Author Interview with the amazing Nicky Wells!

Dead Hope by Nicky Wells

Release Date: 23rd February 2017

Genres:  Romantic Suspense

I am a massive fan of Nicky's writing and when I was offered the opportunity to read Dead Hope when it was just written I jumped at the chance! And, I'm so glad I did! Dead Hope is of course a new genre for Nicky. I bet you are all as curious as I am about this. So, without further ado lets hear from the amazing Nicky Wells herself!!

AUTHOR INTERVIEW! 

 

Tell your readers about the new book!

DEAD HOPE is my first thriller, and it’s bringing you a fabulous and totally delicious fusion of crime, suspense and a touch of romance. Here’s the gen. Cat doesn’t want to go to prison, so she has to find a proper job: judge’s orders. Kay is a diligent office worker by day and an ace hacker by night. When fate throws Cat and Kay together, they discover that their lives have overlapped before in a key event that shaped both their futures. Except nothing was as it seemed, and now they start to look into what really happened on the night that Cat parents tragically drowned.

Dead Hope is a complete change of genre for you. What prompted the change?

Great question; I’ve actually been wondering the same! It wasn’t planned. I didn’t sit down one day and thought to myself, you know, Nicky, you should really write a thriller. Which is ironic, really, given that I read crime and thriller by the truckload, probably more so than romance. But I digress.So I had this idea for a book: a rock star abandons his normal life and goes under cover in an office job like a normal person. Cue all sorts of romantic comedy moments as he discovers true love whilst incognito. That was the idea. Except when I started planning in depth, I was missing the answer to one critical question: how did he get there? What would have caused him to go under cover into a “normal” life? I didn’t have a good answer, so I went back to the drawing board. And suddenly, all manner of dark ideas came out, mostly fuelled by the concept of “witness protection.” A suspense theme took hold and transformed my rock star hero into the daughter of a rock star. So far, so good. However—when I started writing, the suspense took over and I literally was swept away by the thrill of it all. The result: DEAD HOPE.

How difficult is it to launch yourself with a new genre?

Hmmm…. Can I come back and answer that when I see how DEAD HOPE is doing? No, but seriously: I’m not sure. I’ve had a long and hard debate with myself (and the lovely JB Johnston of Brook Cottage Books, incidentally) about the pros and cons of writing my new genre under a different name, starting over completely. As you can see, I decided against it. I felt my existing readers would find enough romance in the book to make it appealing to them, and that the thriller was non-gory enough to engage them even if it was perhaps slightly out of their normal reading comfort zone. At the same time, I think the suspense and crime elements will draw in a whole new audience… but as I said, the proof of the pudding will be in the (metaphorical) eating. I’ll tell you how it’s going when I release my next thriller!

 

What other authors in this genre have been your influences?

How much time have you got? In no particular order: Sue Grafton, Agatha Christie, John Grisham, Lee Child, Kathy Reichs, Dean Koontz, Jeffery Deaver, Tim Weaver, Patricia Cornwell… the list goes on! 

 

If the book was to be made into a movie who would you like to see play your characters?

Cat: Jayne Wisener http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2479184/

Kay: Douglas Booth http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3150488/

 Can we expect any more romance books from you?

Absolutely. I’ve got two in the queue; one is potentially the sequel to Seven Years Bad Sex (tentatively titled Seven Years No Sex, namely after our happy couple have a baby….); and then I’ve got a story in my head about this university romance gone wrong where the unhappy couple bump into each other many, many years later without recognising each other… and fall in love all over again. Watch this space (but I’ve got to get some more thrillers out of my system first…)

Oh! On that note: What’s next for you?

I’m so glad you asked because I’ve got not one but two more thrillers on the go right at this moment! A while back, I had an idea for a cracking crime thriller. It came to me on the way into town, and by the time I got home, I had a second complete idea in my head interpreting the same writing blog in a radically different way. I blogged about it at the time: https://nickywells.com/2016/06/09/the-handwritten-concept-stands-twoinonethrillerproject/

Now both thrillers are completely planned, and the first one of this epic project is in the process of being written. I’m about 20,000 words in and hope to bring this to you by end of this year or very early next year!

Wow thanks for that great interview Nicky! Lets find out a little more about Dead Hope!

BOOK BLURB

Cat Hope doesn’t want to go to prison. She needs a job, and she needs it fast: judge’s orders. Caught in a drugs raid while trying to dull the pain of her parents’ deathaversary, Cat is serving a ‘rehab’ sentence under a new identity in the deepest depths of rural nowhere.

Kay Mahon, office worker by day and hacker by night, is on the run from a past life that he’d rather not remember.

When their paths cross, they discover that the night that derailed Cat’s future nineteen long years ago also changed the path of Kay’s life. Confused and intrigued, they begin to investigate the truth behind the deaths of the successful rock star couple Jackie and Adam Hope. Little do they know that their quest is putting Cat in grave danger. 

After Cat goes missing, Kay finally puts the pieces together. But how is he going to find Cat and her abductor in a place as big as London before it is too late?

 

 

STOP PRESS!!!

BOOK TOUR ALERT!

Want to read Dead Hope and be part of the book tour? Want to interview Nicky Wells as part of the tour or help promote the book? Then simply email brookbooks@hotmail.co.uk

IT'S NOT TOO LATE!