Monthly Archives: November 2020

With 10 days to go until the release of New Year’s Eve, I decided to post every day about an influence on the novel. For today’s post, I am going to write about something a little different. Not a book or a film- but an entire literary tradition: the locked room mystery. It’s possibly theContinue reading “Countdown to New Year’s Eve 3- Locked Room Mysteries”

With 10 days to go until the release of New Year’s Eve, I decided to post every day about an influence on the novel. Belgium culture is not something that gets a lot of exposure in England. Tintin, and the odd exhibition on the surrealists, is perhaps still appreciated. But apart from that, the workContinue reading “Countdown to New Year’s Eve 4- The Murderer Lives at Number 21”

With 10 days to go until the release of New Year’s Eve, I decided to post every day about an influence on the novel. Dennis Lehane is an extremely successful American screenwriter and crime author, and yet he is rarely talked about in the UK. I’m not sure why: the gothic, overblown paranoia of ShutterContinue reading “Countdown to New Year’s Eve 5- Gone Baby Gone”

With 10 days to go until the release of New Year’s Eve, I decided to post every day about an influence on the novel. In this countdown so far, I have only spoken about psychological thrillers and murder mysteries. Only Rosemary’s Baby, a horror novel, wouldn’t sit on the same bookshelf.  And yet I don’tContinue reading “Countdown to New Year’s Eve 6- The City and the City”

With 10 days to go until the release of New Year’s Eve, I decided to post every day about an influence on the novel. Henri-Georges Clouzot will always be one of my favourite directors. I saw Les Diaboliques as a teenager, and fell in love with its pacing, its atmosphere, its terrifying climax. It madeContinue reading “Countdown to New Year’s Eve 7- Le Corbeau”

With 10 days to go until the release of New Year’s Eve, I decided to post every day about an influence on the novel. A few months ago, I came upon my favourite way to pitch New Year’s Eve. It only works for die-hard thriller fans, and with the pandemic I haven’t had a chanceContinue reading “Countdown to New Year’s Eve 8- Those People”

With 10 days to go until the release of New Year’s Eve, I decided to post every day about an influence on the novel. Whenever I plot my thrillers, there is always an Agatha Christie book and a Hitchcock film at the back of my mind. They were both so foundational in developing my tastesContinue reading “Countdown to New Year’s Eve 9: A Murder is Announced”

With 10 days to go until the release of New Year’s Eve, I decided to post every day about an influence on the novel. This is the big one.  Sometimes, a novel can serve as more than just an influence on a project. A novel can go further; it can become a handbook, a bibleContinue reading “Countdown to New Year’s Eve: Rosemary’s Baby”