Welcome to Crawl Space, Paddy!
PM: A local friend has spent years working for an oil company in the arid south of Iraq. In addition to being one of the world’s largest untapped reserves of oil, the desert is also littered with lethal unexploded ordnance from both Gulf wars – mines left by the Iraqis and cluster bombs the Allies dropped that failed to detonate. I remember him saying that it would take all the de-mining teams in the world an eternity to clear the desert. As a result, his team have adopted a mitigation policy – removing mines and cluster bombs if an area needs to be surveyed or drilled, but otherwise plotting their exact location, and working around them using GPS. The more he talked about his work there and the extraordinary risks he and his colleagues were willing to tolerate, the more I thought the setting would be perfect for a thriller. Throw in a killer and some unexplained deaths and I knew I had the makings of a really exciting story.
SH: Your hero, Tom, is a therapist with a tortured past. How well did you knew Tom before you began writing, and which came first - your hero or your plot?
PM: I’ve written a couple of thrillers featuring a character who shares some of Tom’s characteristics so a version of him has definitely been in my mind for years. But I’m also a therapist myself (albeit one without a tortured past) so Tom is definitely an example of an author writing what they know. I think a shrink makes a really interesting protagonist in a thriller, a genre in which the hero is normally defined by his physical skillset. Tom, it’s fair to say, is not great with his fists but he is good at seeing the world through a therapeutic lens and, when cornered, using his therapeutic insight to find a solution.
SH: How did it feel, listening to your book being narrated? I always find it such a unique experience, almost as if it's a story I don't know with characters I've never met.
PM: Prior to publication, I’d read Red Desert dozens of times checking the flow and looking for typos. As every writer knows, it’s a largely mechanical process that can sap the soul. By the time I delivered the final manuscript to Audible, I wasn’t exactly itching to hear it again. But with Joe Jameson, the book feels completely fresh and it’s so exciting to hear it brought to life. In addition to the wonderful character and cadence of his voice, he’s also managed to achieve something miraculous in my mind, distinguishing each character – whether it’s an Iraqi boy, a French doctor or a traumatised British therapist – with delicate shades of intonation.
SH: The story is superbly unsettling and claustrophobic. I found this especially striking given these strange days we're living through. All too easy to feel Tom's unease and paranoia. How are you finding lockdown - any tips or tricks for us?
PM: I reached a point about three weeks into the lockdown when I thought I had my coping mechanism sorted. I ran most days, dramatically cut back on my news addiction so I didn’t unnecessarily trigger anxiety, stayed in contact with old friends to ensure I didn’t get lonely, and carved aside a little time each morning to outline a new novel in the hope of building some future momentum. But of course, what I hadn’t anticipated was that although nothing about the lockdown had changed, the way I felt about it was slowly shifting beneath the surface. I was still processing the new reality, even if only on an unconscious level. At around week six, I hit a wall. I was too tired to run, couldn’t be bothered to talk to anyone and felt deeply unmotivated. The lesson for me is that it’s great if you find ways to cope, but it’s also OK to feel crap. This is an emotional marathon, impacting on us all in different ways. There’s no correct way to get through it. Do what works for you and don’t beat yourself up when you have tough days. Most importantly, don’t be afraid to ask for help – whether from a trusted friend or a professional – if life becomes overwhelming. Being able to do that is a strength, not a weakness.SH: Absolutely. Before lockdown, you were gearing up for Lyme Crime, a brand-new festival by the sea. What can we expect in June 2021 when the festival finally opens its doors?
PM: June 2021 cannot come soon enough! I have hopefully persuaded my existing line-up to return next year. So we’ve got Erin Kelly discussing We Know You Know, her sublime thriller about mental health and motherhood; Luke Jennings chatting to you about Killing Eve; psychological thriller titans CL Taylor and Mark Edwards in conversation; spy novelist Mick Herron speaking to Jason Goodwin, and many more treats besides. And, mindful of the fact we will by then have possibly been starved of crime festivals for a year, I’ve added another day of events. I hope to welcome Ann Cleeves, Fiona Cummins, CJ Tudor, Laura Shepherd-Robinson, Roz Watkins, Cathi Unsworth and Syd Moore to the festivities.
SH: I can't wait! What's next for you on the writing front? Can we expect to hear from Tom again?
PM: I’m very fond of Tom and already have the outline of a new thriller – one involving refugees and dark establishment figures. But for now, I’m concentrating on a crime thriller set in Essex in 1953, when a storm surge overcame the east coast. The parallels between then and now – of nature hitting with terrible force and a renewed sense of collaboration and community emerging – have been striking.
SH: That sounds exciting - great news for thriller fans! Thanks, Paddy.
You can buy Red Desert here. Paddy is on Twitter so do ask him questions of your own. And pencil in the last weekend of June 2021 for Lyme Crime.
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