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Meet the Author

Meet the Author: Gillian McAllister

Photo of Gillian McAllister

Gillian McAllister is the bestselling author of Everything But The Truth, Anything You Do Say, No Further Questions and The Evidence Against You.

How To Disappear, published in July 2020 is her latest release, a witness protection thriller. You can find Gillian's books on our catalogue.

  1. Who were your literary heroes as you were growing up and when did you first realise that you wanted to write?

I was a voracious reader of all commercial fiction - Sophie Kinsella, Adele Parks, Marian Keyes, the greats still writing today. That women's fiction angle still informs my crime today - I like to write about families and relationships within books that thrill.

  1. How does the writing process work for you? Are you a planner or do you go where the story takes you? Do you have a particular place where you feel comfortable writing?

I'm definitely a planner but I'm also a prolific re-writer. Perhaps the worst combination! I plan a draft, write it, scrap it, and re-plan.

I write almost all my books at my kitchen table. I like the view of the garden and the background noise of the house.

  1. Your last book was How to Disappear. Can you give us a flavour of that?

Of course! How to Disappear came out in July 2020 and is about a teenage girl who is the sole witness to the brutal murder of a homeless person by two Premier League footballers. Her identity is leaked during testimony and it tells the story of how she enters witness protection with her family.

  1. Is there anything you can share with us about your latest project?

Definitely. My next release is June 2021 and is about a woman who receives a deadly request over the phone...

  1. How has lockdown affected you as a writer? Has it helped or hindered the creative process?

Rather embarrassingly I have been insanely creative during lockdown. I do feel my writing is suffering from a lack of socialising (people watching...) but the enforced isolation has produced so many novel ideas for me: more than ever. And they have come in a strangely cogent way, complete with structures. Thinking time, as it turns out, is a good thing.

  1. What is the best book you have read in 2020? Best music? Best TV/film?

Book - Last One At The Party, coming February 2021. It's about a woman who is the sole survivor of an apocalypse (!) but really it's about who you are with nobody to witness and love you - I adored it. Music - Taylor Swift because of her lyrics but also because she, too, has been truly creative in 2020! TV - The Queen's Gambit. God, I loved it. About trauma more than chess, with one of the most perfect final episodes I've ever seen.

  1. If you could have written any book what would it be and why?

The Sight of You by Holly Miller - about a man who dreams correct visions of the future, and how he navigates that when he meets a woman he loves, but whose fate he knows.

  1. Can you tell us one thing about yourself that your readers may not know?

I find writing fiction to be a kind of agony, always searching for the right path, the right characters, the right end: the suffering is all for my readers, and it's always worth it.

Read Gillian's latest title

You can run, you can hide, but can you ever really disappear? . . . One mistake - a text, an Instagram like - could bring their old lives crashing into the new. As Lauren will learn, disappearing is easy. Staying hidden is much harder . . .

Borrow on OverDrive

How to Disappear by Gillian McAllister