The importance of empathy when writing thrillers

 

It’s the 4^th of July today, and of course apart from America’s Independence Day and Election Day in the United Kingdom – it’s also the release day for Peter Swanson’s latest thriller, A TALENT FOR MURDER.

We reviewed it last month, noting that “…….Told in a beguiling style, alternating between third person as well as first person point of views, we get a literary thriller that will make you shiver next time you think about reading a collection of short stories of John Cheever…….Though a warning – this novel is beguiling because under the cheerfully evocative and engaging narrative, lurks a much darker truth about concealed psychopaths and how banal evil can be……”

Read the Full Review HERE

Following our reading of A TALENT FOR MURDER, Peter kindly supplied our readers with a little context on the writing of this engaging [but very dark] narrative >

I write a lot of bad people. I write some good ones, too, and quite a few that fall somewhere in between. What I try to remember with all of these made-up humans is that they have something in common; they are the center of their own story. And they all think they’re the good guy, more or less.

My job, as I see it, is to write these characters as though they are morally equal. That doesn’t mean I don’t somewhat judge them, myself, but I need to let their actions speak louder than my words. Nothing is worse than a writer telling their reader straight out who the good people are and who are the bad. Most readers can figure this out for themselves.

Also, there is not much worse than a one-note villain. That’s why I think empathy is so important to a writer. Whenever I create the antagonist of the story, I remind myself that this particular character was a child once upon a time. That they were more than likely treated poorly by someone along the way. Just as in real life, this is not an excuse for truly heinous actions, but it does help us to understand why they happen. It helps us to feel as though this bad person has complexity.

And that makes for a better book. Once upon a time I wrote a novel called The Kind Worth Killing. There was a murderer in it named Lily Kintner, and somewhere along the way she became the protagonist of the story, and now she’s the protagonist of my latest book, A Talent for Murder. And, yes, she still kills people. But she has her reasons. I suppose all killers do. Anyway, as a writer I just put her on the page and let her do her thing. It’s not for me to judge if she’s a good person or a bad person. That’s up to the reader. 

The importance of empathy when writing thrillers

(c) 2024 Peter Swanson

Shots Magazine would like to pass our thanks to Tara McEvoy and Angus Cargill of Publishers Faber and Faber [London] for their help in getting this essay from Peter Swanson for Shots Readers.

More information about the work of Peter Swanson >

https://commons.trincoll.edu/reporter/features/a-master-of-suspense/

https://wwwshotsmagcouk.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-rules-for-eight-perfect-murders.html

https://wwwshotsmagcouk.blogspot.com/2023/03/the-hotel-that-inspired-kind-worth.html

https://wwwshotsmagcouk.blogspot.com/2020/03/peter-swansons-6th-novel-launched-in.html

https://wwwshotsmagcouk.blogspot.com/2019/03/a-friend-you-havent-met-yet-by-peter.html

https://wwwshotsmagcouk.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-talented-mr-swanson.html

https://wwwshotsmagcouk.blogspot.com/2017/01/inspiration-behind-her-every-fear-for.html

http://www.shotsmag.co.uk/feature_view.aspx?FEATURE_ID=245

And https://www.peter-swanson.com

 

Patricia Wants to Cuddle by Samantha Allen

I’m the friend who takes you to the horror movie you’re scared to see. It’s a role I first occupied reluctantly, after realizing that if I didn’t exert some peer pressure, I’d always be flying solo at the cinema. Such is the reputation surrounding the genre. Many people I know “don’t do horror.”

Sometimes that aversion stems from the misconception that every scary movie is filled with gore — just Saw-era torturefests all the way down. Other times, it’s about a stress response to watching other people in peril. And if someone has a clear bright line they don’t want to cross, I stop evangelising.

But if you tell me something like, “I wanted to watch Hereditary because I love Toni Colette, but it looks so scary,” I’m your wingwoman. I’m coming over. We’ll rent it tomorrow. One by one, my horror-averse friends are getting tempted by the genre’s expansive possibilities. Whether they get pulled in by an arthouse Ari Aster film or a comedic hybrid like M3GAN, they’re second-guessing “not doing horror.” They’re realizing that they’re missing out on dynamic, genre-bending stories about the things that make us tick and the thoughts that keep us up at night. Still, they need someone to push them over the edge. To give them permission to be scared.

