Skip to Main Content

About The Book

Don’t miss this prequel to the hit crime series and Netflix film Luther: The Fallen Sun starring Idris Elba—written by the Edgar Award–winning creator and sole writer of the show!

A “gripping, taut” (Guillermo del Toro) thriller featuring homicide detective John Luther, “who is intelligent and almost freakishly intuitive [and] belongs not only to the Sherlock Holmes tradition but also to the newer crime-fiction model elaborated by Thomas Harris in his novels Red Dragon, The Silence of the Lambs, and Hannibal” (The New York Times).

Is Luther a force for good or a man hell-bent on self-destruction?

Meet Detective Chief Inspector John Luther. He’s a homicide detective with an extraordinary case-clearance rate. He’s obsessive, instinctive, and intense. Nobody who ever stood at his side has a bad word to say about him. And yet there are rumors that Luther is bad—not corrupt, but tormented. After years of chasing the most depraved criminals in London’s gritty underworld, he seethes with a hidden fury he can barely control, making him do things any other detective wouldn’t and shouldn’t do.

A compulsively readable novel by the writer hailed by The Guardian as “Britain’s own Stephen King,” this is the story of the serial killer case that tore Luther’s personal and professional relationships apart and propelled him over the precipice—beyond fury, beyond vengeance, all the way to the other side of the law.

About The Author

Neil Cross is the creator and sole writer of the critically acclaimed BBC America crime series Luther, and the film Luther: The Fallen Sun, available on Netflix. In 2011, Cross was awarded the Edgar Award for Best Teleplay for episode one of Luther. He is the author of the thriller Burial and lives with his family in Wellington, New Zealand. Visit him online at Neil-Cross.com.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Gallery Books (September 4, 2012)
  • Length: 336 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781451673111

Browse Related Books

Raves and Reviews


“For all his skill as scriptwriter, Cross is above all else a gifted novelist. Luther: The Calling is more than a tie-in novel. It is some of the best crime fiction to hit bookstores this year.”

– The Hollywood Reporter

“The amazing force and power of the writing and the hell-for-leather plotting together pull readers along whether they like it or not.”

– Booklist

Resources and Downloads

High Resolution Images