Today is my turn on the blog tour for The Invisible. I’m sharing my Q&A with the author with thanks to Rachel Gilbey at Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me on the blog tour and to Michelle Dunne for answering my questions!

Have you always wanted to write?

 I didn’t always know that I wanted to make a career of writing, but yes, I always loved to write; anything from essays at school to novels today.

What were your previous jobs? Have they helped you with your writing process?

 I spent a number of years in the army and served with the UN for a time and those years have greatly influenced my writing. Aside from my characters and storylines, the army taught me discipline and helped to dramatically thicken my skin! Qualities that are essential to any writer I would say.

What was your inspiration for The Invisible? The Invisible is the second book in the Lindsey Ryan series, following on from While Nobody is Watching. My recurring characters were inspired by my military experiences, however the stand-alone storylines are mostly inspired by the headlines. At the time when I was writing The Invisible, we were in the midst of yet another migrant crisis. Headlines about what was happening in the Med, along with stories from people who patrolled there, inspired characters like Lena and the trafficked migrants being helped by Lindsey in this book. 

How do you construct your characters? Do they have traits of people you know?

 I never base my characters on actual people, but most of my characters would show traits of several different people that I would have encountered in life. There are certain “types” of people that we would all know, so you’ll see familiarities in most I think.

What does your writing process look like? Are you a plotter or a pantser? 

I’m a total pantser! I start with a character that I love and an idea of what kind of story they’ll become embroiled in, but from there I generally don’t know what’s going to happen until it’s about to happen. Most twists and turns only come as the story develops. 

How did you research? Did you enjoy it? 

As far as research goes, The Invisible didn’t take a lot. Most of the story was constructed from the headlines as I say and put with fictional characters. But I did have lots of conversations with former colleagues and friends who are still serving in places like Syria and who patrolled the Med during that particular crisis. These are people who I always enjoy chatting with anyway, so I certainly did enjoy it.

Who are your favourite writers? Are you influenced by them? 

I always find this question really tricky (just like “what’s your favourite book?”) – there are so many that I love and admire. Patricia Cornwell & Karin Slaughter would have been my earlier influences. Growing up in a family that’s obsessed with crime fiction, these were my first introduction to female crime writers and female protagonists. Plus I love a series about a character that I know I’m going to enjoy catching up with time and time again. Also writers like Cathy Kelly & Marian Keyes who let us look in on the drama and emotion in other people’s lives – people like us! Everyone wants to see something of themselves reflected in what they read, I think. It’s important for a reader to be able to relate to a character.

Who would you least like to be stuck in a lift with and why?

 Any of those people who know everything about everything – and what’s best for everyone else. You know the type I mean.

Who would play the main character/s in a film version of The Invisible? 

Well, The Invisible is in development for TV right now, so this question might well be answered sometime in the future!

What do you like to do in your spare time? 

Run (this is where my story development usually happens), have coffee with friends and hike when I can convince someone to come with me!

What is next for you?

 I’m working on a new thriller now called Playing the Game, which should be out some time in 2023

Favourites:

Book? 

Aaaagh! Room, The First Day of Spring, The Beekeeper of Aleppo, The Last thing to Burn, Blinding Lies … the list goes on!

Film? 

Australia

Band/Singer? 

My taste in music is all over the place! Anything from Bon Jovi to 50-cent. Maroon-5 to Ed Sheeran – it totally depends on my mood.

TV show? Homeland 

Colour? Purple 

Place? Cobh – I love where I live. But I also love to travel 

Biscuit? All of them!

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The Invisible is available from Amazon.

You can follow the rest of the blog tour here: