Dive into a twisty-turny thriller
For the past 25 years, solicitor Ruth Mancini has sat in on countless police interviews with clients accused of everything from minor misdemeanours to murder. ‘I’ve always found it fascinating,’ she says. ‘It’s so cat-and-mouse. The police don’t tell you everything they know from the start, they drip-feed it. It’s a bit of a game of cards, really. I’m weighing up what’s been disclosed, what my client’s said to me, and making a decision about what’s in their best interest, bearing in mind their case may go to court. It’s intricate and it can have important consequences.’ Then there’s the human side to it. As a duty solicitor, ‘You never know who you’re walking into a room with,’ she explains. ‘Whatever they’ve done, they are someone who needs your help. They’re often upset and emotional. So a big part of our job is to reassure and calm them down.’ This unique insight into the high-stakes interrogations and emotional state of those navigating the criminal justice system feeds Mancini’s addictive crime fiction. Still a practising lawyer, her latest novel, The Woman On The Ledge, begins with the arrest of 30-something Tate. A woman has fallen from the 25th floor of an office building in London, and the police think Tate is involved. As she gives her account to her solicitor – who doesn’t seem convinced by her story – slowly the truth comes out. And what happened (or didn’t) on that rooftop is just the tip of the iceberg. For readers who pride themselves on predicting a twist ending, The Woman On The Ledge keeps you guessing to the final chapter. Jumping back and forth in time to gradually give you the full picture, Mancini knows precisely what to reveal and when. ‘Most authors are either plotters or “pantsers”, flying by the seat of their pants. I share an editor with [legendary thriller authors] Lisa Jewell and Harlan Coben; they’re both pantsers! But I’m very much a plotter. I have my plan with all my chronologies on a second monitor while Her next novel, You Belong To Me, out next summer, she wrote backwards, ‘which I’m never doing again!’ she says. What she will stick to is keeping her thrillers psychological rather than gory. ‘That’s what I loved about Gone Girl – it’s really about the anatomy of a marriage,’ she says. ‘I’m not really into people being graphically killed in awful ways. I’ve always had more interest in the domestic noir: what goes on behind closed doors.’
I write so I can constantly refer back.’
By Ruth Pacini
‘An edge-of-your-seat crime thriller, one that will leave you guessing long after you’ve closed it.’ Aisha ‘I sped through this, wanting to find out what had happened. I thought the structure worked well; I liked revisiting the same incident and knowing more each time.’ Jane ‘An involved story told from different angles, with many twists and turns. The mystery takes you on quite an adventure.’ TinaGrazia's book club gives its verdict...
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