The paperback of my new novel 'Wilderness' finally hits the shelves this week. The irony of releasing a crime novel about a dream road trip, traversing 1500 miles of America’s national parks, that might just turn deadly, in the middle of a global lockdown is not lost on me. But it started several years ago, long before anyone could imagine the social distancing and self isolation Covid 19 would necessitate.



The inspiration hit as I was walking along the rim of the Hetch Hetchy reservoir in Yosemite National Park, when a semi-naked man emerged from the trees carrying a six-foot-long wooden stick. It was a weird moment, confronted by that skinny apparition, dressed only in what looked like a little leather loincloth and sunglasses. My husband and I gave each other a nervous smile that said, ‘weirdo alert’, because who was this guy, way up in the mountainous Sierra Nevadas in California?



Part sun-leathered, old-world prophet and part refugee from a 70s hippie commune, was he just wandering for fun or did he need help? Did we? Because who was out there to come to our aid if he turned out to be a survivalist nutter, intent on dispatching us and stealing our peanut butter Clif bars and emergency coffee dollars? Perhaps luckily, we never did find out who he was - all he did was smile, giving a friendly wave as he strode past with the words, ‘Great day, huh?,’ like nothing was out of the ordinary.



Shortly afterwards the germ of an idea was born that turned into 'Wilderness'. Because, though I think of myself as an ‘outdoorsy’ person, those ancient Yosemite forests and vast Arizona and Utah deserts, sparked a deep sense of unease inside me. They were astoundingly beautiful but, just a few steps from the bustling tourist trails, it was easy to imagine myself a hundred miles from anywhere, where there were great heights to fall from, places to lose ourselves in and creatures that wanted to bite and even eat us.



OK, maybe my imagination was a bit over excited, but is it any surprise that this was one of the places I started plotting to kill my husband? I mean my character Liv did, because it was clear to me, and her, that anything could happen out there where no one was watching. If it was easy to lose your way and vanish into the vastness, it was surely the perfect place to make a murder look like an accident. And I was interested in the idea that the most dangerous thing on the trip might already be sitting beside you in the car – something inside a loved one perhaps, released from their civilised city routine that, betrayed and broken, wanted to bite back?



So, as Olivia and her husband Will take a ‘dream holiday’ to save their marriage after she discovers his affair, Will doesn’t know that she's set him three little tests along the way, and, if he fails, his road trip might be a lot shorter than he realises. The wilderness Liv finds herself in is not simply the one they’re visiting, but the uncharted territory of betrayal and what comes afterwards.



Wilderness is now available from Little Brown in e-book and paperback.