When I wrote my novel Patricia Wants to Cuddle, I realised I was essentially replicating my movie going role in literary form. I always envisioned it as a horror story about a reality dating show gone terribly wrong. Death and violence were part of the equation from the start. But I knew that some in my target audience — fellow Bachelor and Love Island obsessives – might not be as into Stephen Graham Jones, Catriona Ward, and Paul Tremblay as I have been these last few years.

Of course, some readers were already on my wavelength. Mary Shelley basically invented modern horror fiction, after all — and thanks in large part to the explosion of weird women’s fiction, the appetite for unhinged female-focused novels is decidedly on the rise. But still, I knew I’d have to get some new noses buried in a horror book. If I billed Patricia as a novel full of blood and guts, some would be turned off from the jump.

But what if I wrote a book about four women trying to survive a manipulative TV production, navigating complicated relationships with each other and with the contemporary social media landscape? What if they each had different reasons for signing up to broadcast their lives on the airwaves? What if those women just so happened to be filming the show on a remote island in the Pacific Northwest? And what if that island had a secret — and very hairy — inhabitant lurking in the dark? Could I tempt some reluctant souls to give that story a chance?

That was how I approached unfolding the story of Patricia. The gore in the book — and it does, eventually, become a bit sanguineous — serves a metaphorical purpose, and by the time the reader arrives there, it hits like an exclamation point. To me, it’s an extension of the inherent violence of reality television, not just violence for the sake of it. And by adopting that slow-boil strategy, I’ve heard from many readers who “don’t do horror” that they can get down with Patricia. The book’s comedic bent helps them soften the horror’s hard edges, empowering them to tackle material that’s perhaps a little more grisly than what they’re used to reading. Before they know it, they’re savoring the kills.

If I have one hope for Patricia, it’s that people enjoy it. That it lives up to the reputation of being unlike anything you’ve ever read. That it’s “bonkers,” “bizarre,” or any other number of astonished adjectives I’ve seen thrown around. But if I can be permitted a second wish, it’s that the book serves as a sort of gateway drug for new horror readers. If a dash of terror can make a reality show into frightfully fun fodder for satire, imagine what it can do to so many other premises. Horror has a lot to say, and so much more to do. 

I’m the friend who takes you to the horror movie you’re scared to see. And now I want to be the author who wrote the first horror book you’ve ever read, but hopefully not the last.

Patricia Wants to Cuddle by Samantha Allen (Faber) Out Now

Renee has made it: she's in the final four. But is she dying to win? Renee should be thrilled to have been chosen as one of the final four contestants in The Catch, the world's biggest reality show. But now she, the other contestants, and Jeremy 'the Catch' have arrived on the remote, wooded island for the final show, Renee begins to wonder if there's something wrong. Is she taking a bigger risk than she realised? And as she and the other contestants begin their final challenges, they slowly start to realise that the island they've been taken to is hiding a terrifying secret - one that could make the final Elimination Event all too real.

More information about Samantha Allen and her work can be found on her website. She can also be found on Twitter @slawrites and on Facebook.

How To Get Away With Murder…...

One of the really cool things about being a writer is that you have an almost unlimited license to unleash your inner psychopath. There’s something intensely satisfying about sitting down at the keyboard and coming up with an interesting way to send a character on their way to the hereafter. Of course, there’s the added bonus that you’re not going to find yourself doing a twenty-year stretch for your troubles.

The Quiet Man was a lot of fun to write. The basic idea was simple: what if a killer used his victims’ husbands as a murder weapon? That “what if” turned into a scenario where the killer tied the wives to a kitchen chair, then attached a bomb to their chest that would be triggered when the husband opened the door.

That’s where the real fun began.

To start with, how do you restrain your victim? Rope is one solution, but that can get fiddly. You need to tie knots, and your victim might not be as cooperative as you’d like; it’s a recipe for disaster. No, duct tape is much more practical, and efficient. Just tear off a strip and slap it on. It’s great for gagging your victim, too … unless, of course, you want them to make a noise.

Okay, now you’ve secured your victim, how are you going to blow them up? Stealing explosives from a mine is one option … but that’s going to be risky. Building a fertiliser bomb is out as well … buying large quantities of ammonium nitrate is a sure way to get the police knocking on your door. Because, the thing is, you don’t want to get caught, which means that you don’t want to draw attention.

