Psychological Thriller Fans blog 

Four years ago, we attempted to climb England's highest mountain, Scafell Pike. We came close but we never made it. For one, it was July 2022 and Amanda and I were both suffering badly from Covid. No energy. Cold sweats. Foggy heads. Coughing and spluttering. We should never have attempted it feeling so rough, but we're both stubborn. The higher we climbed, the thicker the cloud. It was wet, cold and visibility down to a few metres. At least we had a route to follow on my pho

It was far too late in the evening. I'd been drinking neat gin with my university friends, James and Linda, in one of our student houses. And then we put on a song that we sang over and over until our voices were hoarse. I still remember that night with immense fondness. Especially when I hear that song. It was Jolene by Dolly Parton. Which is why I was so sad to learn this week that she had passed away. She seemed like a genuinely good person who spent her wealth helping oth

We've come to an agreement with the busy swarm of wasps who've chosen a cavity in our wall to nest. They stay in the wall. We stay out of their way. Unfortunately, someone forgot to tell the hornets who appear to be nesting in the chimney. (Yes, we're apparently a hotbed for pest activity in our house.) The wasps have found a crack between the window and the wall and are working frantically on what I assume is the nest of all nests in the space between the bricks. It's pretty

At first, the updates came thick and fast. The flight had landed safely. He'd met up with his girlfriend. And he'd found his way across Cancun to their first hotel. There were even a few photos. The odd selfie. Some pictures of howler monkeys and Mayan ruins in the jungle. And then… nothing. For five long days, we didn't hear a thing from Oliver, our elder son. The first few days of silence were fine. But as the week progressed, Amanda and I were checking our phones with incr

The t-shirt said, I'M TROUBLE. He was three years old. He'd gone missing. And this did not help. It was the school holidays and Amanda had taken Oliver to a farming attraction. You know the kind of place. Sheep, goats and donkeys to pet — and absolutely thronging with other kids. Amanda turned her back for a second while Oliver was playing in the sand pit. And suddenly he was gone. First she called me at work — but what was I going to do? I was a forty-minute drive away… and

It was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime. For him at least. I was a blubbering wreck, but not for the reasons you might think. On Tuesday, I was up at 3:30am to drop our elder son at the airport for an early morning flight to Mexico where he was meeting up with his girlfriend. (Amanda was going to come to see him off until I pointed out the time we had to leave 😴😂) Although he's now 24, it was his first solo flight. And in fact, a rare trip abroad for him. So I helped h

Almost every night, I end up in the dark, stalking through the fields, to carry a killer home. Normally, our youngest cat, Charlie, is the sweetest, softest, most loving feline in the world. He's like a hug dressed up in fur. Often he sleeps on the bed, tucked up under Amanda's chin, and through the day he pesters whoever's around to be picked up for cuddles and kisses. Our son, Thomas, says it's pathetic. Once upon a time, I'd have agreed with him. He's actually a rescue cat

It was Christmas 2020 and something big was brewing. We were deep in lockdown and limited to socialising with immediate family only. But I was distracted. Kept checking my phone and no one knew why. And then at around 1:15pm on Boxing Day it finally happened. All through Christmas, my second psychological thriller, His Wife's Sister, had been quietly climbing the Kindle charts. And finally it hit the No.1 spot in the entire UK Kindle store. I had to show my phone to Amanda to

All night I’ve had a fan running, blowing hot air on my face. The covers kicked off. No air conditioning because we just don’t have it in our homes in the UK (more famous for its grey skies and rainy days!) The temperature inside the house has been pushing 30C for a week now. I’m going through two t-shirts a day and expelling moisture faster than I can drink. I’ve had to improvise an AC unit using a desk fan and two freezer blocks. My homemade AC unit Meanwhile, everyone you

Midnight. The middle of nowhere. And an ice cold shower.

We're currently experiencing an unprecedented heatwave in the UK. All week temperatures have been pushing 40C / 104F That's insane for June, especially as we don't typically have air con in our homes. Come on, it's Britain. We never thought we'd need it. It's too hot to sleep. Too hot to write. The cats are melting. And the house is filled with the constant hum of fans running. But the one consolation is that we found a brilliant drama on the BBC that has us hooked. Two Weeks

It was the kind of message every father dreads waking up to. Thomas, our youngest son, was at home looking after the cats while Amanda and I were at a self-publishing conference last week. And at precisely 00:18 in the middle of the night he sent a frantic message. "The power's gone out. I think because the washing machine tripped, but I can't figure out how to reset it" Except I didn't pick it up until I woke several hours later. But I had to laugh. He'd obviously panicked a

I was out on my bike, miles from home, when I took the frantic call from Amanda. She never calls when I'm riding unless it's an emergency, so I knew it was serious. An hour later we were racing to the vet's with our middle child cat, Amber. She couldn't put any weight on her back leg and was hobbling badly. To put this into context, Amber has a chequered medical history — which is why we weren't taking any chances. When she was only a few months old, we almost lost her when s