Putting on the squeeze. Review: Squeeze Me by Carl Hiaasen
What’s a poor author to do? You write a comic novel that satirises the orange blob in the White House and no sooner is it in print than he’s gone. Carl Hiaasen is one of…
The popularity of amnesia – talk and guest blog
Last time I mentioned I was talking at the Milim Leeds Literary Festival about why amnesia stories are so popular. There’s no doubt that writers have written about amnesia for thousands of years. What attracts…
Get best-seller Room 15 for just 99p/99c this week
Fed up with the virus? Bloodhound Books are promoting my amnesia thriller Room 15 for 99p/99c just this week. Room 15 is a psychological thriller about a police detective who has amnesia and believes he…
Why are books and movies fascinated by forgetting?
Is it me, or are novels and movies fascinated by forgetting? This century, amnesia is very in. I was invited to talk about this and my new amnesia-based psychological thriller Room 15 at Milim Leeds…
Is the rise of the topical novel killing literature?
In 2010, I took my then agent for a Chinese lunch. I pitched an idea for a novel about fake news, close elections and knife crime. He said that it was a mistake to write…
Why I love writing thrillers
My twice award-nominated noir thriller The Breaking of Liam Glass officially comes out in its second edition today. And I’m delighted to announce the winner of this week’s competition for a signed hardback souvenir edition…
Win a personally signed hardback copy of The Breaking of Liam Glass
To celebrate the launch of the second edition of my 5* darkly humorous thriller The Breaking of Liam Glass, I’m delighted to give away one of the very first hardback copies, which I’ll sign to…
Fight club: Review of Lionel Shriver’s The Motion of the Body Through Space
Bestselling author Lionel Shriver is not one to run away from a fight. In her latest novel, she runs full tilt towards it, in just about every sense of the word. This week, I’m looking…
Interview: Sam Blake #1 bestselling author
This week I’m talking to bestselling author Sam Blake. Originally from St. Albans in Hertfordshire, Sam has two teenagers, three cats and lives in a 200-year-old cottage at the foot of the Wicklow mountains with…
Breaking bad? Review of Graham Greene’s Travels with My Aunt
I’m very into re-reading at the moment (if you’re interested there’s a great article on the subject by novelist Richard Bradbury) but this week’s review is of a book I re-read by accident. To be…
Room 15 out today
It’s here. Publication day for Room 15 – psychological mystery thriller. And to celebrate the day Bloodhound Books have reduced the ebook price for a very short time to 99p/99c. Already the novel is rising…
Room 15 launch competition
Room 15 is almost here. Publication day arrives tomorrow – Monday July 27 2020 – and as promised I have a launch competition for you. Because sales in the first week are so important to…
Room 15 launch events
At last, it’s preorder day and I can share the cover of my new psychological mystery thriller Room 15 with the world, along with the events planned for publication day. Room 15 launch events Publication…
Everything is copy – review of Nora Ephron Collected
I don’t know about you but I am a sucker for Nora Ephron’s screenplay for When Harry Met Sally. The movie’s pretty good too, but the script is outstanding. On the other hand, I’d never…
Talking with comedy best-seller Paul Bassett Davies
I’m really pleased that this week we have a guest appearance by the best-selling comedy writer (and a good friend of mine) Paul Bassett Davies. Paul has been a writer, director and performer for stage,…
Spies like us – review of Kate Atkinson’s Transcription
Fiction writers are liars by trade and spy novelists are the biggest liars of all. Their entire genre is based on deception and betrayal of trust. And I don’t just mean the characters. As with…
A plague on both your houses
So now we are visited by the plague, it seems. Plague is an archetype that goes back deep into our histories. Perhaps the most famous plague quote comes from Romeo and Juliet – when Mercutio,…
Collateral damage – review of Berta Isla by Javier Marías
Last month I reviewed the latest, possibly last, novel by one of the giants of spy fiction, Agent Running in the Field by John le Carré. Today a very different, indeed very unusual, spy novel.…