And then you see a Fire Brigade YouTube video highlighting the dangers of using fireworks. In order to leave the viewer with a lasting visual impression they strap a firework to a dummy then blow it up. It’s perfect, a heaven-sent moment of serendipity. Is anybody going to give you a second look if you walk into a store and buy a box of fireworks? No, they are not.

Next you need to work out a way to make the bomb go bang. Stealing detonators from a mine is out for the reasons outlined above. Thankfully, there’s a much simpler solution, one that involves a nine volt battery, a box of matches and a Christmas tree light-bulb. And the beauty with this solution is that all of these items are easy to get hold of.

Finally, you need to engineer a way for the husband to trigger the bomb. The simple solution: rig a reed switch to the door. These are used in alarm systems. The burglar opens a door or window, the reed switch and the alarm goes off. In this case, the door opens, the circuit closes and the bomb goes boom.

Fun and games … and no one gets hurt, and no one ends up in prison.

That said, you need to be careful where you let your inner psychopath out to play. Writers live in two worlds. There’s the world inside their head, and the real world. And separating the two is a hazy grey dreamy stretch of No Man’s Land. My advice is that you let your inner psychopath loose there at your own peril.

My wife still tells the story of the time I met her on the stairs. I ever-so-gently placed my hands on her face and tilted her head to the side. Then I slid my finger across her carotid artery like it was knife. She was expecting a tender moment; I just wanted to check my angles and verify whether or not I could actually see a pulse. Like I said earlier, writers have an almost unlimited license to unleash our inner psychopaths.

The key words there is ‘almost’. You have been warned.

The Quiet Man by James Carol is published in May by Faber & Faber (£7.99)

More information about James Carol can be found on his website.  Also follow him on Twitter @JamesCarolBooks

Stav Sherez’s The Intrusions

I was delighted to receive an invitation to iconic British Publisher Faber and Faber’s Spring Literary Party.

I find the range of publications from Faber to be eclectic, with a focus on good writing, including poetry, music, film criticism and the unusual. I am fortunate to have known Publicist Sophia Portas and Publisher Angus Cargill, for some time; and they kindly keep me up to date on my reading, as Faber’s Crime Thriller List must never be underestimated.

A few years ago, I was sent a remarkable novel entitled A Dark Redemption by Music Journalist Stav Sherez. I was hypnotised by this very dark tale, which I reviewed excitedly here

We were delighted to see that his third in this police procedural series is even more remarkable, as Shots Magazine reviewer Les Hurst reported -

Carrigan and Miller are detectives in the Metropolitan Police, nominally part of a team, but each suffering their own demons and frequently having to work independently. In Carrigans’s case he is carrying the extra weight from an earlier case, described in the previous ELEVEN DAYS, in which he used some extra-judicial investigations in order to discover the truth; for which an unattractive superior is hounding him now using the cover of an internal complaint. This persecution looks as if it will raise its head again very soon, and in a much worse way.

What are the “intrusions” of the title? In one immediate sense it is the girl who bursts into the police station saying that her friend has been kidnapped. Miller begins to investigate the grotty clubs and back alleys of London where the girls went in search of a good time. When a dead body is discovered, drained of blood, but on a floor absent of blood - Carrigan becomes involved. When the two detectives realise that the missing girl and the murder victim are one and the same they realise they have a case of horrifying complexity, and previous victims.

Read More Here

So it was most generous of Faber and Faber to send me an invitation to their Spring Literary Party, held in The Crypt at Clerkenwell. Though not a Crime / Thriller Event per se; it was good to meet up with Stav Sherez and the wonderful NJ Cooper aka Daphne Wright [who is perhaps better known as Natasha Cooper, from her days as Chair for The Crime Writers Association before the Millennium].

The event was very well attended, and robustly organised, with an array of canapes and a well-stocked bar. The party allowed the guests to mingle with the Faber & Faber Editorial and Promotional Teams during the evening; and there were readings and talks, all hoisted in The Crypt on the Green, Clerkenwell, East London.

We have recorded some of the highlights for our readers below

We were welcomed to the event, which included Sebastian Barry reading a short passage from his Costa Book Awarded ‘DAYS WITHOUT END’, which is a wonderful novel, and which the BBC dramatized. Barry received this news last week, and is the only novelist to have won this prestigious literary award twice.

