That mix of science fiction and science fact and fast-paced action just ticked the boxes for me at that time in my life. My first point of contact was with the divers I met at the Captain Kidd, because that’s lived experience I simply cannot replicate. The dead girls all have the same nightclub stamp on the backs of their hands — the same one David's daughter had the day she disappeared.

After qualifying in art, design and photography in her native South Africa, she honed her skills in several thriving design studios before moving to the UK. Because there’s a lot yet to say about my relationship with the publisher and where the wheels came off. If you liked Luther, Line of Duty, Heat, Chinatown, No Country for Old Men, Serpico, The Long Goodbye, Welcome to the Punch or The Long Good Friday, you might enjoy this. If you’d like to know more, I took part in Diary of a Debut Novelist, run by the brilliant Emma Christie. I sought a clear sense of the cover design six months in advance, the better to begin the thornier work of mentioning the book in other professional matters.

Each time David pulls a new body out of the water, he fears it’s his estranged fifteen-year-old daughter Lex. It was longlisted for the Bruntwood Prize, and reached the top 26% of submissions for BBC Drama Room, which saw nearly 4,718 applications.

He is a freelance editor for The Literary Consultancy and teaches their self-editing online courses. Between a cast of impeccably strong characters and Jon’s cinematic narrative style, this is definitely a page-turner. Adapting the same story for the page was a unique challenge, but it also meant I had a robust roadmap for the story. They were well-rounded and nuanced, and didn’t easily fall into the stereotypical ‘cop’ characters that often populate this kind of fiction.They are a relegated, forgotten bunch, and the (fictional) attitudes of serving police officers around them reflects that.