Hello Gentle Reader! I hope you’re doing ok in these uncertain times. A little earlier this week I reviewed the wonder thriller Keep Him Close by Emily Koch Reviewed here and its already one of my favourite reads this year. Trust me this is a book you NEED. Emily very kindly agreed to answer some questions

Hello! I absolutely loved Keep Him Close – thank you so much for a great book!

Hi! Thank YOU for reading it. I’m really glad you enjoyed it. I’ve been nervous to put my “difficult second novel”out into the world but have been blown away by the response.

So how would you describe Keep Him Close?

Hopefully it’s a book that keeps you turning pages – but also makes you feel something. I love books that bring about a strong emotional reaction in me, and I aim to do the same for my readers. It’s a dark domestic drama about the friendship between a woman whose son has died and the mother of the boy accused of his murder. It centres around the mystery of this boy’s death, but for me it is also very much a novel about motherhood (or indeed, parenthood): about the joy it can bring as well as the potential for shattering loss it exposes you to.

What made you want to focus on the mothers rather than the sons directly involved in the incident?

Good question! I guess because it was their stories that I started with. The idea came to me when I was walking around the outside walls of the prison in Bristol, where I live. The prison is right in the middle of a very residential area and I wondered what it would be like to live so close, especially if there was someone in the prison who had done something awful to your family. Alice, the mother of the dead boy Lou, was the first character I ‘met’ in this book, and I met her that day, looking at the prison walls.

I loved the way that you unpeeled the layers of the characters. What interested you most in your choices of Indigo and Alice?

I had a lot of fun making them different to each other – Alice is so uptight and cold, whereas Indigo is warm and wears her heart on her sleeve. I loved the contrast. But you’re right – there are layers, as there are with all of us humans! The women you meet at the start of the novel are not quite who you thought they are, and they also change during the course of the story: mostly, I’d say, because of each other’s influence.

While there is tragedy there is also a huge look at compassion in the story was that something you wanted to explore?

Yes. I don’t write mysteries and thrillers because I am a dark soul. I’m a very optimistic and positive person and I definitely like to move my stories in that direction when appropriate. Where there is darkness, there’s light. It was the same in my debut, If I Die Before I Wake – have you read that? (Womble’s note - I’ve bought it now!!) It’s dark, and it’s sad, but ultimately for me it is a beautiful and uplifting novel.

Following your debut did you take any tips from writing your first novel that made this one easier?

Yes. My editors have been amazing and gave me some great advice. The biggest thing I think I took forward was making sure that the reader has questions they want answered in Every. Single. Chapter. Each chapter needs to move things on and open up new mysteries. Those words need to work hard for their place in the story.

Who have been your biggest influences in your writing?

My agent, Peter Straus, and my editors Liz Foley and Jade Chandler. They have championed me and steered me when I needed it. If you mean other authors… I love Celest Ng, Kate Atkinson, Ian McEwan. I was a total Shakespeare nut as a kid, which sounds horribly pretentious but I had this amazing primary school teacher who was adamant we weren’t too young (aged eight) to start learning the stories of his plays and she really inspired me, as did the bard himself.

Do you have any other projects in the pipeline?

Yes! I’m starting to work on book three, which I am so excited about (but can’t tell you anything just yet.) More imminently, I’m starting a bit of light relief for these difficult times – a Friday Night Book Party every Friday from March 27th until The Great Indoors Time passes! I’ll be going live with a video stream at 8.30pm each Friday on my Facebook page (Facebook.com/emilykochwriter) and we’ll have book chat, guest authors, giveaways, games and a Book Disco. What do you mean, you’ve never heard of a Book Disco?! You’ll have to come along to find out what it is.

If there was one book (not your own) that you love to recommend to other people what would it be?

Oh, there are so many! But I loved Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave. I’d highly recommend it.