Hello from Cantabria!
I can’t believe how fast this year is slipping by, so much so I missed sending an April Fool’s joke – well that and the slight mishap training my new pet crocodile Cedric – but I should be typing again with both hands very soon (they do grow back right?). In the meantime, I have a cover to reveal!
I’m very proud, quite nervous, and actually a bit intrigued to introduce you to Little Ghosts, my latest book (out May 11th). I’ve previously referred to this book as All But Gone, but my new publisher thought the new name fit the genre better so that’s what we’ve gone with: Little Ghosts.
They’ve also designed the cover, which is why it looks so different from all my previous books. Again the idea is that it fits in well with the genre, so that if it ever makes the bestseller ranks, it will look the part. (I’ve got my fingers crossed, the one’s Cedric didn’t eat at least). It’s certainly not a cover or title I’d have ever come up with, but I kind of like it, and I’m anxious now to see how it’s received – so do write back to this email and let me know.
As for the story (which is largely unchanged, but I-like-to-think improved from the All But Gone versions of the book), it features ten-year-old, Gale, who is locked in grief after his older sister Layla was taken and murdered. Gale manages to cope by imagining that Layla is still with him, until the day she begins to speak, and asks for his help in catching her killer.
The idea is that the story works on two levels – it has a supernatural reading, in that Layla is ‘real’, but it also makes sense if Layla is never actually there, but simply the vivid imaginings of a deeply grieving child. And to a certain extent it’s up to the reader to decide which version they want to believe (although the ending does reveal my intentions). This made it tricky to write, as both possibilities had to make sense simultaneously, but it was a fun challenge. It’s also the first book that felt really emotional to me, and I have to confess there are sections that made me a little teary to write, and one or two that still had me blubbering after a dozen rounds of editing. But then I am pretty soft.
Little Ghosts will be released on May 11th from Storm Publishing, and you can see the cover, read the blurb and even pre-order the book from the link below. I hope you’ll give it a go!
Pre-order link
Gregg
PS – As a final word, and because this is my first ‘proper’ published book, I wanted to say a big thank you to everyone out there who has supported my writing over the last seven years since my first novel came out. Looking back I’m amazed how far this little writing adventure has taken me (not least moving to Spain) and it’s all down to people actually reading the books, so a huge thank you to everyone who has done so!
PPS – do let me know what you think of the cover, I am curious and nervous in equal measure… 🙂
One moment my beautiful daughter, her face flushed from the sun, her curls still wet from splashing in the ocean, was waiting in line for a strawberry ice cream, the next she was gone…
As I sit in her dimly lit bedroom, surrounded by flickering candles, I feel the crushing weight of my daughter’s absence. It’s been two years since Layla was murdered. The police have searched tirelessly for her killer, but they’ve found nothing – it’s like whoever did it vanished into thin air.
My once-perfect marriage is falling apart, we can hardly look at each other anymore. Our ten-year-old son Gale is struggling. He’s changed since she died. He’s more secretive and also… I can’t quite put my finger on it. They were so close, is this Gale coming to terms with her death? Still, unease creeps over me as I watch him. He just stares past me at something I can’t see.
Then one day, as I butter his toast for breakfast, my son tells me something that stops me in my tracks. “I know who killed Layla.”
I can barely get the words out to ask how. Looking at me with his serious little boy expression, he puts a hand on my arm. “She told me.”
The only book you need to read this year. From the #1 bestselling author, this is a gripping, emotional, heartbreaking novel full of twists and turns, and an ending you’ll never see coming…
Pre-order now from the link below (out May 11th)