Then Stav Sherez took to the stage to introduce his latest work, the prescient and unsettling dark thriller ‘THE INTRUSIONS’

Kate Hamer spoke about her follow up to the bestseller The Girl in the Red Coat, and read a passage from her follow-up ‘The Doll Funeral’

After several other readings, Hanif Kureishi closed the proceedings with an extract from ‘The Nothing’.

So after more mingling, it was time to thank the Faber Team, and emerge back into the London Night, with a book bag, and memories of a most enjoyable literary gathering from one of Great Britain’s most iconic publishing houses.

Incidentally Stav Sherez kindly supplied Shots an intriguing essay about the linkage of Music and Serial Killers, and can be accessed here

Follow Stav on Twitter @stavsherez and remember Shots Bookstore have discounted copies of THE INTRUSIONS available here 

And if you haven’t discovered the dark imagination of this former music journalist’s Carrigan and Miller London based Police Procedural series, why not head to the beginning, A Dark Redemption [out in PB] as is the second installment Eleven Days – and then buckle-up for The Intrusions.

Hush, Hush.... The return of Tess Monaghan

Laura Lippman is the multiple award-winning best-selling author of (currently) twelve books in the acclaimed private investigator Tess Monaghan series and eight New York Times bestselling standalone novels. Her most recent book published in the UK and the US is Hush Hush. She has won numerous awards for her writing including the Anthony, Edgar®, Shamus, Macavity, Nero, Barry and Agatha Awards to name a few! Her books are published all over the world to great acclaim. With the return of Tess Monaghan in her latest novel Hush Hush, Laura Lippman writes about her return and how she dealt with writing about her now that she is a mother.

Tess Monaghan has had a permanent place in my brain since 1992, maybe earlier. The novel that would become my first novel lodged into my head on a sleety November night. A year later, caught in a five-hour delay on a cross-country trip from Baltimore to San Francisco, I began scribbling in a black-and-white composition book about a young woman who — scribbled in a black-and-white composition book. Tess Monaghan, who believed that the autumn was the true beginning of the year, recorded her annual resolutions in early September.

1. Bench press 120 pounds.
2. Run a 7-minute mile. 
3. Read Don Quixtote
4. Find a job, etc. 

More than twenty years and 12 books later, Tess has done all of those things. She has not only found a job, but also opened her own business. She has had a baby, entered into a stable relationship. Her business is solid enough that she can afford to have a partner on her payroll and can generally pick-and-choose among potential jobs. She does divorce work only when financially pressed. She continues to have a nonstop supply of idiosyncratic opinions. (Driving manual transmission is superior, for example.) She is, in short, the most satisfactory imaginary friend that a grown-up could ever have. 

And yet we were apart for most of six years because I didn’t have a clue how to write about her once she had a child. 

There is no formula for the crime novel — how I wish there were! — but there are reasonable expectations. One of those expectations is that there will be suspense, presumably involving the main character. It has been challenging enough, over the years, to respect Tess’s intelligence and the reader’s desire for thrills. I have tried hard to avoid the plot device that my friend Lauren Milne Henderson has described as: “What’s that terrible noise? Let me put on my filmy negligee and marabou-trimmed mules and investigate!”

But it seemed to me, who became a mother two years after Tess did, that a mother would be particularly vigilant about her safety. And if she were not, neither the reader nor I could forgive her. I had read so many reader reviews in which betrayed fans of longtime series proclaimed that they “threw a book against a wall.” I hated the image of my book bouncing off walls. 

Every January, I teach in an 8-day writers workshop. Over a decade, I have found myself

telling my students that no one can write around a problem. There is no amount of style or technique or language that can paper over plot hotels. Characters must be consistent to their characters. And I tell them that when they find themselves trying to write around problems, maybe they should run straight at them. 

So I took my own advice. The problem was that Tess was a mother? Then run right at that subject. Write about motherhood across a broad spectrum, from the most quotidian problems (a tantrum in a grocery store) to the true worst-case scenario (“I killed my child.”) 

Of course, the problem remains. Tess is still a mother. I still have to find ways to provide suspense without making Tess stupid or foolhardy. Where does she go from here? I have no idea. The only thing I know for sure is that we are not done, Tess and I. Yet — Tess deserves a proper ending, a planned ending. She also deserves a break. Because when I am around, life is not so good for Tess. That’s the final irony. I make life absolute hell for my imaginary BFF. Eventually, it has to end. Doesn’t it? 

