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HOW A ROCK CLIMBER INSPIRED MY HONG KONG PROTEST NOVEL
I never intended to write a Hong Kong protest novel. Here’s how it happened. Hong Kong Holiday In the school Easter holiday of 2019, we went as a family to Hong Kong. Jane, my wife had lived there in the Nineties and was keen to show us around. We visited all the usual suspects: the… Read more
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How my standalone novel became a thriller series
I never intended to write a thriller series. No Way To Live was written as a standalone thriller. A Christmas thriller, at that. But I’ve now written two more books in the same world. Here’s how it happened. Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca No Way To Live’s main character is Tom, who flees his South London… Read more
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BOOK REVIEW: THE COLLABORATORS
First off, I’m not going to keep you in suspense about my verdict. Michael Idov, the author of The Collaborators, the first book in a new thriller series, worked on a TV show that I watched and loved about ten years ago – Deutschland 83. The Collaborators is his debut spy novel, and it’s just… Read more
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The Influencer’s Scream
During a short city break in Oslo, we went to the National Museum Oslo, which has two rooms dedicated to Edvard Munch. One of them contains Munch’s The Scream, but for me, it will always be The Influencer’s Scream. Here’s why. THE SCREAM The Scream, the painting Munch is most famous for, sits on a wall… Read more
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The Importance of Relationships in a Thriller Series
WHY DO RELATIONSHIPS MATTER? In thrillers, relationships = drama = story. For a writer, they develop a ‘two for the price of one’ dynamic. Build a good relationship between characters, and you’re also developing the characters. The warmth (or antipathy) of the relationship reveals important character traits, through actions, dialogue and inner monologues. When readers… Read more