The International Thriller Writers‘ magazine THE BIG THRILL chose to do profile on me and my latest thriller SAVING GRACE. We discuss what influenced the book and what comes next for my characters Scott Fleetwood and Tom Sheils. You can read the article here.
Enjoy!
Categories: hump day post new book
I’ve been in the US eighteen years and I haven’t been back to the UK in over nine, so it’s not surprising things have changed in that time, so here’s a few things that made me a tourist in my own country.
Categories: hump day post
Just seeing someone wearing a little, red, plastic raincoat gives me goose bumps. Now this doesn’t apply to blue or green ones or adult-sized ones or ones made from natural fibers–just the ones made from plastic that are red and sized to fit a five year old.
The film fans out there will immediately know why I have this fear. I saw Nicholas Roeg’s version of Daphne Du Maurier’s DON’T LOOK NOW.
The movie’s climax did it to me. When Donald Sutherland finally learns the identity of the person wearing the little, red raincoat that his dead daughter wore, I nearly collapsed a lung. Since then, little, red, plastic raincoats have given me
the willies.
I know now that I saw the film when I was far too young. It’s not often that I say that. I saw a lot of scary movies when I was young, but this one had a profound effect. I find it amusing that when I saw the movie at my tender age, I totally blanked out the famous sex scene between Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie. I only realized that it existed when I saw the film years later (when I paid attention to those sorts of things).
Even now, I can’t watch the film. I recorded it off the telly a few years back. I still haven’t watched it. It’s probably the only film I love that I’m afraid to watch.
Over the years, I’ve seen kids wearing the same little raincoats and I’ve had to literally cross the road to avoid them. Like Donald Sutherland, I have this urge to make sure there is a little child wearing it but at the same time, I don’t want to see, just in case I find what he did.
My mum knows about this fear I have and she takes great pleasure in pointing them out to me. Obviously, I’m her favorite child.
There you have it. Some people fear terrorism, spiders or aliens from another world. For me, it’s first graders wearing red raincoats.
Now that I’ve cut you in on this one, don’t come to one of my signings dressed in a red raincoat. You wouldn’t want to see me scream.
Categories: hump day post shelf life
I am a proud father all over again in that I am happy to announce the official release of my new thriller, THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY. The back jacket blurb goes a little like this.
“Graduate students Zoë and Holli only mean to blow off some steam on their road trip to Las Vegas. But something goes terribly wrong on their way home, and the last time Zoë sees her, Holli is in the clutches of a sadistic killer. Zoë flees with her life, changed forever.
A year later and still tortured with guilt, Zoë latches on to a police investigation where the crime eerily resembles her abduction. Along with a zealous detective, she retraces the steps of that fateful night in the desert, hoping that her memory will return and help them find justice for Holli. Her abductor—labeled the “Tally Man” by a fascinated media—lies in wait for Zoë. For him, she is not a survivor but simply the one that got away.”
You don’t have to take my word for it, the books picked up some nice blurbs:
“Simon Wood’s THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY turns the serial killer convention upside down in a genuinely suspenseful novel.”
—Charlaine Harris, author of THE DAY SHIFT
“Wrenchingly intense–the talented Simon Wood goes psychologically dark and deeply disturbing. For those who like their thrillers twisty, shocking, and relentless.”
—Hank Phillippi Ryan, author of TRUTH BE TOLD
“Zoe Sutton is one of the most compelling, interesting, and complex heroine’s I’ve read in a long time.”
—Allison Brennan, New York Times bestselling author of NOTORIOUS
“Marvelously nerve-wracking, The One That Got Away is a wicked roller-coaster of suspense that paints a realistic picture of a serial murderer and Zoë Sutton, the one prey that got away.”
—Gayle Lynds, New York Times best-selling author of THE BOOK OF SPIES
We’ve picked up some early online reviews:
Quiet Fury
Will Kill For A Story
Carol Taylor Reviews
It’s available in paperback, as an eBook, on CD and as an audio download. I hope you like it and please, please, spread the word by sharing this post and annoying family, friends and strangers. Word of mouth is everything.
Thanks for listening.
Categories: book of the month hump day post
Categories: hump day post
Ah crap! I think I’m turning into my dad. I’m doing things he’s done. No, no, no, this can’t be happening. I’m original! I’m a rebel with a cause. I’m mad, bad and dangerous to know. And other stuff that makes me unlike my dad. How can it be going this wrong?
Now don’t get me wrong, I like my dad well enough. There are no rifts or anything between us, but who wants to be a facsimile of their parents? We all want to be an individual making our own unique mark on the world, don’t we? I know I do—or I think I do. Maybe that’s my dad’s DNA talking? Goddamn it. Who am I? Am I me or am I Memorex?
As I think about this, that’s the interesting point here. If I am following in my dad’s footsteps, is it because of the way he raised me—or is it because of his DNA? Do I do the thing I do because I watched him do them—or because we share the same genetic programming? I think I just blew your mind, didn’t I? Far out, man!
All I can say is that I don’t know whether my dad’s parental influence has had its effect or whether it’s in the blood. I do know it’s not a conscious decision. I never think to myself, oh how would dad do this and I should do likewise. I do things that I believe that reflect me but they have an uncanny way of aping my dear moo-pah. Here’s what I’ve got:
My dad is a marathon runner.
I am an endurance cyclist.
My dad has an allotment where he grows fruit and vegetables.
I have a fruit and vegetable plot in my garden.
My dad loves dates.
I used to hate the fruit growing up, but now I love them.
My dad has served on the board of his running club.
I have been a chapter president of both Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America.
My dad has a wife who indulges his whims.
I have a wife who indulges my whims.
My dad went grey haired by his mid forties.
I am forty-five next year and my hair will be grey.
My dad was a maintenance foreman at factory.
I became an engineer.
My dad has been served as a school governor, currently serves on police/civilian committee as well as a number of other civic boards.
I worked for city government for seven years and in the last couple of years, I’ve decided that will probably run for city council at some point.
Finally, we both share the same last name!!!
There you have it ladies and gents—my dad and me—or should I say my dad and his carbon copy. Now, I accept I could be paranoid, so I’m going to throw it out to you—do you think I’m turning into my dad?
Categories: hump day post
Categories: hump day post
As we surge headlong into midterm election season, I try not to get dragged along with the tide. Having had some close encounters with politicians in both the US and UK, I’m not a big fan. I feel we don’t vote for the best person for the job but the person who’ll do the least damage. However, I do have to give them credit for doing a job most of us unwilling to do.
Categories: hump day post
Categories: hump day post
Categories: hump day post
