Kidnapped by Cartels, His Dead Wife, and a Free Audiobook Giveaway

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 increasing regularity and a swelling dread.

And still nothing.

By the fourth day, we were in the kitchen plotting how we were going to rescue him from the Mexican drug cartel that had obviously kidnapped him.

And we were only half joking.

Eventually, another update popped into the family WhatsApp group. He and his girlfriend were fine. And on Wednesday morning, he walked nonchalantly through the arrivals gate at Gatwick airport, tired, bleary-eyed but safe, and all our fears evaporated.

Our fear wasn't the silence itself. It was how we filled it.

When Oliver walked through that arrivals gate, the story in my head collapsed.

My new thriller takes the same idea but runs it in reverse. Edward's wife walks back into his life eight years after he buried her in a shallow grave in Spain. And his whole life collapses.

The same beat. A different feeling.

The book's titled His Dead Wife, and it'll be out in the autumn.

I had more good news this week too — the audio version of The Couple in the Lodge was released, narrated by the fabulous Zara Ramm.

And to celebrate, I'm giving away 10 copies of the audiobook. This one's just for my newsletter readers — if you're on the list, reply to this week's email and write the word LODGE in the body. I'll draw 10 lucky winners on Thursday, August 20th.

(You'll need a Spotify account to redeem your prize — it's free to sign up, and I'll send full instructions to anyone who wins.)

The Thriller Couple

So there we were in the airport this week. Both running worst-case scenarios through our heads. Neither of us speaking them out loud.

Until Oliver was safely back with us… and about ninety seconds later our thoughts returned to bigger worries. Whose book was doing better? My novel, The Good Bad Wife. Or Amanda's new thriller, The Holiday Swap.

If you've not had the chance to read Amanda's new one yet, I have some good news for you. For the next couple of days, The Holiday Swap is on sale for only 99p/99c in the UK and US.

Now's a great time to grab your copy.

So Oliver's safely home again now. He still has no idea of the trauma he caused us.

It's probably best if he doesn't tell us next time he's off on holiday…