It would be possible to write a whole book-length of thankyous, but I’ll try to keep this as disciplined as possible. First, thanks must go to my brilliant agent Joanna Swainson and the team at Hardman & Swainson, my editors Helen Huthwaite and Phoebe Morgan and publicist Sabah Khan and everyone at Avon HarperCollins.
Endless thanks to my parents and my sisters for their encouragement and support through the publication of my first book and for joining in with the excitements of each stage of the journey.
Becoming a published author has been a wonderful thing, but also a very challenging and at times disorientating experience, bringing with it difficult periods I didn’t anticipate. I’d like to give special thanks to my wise and wonderful friend Rebecca Bedding for being so brilliant through both the good times and the less good times, and for our many joyous adventures to delicious restaurants, theatre trips, bookclub discussions and visits to cookie-dough bars (yes, they do exist).
On a similar theme, a big help to me during this past year has been the writing community, especially those who are so kind and generous with their advice, both within the Psychological Suspense Authors’ Association (shout out to Emma Curtis for starting it!) and within interviews and Podcasts. There are many shows, publications and people I could mention, but two standouts are The Honest Authors, hosted by Gillian McAllister and Holly Seddon, and Sarah Painter’s The Worried Writer. In my many moments of confusion, imposter syndrome, writing-based concerns and general unease, these podcasts are an absolute dream and have been a huge help.
Also, in the book world – from authors to booksellers and many others – I’d like to thank: Cally Taylor, A. J. Finn, Kate McHale, Bea Carvalho, Kate Skipper, Diane Jeffery, Rowan Coleman, Karin Slaughter, Helen Fields, Jane Corry, John Mars and Elisabeth Carpenter. A massive thankyou to all my colleagues at Waterstones and everyone in the Ecommerce team who have helped make it possible to be both an author a full-time social media coordinator. Thanks also to all the booksellers and retail workers who have helped my first book, A Version of the Truth, find its way into the hands of readers.
A big thankyou to police officers Steve Bowyer, Paul Scott and Tom Mitchell for their advice on the police procedure elements in Hold Your Breath.
This book was inspired by my love of mystery stories, horror movies, fairytales and weird fiction, so I’d like to thank my friends Meg Wallace, Martha Greengrass, Tom Bedding, Corinne Gurr and George Doel for being integral parts of my enjoyment in this particular area of storytelling – from cinema trips to reading recommendations to many movie nights and bookshop visits in between.
Lastly, thanks to our family golden retriever Rupert for allowing me to use his nickname (Kitty, because he curls up on chairs like a cat) for my main protagonist in this novel.