More information about Laura Lippman and her books can be found on her website.  You can also find her on Facebook.

Hush Hush by Laura Lippman is out now (Faber & Faber, £12.99)

James Carol in conversation with Faber editor Katherine Armstrong

Today finds Faber Editor Katherine Armstrong in conversation with author James Carol whose third book in the Jefferson Winter series has just been released.

Katherine Armstrong: Many readers might be surprised to learn that you're not actually American. What drew you to the US and why did you create a character from there? 

James Carol:           I guess my love affair with America started when I was a kid. Turn on the TV and there it was, this land of infinite possibilities. Yes, I was viewing it through Hollywood’s rose-tinted lens, but for a child stuck out in the middle of nowhere that didn’t matter. All that mattered was that I could escape for a while.

From the word go Winter had to be American. He’s supposed to be the best profiler in the business, so it made sense that he worked at Quantico. Also, being American ties in neatly with the idea that his father is a serial killer. There are believed to be almost a hundred serial killers active in the US at any one time. When you factor that in, it becomes easier to believe that there’s a kid out there living a suburban life, completely unaware that his father is a murderer.

KA:     How did you go about creating the character of Jefferson Winter? He's super-intelligent but slightly arrogant, a loner who loves music, expensive whisky, coffee and cigarettes - how much of you is there in him, if any?!

JC:      The great thing about Winter is that it gives me the opportunity to live vicariously. I gave up smoking years ago, I’m pretty much teetotal, and my days of drinking a gallon of coffee a day are long gone. Yes I miss all those things, but getting Winter to do them for me is so much healthier!

Music is another matter. That’s still very much a part of my life. Winter uses music to balance out the dark aspects of his existence, and I can relate to that. Then there’s his belief that there’s a parallel universe where he’s playing keyboards at Madison Square Gardens. In my alternate reality I’m playing guitar at Wembley.

KA:     PREY explores the dark side of family life. The nature versus nurture debate of child-rearing. Is this a subject that you were particularly interested in, and if so, could you tell us why? 

JC:      My daughter is six, my son three, so this is a question that keeps me awake at nights.

For better or worse our families shape us, particularly during those early years. As a parent you have a responsibility to do the best for your kids. You’re never going to get it right all the time. The best you can hope for is that you get things right more often than you get it wrong.

Problems occur when the balance tips too far towards the negative. That’s when people end up broken. Inside every monster you’re going to find a damaged child. Why do people do the things they do? How much is down to nature and how much is nurture?  Personally, I don’t believe it’s a black and white situation; it’s a continuum rather than a set of absolutes.  If there’s a theme that runs through the Winter books, then I guess that’s it.

KA:     There are a lot of female characters in your books. Do you find it difficult to write about women? How do you avoid stereotypes? 

JC:      When it comes to characters I run an equal opportunities policy. I don’t care if they’re male or female, I don’t care what colour they are or how old they are, I treat them all the same. I like to give my characters space to be themselves. Even with my antagonists I try not to be judgemental. The thing to bear in mind is that nobody is totally good or totally evil. We all fall in the grey area somewhere in-between. People are people. Some are good, some bad, but all are unique.

KA:     You often choose gruesome subjects for your books - lobotomising in BROKEN DOLLS; being burned alive in WATCH ME - yet you don't sensationalise what happens to the victims. How would you respond to the genres critics who suggest that the violence in crime novels is glorified? 

JC:      One thing that crime books do is provide a safe environment for readers to try and make sense of the senseless. The sad truth is that violent things happen in the world all the time. Every second of every day, people are suffering in unimaginable ways. However the one thing I know for certain is that whatever I dream up won’t compare to reality. Not even close.

I recently watched a documentary about the holocaust and it was the most horrific thing I’ve ever seen. Bodies lying discarded on the ground like trash; bodies being picked up and dumped in pits the size of a football field; bodies frozen like statues; bodies decomposing. I had to keep reminding myself that this really happened. Ironically, if this had never happened and I’d used it as the subject of a story, it would be rejected as implausible; I’d be accused of sensationalism. But it did happen. This was as real as it’s ever going to get

So, do we turn away from the violence? Do we stick our heads in the sand and pretend that it doesn’t exist? If we do that will all the bad things in the world magically disappear? Unfortunately the answer is no. The only way that humanity can progress is by learning from the mistakes of the past, and the only way to do that is by examining and understanding what has gone before.

