'Cross Her Heart' Interview with Sarah Pinborough - SPOILERS INCLUDED

Days have passed since polishing off 'Cross Her Heart' by Sarah Pinborough, yet I still feel forever changed. The depth of the plots is astonishing and have been frantically searching for 'Behind Her Eyes' in my local book shop to get another fix. It's her latest thriller, and oh boy does it thrill. It’s an extremely well knitted blanket of plot twists and unthinkable secrets as you learn that things are not all they seem. I was luckily enough to be able to interview Sarah, and get some further insight into the inner workings of the novel. Considering she is a best selling author with a very busy schedule I was thrilled with the opportunity and her kindness to take part.

1. With such a gripping storyline it makes me wonder if there is any truth to it? Or maybe elements from your own life that helped you to channel this story? Okay, so there are spoilers in these answers obviously! The storyline is based on the real life cases of Mary Bell, the Bulger killers and the Parker-Hulme murder case. I’ve always been fascinated by children who kill and how they re-integrate into society afterwards. Although the case of Mary Bell was my main inspiration, for want of a better word, I drew on elements of all the other cases - the time frame is more that of the Bulger case, and the intensity of the female friendship comes from the Parker-Holme murder case. So, no, no elements of my own life in this I’m happy to say, although most women have experienced something along the lines of what Marilyn goes through in the book. 2. Both emotionally and creatively, which part was hardest to write? The Charlotte sections were hard to write, especially those towards the end of the book. There are some emotionally disturbing and harrowing scenes there which I didn’t want to be exploitative or graphic while at the same time knowing I had to take the reader to some dark places. I’m quite proud of those scenes though. 3. What sort of research went into writing a book of this calibre? I read up a lot on the cases mentioned above, non-fiction books on them, government reports - amazing what you can find out on line - that kind of thing. Watched movies based on them too. That was it really. I just had to make sure I had the legal stuff right. 4. If you were Marilyn or Ava from your novel, would you forgive Lisa when the news broke? Ha, well I guess I would eventually, pretty much as Marilyn and Ava both do in the book. I imagine it would take a lot of adjustment and would depend on the strength of the relationship. 5. Is there a character you identify with the most? I don’t think any of them are like me overly, but most readers seem to come away liking Marilyn best, and I think I probably like her best too because she’s tough even with everything going on in her world, and she saves the day at the end. I like them all really though - even Ava when she’s being a typical teenager. 6. As far as villains go Katie is certainly one of the best. How do you approach creating villainous characters and how does the process differ from the protagonist? Sometimes in thrillers you have to make your villains quite crazy bad, and I enjoy that even if it makes them extreme. Bad characters are the most fun to write because they have no moral code. Katie has never been able to let go of the past and I love how she manages to justify everything she’s done or does to herself as if she’s behaving perfectly rationally. They’re easier to write than good people because they tend to have less nuance. 7. What advice would you give to writing enthusiasts who may want to follow in your footsteps? I would say just get on with it! No one will kill you or put you in prison if you write a bad book, and it’s all a learning curve. But so many people get caught up in looking for writing advice etc on the internet, or so caught up with the idea of being a writer, they forget to actually write the book. I’m glad when I started you just had to write and didn’t have a thousand writers on Twitter telling you the best way to do it. Thanks again to Sarah for her time. Be sure to check out the book, I promise you won't regret it.