Today's guest blog is by debut author Alex Caan who discusses the influence New England has had on him and his debut novel.
New
England. Ivy League universities, dazzling autumns, the rich history. I’ve
never been, and yet when it came to picking a place for my American heroine to
come from, I chose this North Eastern corner of the United States. Growing up
in a tiny terraced house in a deprived area of Manchester, there weren’t many
ambitions around. It was to books I turned, reading fiction to escape my tough
reality and to live the wider world. It made the future fill with
possibilities, and so naively I chose the biggest ambition of all: I would go
to Harvard University. A fascination then started for all things related to
that place, and for America itself. I never made it to Harvard, but my
fascination for the politics and law enforcement of the country was already
engrained. In fiction, I thought they did it with a touch of glamour, and who can’t
get excited by Washington and the power that it wields? So Kate Riley is
running from a past, one that includes a New England childhood, an education at
Brown University, and a successful career with the very best agencies in
Washington. My influences such as Homeland, 24, Silence of the Lambs and
especially The X Files are very much apparent in her make-up. I wanted her past to be complex, and with
enough surprises that I could keep them coming throughout the series. Cut to
the Bone only touches on parts of her history, and I want to explore these in
much more detail in future novels featuring Kate Riley and her team. I also
like the identity that someone like Kate would have. On the one hand Boston is
where the Tea Party kicked off the revolution, where movements to abolish
slavery took place, and yet there is a puritanical thread that led to the Salem
witch trials. And someone growing up, imbibing all of that would choose to hide
in London. Why? Well you’ll have to read the novel to fully understand. Suffice
it to say, Kate lived a life that I dreamed about in my little bedroom, staring
out at other terrace houses and their gothic chimneys. And in a similar vein,
she dreams of her own life before she had to leave. And it’s the pursuit of
protecting her secrets that threatens to distract her from the case to find
Ruby, a vlogger who has been kidnapped at the start of Cut to the Bone. And
it’s her experiences, which means Kate is reluctant to trust those around her,
it seems with good reason though, and not to be cowered when faced, with
corruption and men in positions of power.
Ruby
is a vlogger, a rising star of YouTube and a heroine to millions of teenage
girls. And she’s missing. She’s an adult – nothing to worry about, surely?
Until the video’s uploaded. Ruby, in the dirt and pleading for her life. Who
better to head up the investigation than the Met’s rising star, Detective
Inspector Kate Riley? She’s leading a shiny new team, high-powered, mostly
female and with the best resources money can buy. It’s time for them to prove
what they can do. Alongside her, Detective Superintendent Zain Harris – poster
boy for multiracial policing and the team’s newest member – has his own unique
contribution to make. But can Kate wholly trust him and when he’s around, can
she trust herself? Ruby’s millions of fans are hysterical about what may have
happened to her. The press is having a field day and as the investigation
hurtles out of control in the glare of publicity, it becomes clear that the
world of YouTube vloggers and social media is much, much darker than anyone
could have imagined in their worst nightmares. And the videos keep coming....