KA:     Which writers inspire you and why?

JC:      My top three writers are Stephen King , Lee Child and Jodi Picoult. At first glance this seems like an odd grouping. Dig a little deeper, though, and you’ll find plenty of similarities. First and foremost all three are storytellers. They grab the reader by throat, drag them into whatever tale they’re telling, and don’t let go until the final full stop. Secondly, they create these amazing characters that come striding off the page, fully formed and as alive as you and me. Thirdly they really care about what they do. All three are incredibly gifted writers, but they don’t rest on their laurels. You get the sense that they want each book to be better than the last. Finally, they write books that entertain millions of people. To touch so many lives, even just for a short time, is an amazing  thing to be able to do.

KA:     What next for Jefferson Winter? 

JC:      Winter’s got another busy year coming up. PREY has just been released and I’m currently working on the second draft of 15 MINUTES (Jefferson Winter 4). This time Winter is in Berlin where he’s hunting a serial killer who terrorises his victims by bringing them face to face with their worst fears. This will be released in February 2016, but don’t worry there will be another instalment of the Jefferson Winter Chronicles between now and then … maybe even two.

 

PREY by James Carol is out now (Faber & Faber, £7.99)

Has Jefferson Winter finally met his match?

Six years ago a young married couple were found brutally stabbed to death in their home in Upstate New York. Local police arrested a suspect who later committed suicide. But what if the police got it wrong?  Ex-FBI profiler Jefferson Winter is drawn into a deadly cat-and-mouse game with a mysterious female psychopath as she sets him a challenge: find out what really happened six years ago.  The clock is ticking and, as Winter is about to find out, the endgame is everything . . .

More information about James Carol can be found on his website.  You can also find him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter @JamesCarolBooks

Richard and Judy Book Club 2014

Titles for WH Smith’s Richard & Judy Book Club have been announced today.

Longbourn by Jo Baker and Sisterland by Curtis Sittenfeld, both published by Black Swan, make entries to the eight-strong Spring Book Club line up. Also selected were Jodi Picoult’s latest work The Storyteller (Hodder), Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty (Faber), The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion (Penguin), The Never List by Koethi Zan (Vintage) and Rage Against the Dying by debut novelist Becky Masterman (Orion). A Commonplace Killing by Sian Busby (Short Books), an atmospheric crime novel set just after the Second World War, also makes the Book Club line up. Busby passed away before her book was published, but it was brought to publication by her husband, the BBC’s Economics Editor, Robert Peston.

Richard Madeley said: “If there’s one thing we’ve discovered in selecting titles for the Richard and Judy Book Club, it’s just how many talented writers really are out there. We’re delighted to reveal this diverse list to kick start the new year - rest assured every one of them is an absolute page-turner. You won’t be able to put them down.” Judy added: “We’re thrilled with the latest eight titles we’ve chosen and there really is something for everyone, ranging from gripping thrillers to laugh-out-loud humour.”

Entries for Richard and Judy’s Search for a Bestseller competition which launched in August has now closed. The winning manuscript will be published by Quercus. WHS described the response to the competition as “excellent”. The shortlisted entries will be announced on 1st March 2014.

Faber Crime Social

On Tuesday 7 May 2013 Faber held the second of their Faber Crime Social Evenings at The Social,  a club along Little Portland Street in London.  On the bill were a number of crime writers (not solely from Faber) who were planning on reading from their work.

First out of the starting block was Faber author Stav Sherez who read from his latest book Eleven Days. Eleven Days is due out on Thursday 9 May 2013.  Stav's previous book Dark Redemption has just been long listed for the Theakston's Old Peculair Crime Novel of the Year.  Stav was followed by R J Ellory who read from his work in progress. Tom Benn took up the mantle after Roger Ellory and read from his lastest novel Chamber Music.

In a brief clip below you can hear Tom Benn reading from his novel.

After a brief break Sophie Hannah read from her latest novel The Carrier and also from her work in progress. Sophie was followed by Russ Litten who read a gritty beating shop scene from Swear Down and it was rounded up by S J Watson reading  from a one time only crime story based around the event taking place.

The next event is due to take place on 3 June 2013.

More information can be found at http://www.fabersocial.co.uk/2013/04/faber-social-presents-crime/