On saying nothing…

When I read my first Jack Reacher novel (61 hours, by Lee Child), one phrase struck me. It’s in every Reacher novel, sprinkled sparingly into the prose like a subtle spice.

Reacher said nothing.

Usually it’s in the midst of tense dialogue, at a point where nineteen out of twenty people, and thus most readers, would have said something. But Jack Reacher held his tongue. Not because he was afraid to speak, quite the reverse. It made me, as a reader, re-evaluate what I would have said, and come to the conclusion that Jack was right, it was better not to speak at this point. …

New opening…

While I’m waiting on feedback on the manuscript, here’s a short teaser, the new opening to the novel, which sees Greg tracking down a serial killer, the Divine…

Greg had never been armed before. As a psychologist, his job was to help people, not shoot them. But everyone else was tooled up, and this was his call, so… He used a small pocket light to check the safety was on and tucked the standard issue SIG Sauer P226 into his jacket pocket.…

On editing and music

I’ve just started the first major edit of the next novel, and it’s at times like this that I use music to help the editing process. As with all my previous books, I choose a new singer/group that I’ve never really listened to, It helps me stand outside my comfort zone, and see the words on the screen differently, more objectively. The music has to somehow relate to the protagonist. With Nadia, in the last book, 88 North, it was Siren’s Call by Cats on Trees, as the heartfelt way it is sung reminded me of the way Nadia felt about Jake, and how desperate she was to save him.…