I Let You Go

"What I love about I Let You Go is the twist. The book came out in 2015 and it was just such an impressive debut for Clare Mackintosh. There’s the difference between part one and part two and it all hangs on this twist. It’s one of those moments where I just sat up. It was like a gut punch. As a writer, I actually stopped reading the book, and went back and reread the first half. From a technical point of view, I wanted to check the wiring and the plumbing of the book to see whether it all hung together because what she was doing was so brave. Did it all work out? As a reader, do you feel cheated? Or do you feel ‘Wow!’ and have your breath taken away? I was completely misled. The misdirection was so convincing. The twist checked out perfectly from a technical point of view. It was really bold and it worked really well. As you say, Jenna, the mother and the main character, was very relatable and it’s every parent’s worst nightmare. The book also saw the beginning of the hybrid psychological thriller/police procedural. There was a detective element to it as well. I should say that Clare Mackintosh was very kind and gave me a nice plug for Find Me , my first psychological thriller. Her comments, and her quote, helped me enormously. I Let You Go was her debut and I think it’s probably still her best book. Yes. I haven’t read them all, but I’ve read quite a few. They’re good, but she just set such a high standard with this one. I do at certain times. When I’m writing a thriller, I tend to switch off and read other genres. I try and write books which are slightly different, and I feel that if I read too many in the genre, my books are in danger of becoming like everyone else’s. So I try not to get too embedded. I try and keep my eye on the best, on the books that are breaking new ground and who’s doing really well. I’m a big fan of JP Delaney who I think is very interesting as a writer. “When you’re in this game, you live or die by a book’s readability” So I wouldn’t say I read thrillers psychological thrillers all the time. That’s also, partly, because I’m terrified of accidentally plagiarizing or copying something. I try and keep my powder dry."