 'If there were a...
    By Jeffrey Archer
    $3900
    Elsewhere:
    $4999
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    King’s Ransom
    Five innocent hostages. Five private investigators. A fiendish ransom game. Has Detective Sam Speedman met his match? A fast and deadly Matthew Reilly thriller. A DARING ABDUCTION The richest man in the world has been kidnapped. Along with four of his children. THE DEADLY CHALLENGE The kidnapper's demand: the five best private detectives in America must come to the missing...
    By Matthew Reilly
    Paperback
    $2999
    Elsewhere:
    $3499
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • King’s Ransom
    On Sale
    18% off
    New Release
    Eve's Pick Eve's Pick
    King’s Ransom
    Five innocent hostages. Five private investigators. A fiendish ransom game. Has Detective Sam Speedman met his match? A fast and deadly Matthew Reilly thriller. A DARING ABDUCTION The richest man in the world has been kidnapped. Along with four of his children. THE DEADLY CHALLENGE The kidnapper's demand: the five best private detectives in America must come to the missing...
    By Matthew Reilly
    Hardback
    $3700
    Elsewhere:
    $4999
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    The French Illusion
    Bestselling author John Grisham delivers a new gripping, suspenseful page-turner about aParis honeymoon gone horribly wrong - and the nightmare that follows. After Paul and Chelsea Tanner's fairytale wedding, their future is full of promise. But their honeymoon to Paris takes a dark, shocking turn when they are kidnapped while on a day trip to the French countryside. Who would...
    By John Grisham
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    Lizzy's Pick Lizzy's Pick
    Chain Reaction
    Jack Reacher, \"the coolest continuing series character\" (Stephen King), returns in a brand new, pulse-pounding read from Lee and Andrew Child. The world’s bestselling hero is back in a brand new, high-octane adventure! β€˜She knew that finding Reacher would not be easy . . .’ Washington DC. General Susan Turner needs help from the only guy she knows will get...
    By Lee Child and Andrew Child
    Paperback
    $2999
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    (3)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    The Family Cross
    In the gripping new thriller in James Patterson's globally bestselling series, Alex Cross faces his most personal case yet as a ruthless conspiracy targets Washington's most vulnerable... and his own family. Discover the latest gripping thriller in the globally bestselling Alex Cross series - now the inspiration for the original series CROSS on Prime Video starring Aldis Hodge as Alex...
    By James Patterson
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    The Heights
    InΒ The HeightsΒ by #1Β Sunday TimesΒ bestselling author Sir Ian Rankin, murder comes to London's most exclusive high-rise - and every resident is a suspect... MURDER COMES TO LONDON'S MOST LUXURIOUS HIGH-RISE: AND EVERY RESIDENT IS A SUSPECT. The Heights: a gleaming, high-end high-rise looming over Hyde Park. Newly built from steel and smoked glass, it is a billionaire's playground offering sumptuous suites...
    By Ian Rankin
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • On Sale
    26% off
    New Release
    Death Row
    With all hope of an appeal fading away, the fate of a condemned murderess takes a shocking turn in a breathtaking short story from the #1Β New York TimesΒ bestselling author ofΒ The Housemaid! A thrilling novella from #1Β New York TimesΒ bestselling author Freida McFadden! Death is coming for her… unless she finds the truth first. Talia Kemper is on death row for murdering...
    By Freida McFadden
    Paperback
    $1700
    Elsewhere:
    $2400
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Signed Copy
    On Sale
    12% off
    Dying Days
    Award-winning writer delivers a pulse-pounding espionage thriller. Missing soldiers, MI6 secrets and European partisans collide in a deadly game where the lines between lies and reality are fast disintegrating. In the dying days of the Second World War, a new conflict is about to ignite. May, 1945: After fighting to liberate Europe from the Nazis, Tito's Yugoslav Army and Allied...
    By Anthony Byrt
    Paperback
    $2800
    Elsewhere:
    $3699
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • On Sale
    22% off
    New Release
    Fury In Death: An Eve Dallas thriller (In Death 63)
    In the new crime thriller from the bestselling author, Lt. Eve Dallas journeys into the darkness where murder is born… NYSPD homicide detective Eve Dallas has seen a lot in her time but even she is shocked by the savagery of a beating which leaves a wealthy biotech executive dead in his home office. The victim’s corpse is so mangled...
    By J. D. Robb
    Paperback
    $2500
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • On Sale
    25% off
    New Release
    Tom Clancy Pressure Depth
    Jack Ryan Jr leads a team of divers in a race to beat the Chinese Navy to a weapon of terrible destructive power in the latest entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling series. Jack Ryan Jr. is on Guam to work on a project for Hendley Associates. It's a perfectly ordinary insurance matter, but trouble finds the Ryans...
    By Jack Stewart
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Country Road Murders
    On Sale
    13% off
    The Country Road Murders
    From the Sunday Times bestselling author comes a pulse-pounding thriller about justice, vengeance and the roads that lead us home. No one gets this big without amazing natural storytelling talent - which is what Jim has, in spades β€” LEE CHILD Cross Rivers is the kind of small town where everyone knows your name – and your secrets. Silas Tucker...
    By James Patterson
    Paperback
    $2600
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    In Stock
    Ships today

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 190,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.