I can't quite believe it myself, but in a few days' time my new thriller Demons of Ghent is coming out! It's the second book in my Forbidden Spaces trilogy, all about UrbEx and murder in Flanders, and the follow-up to Silent Saturday, published in 2013.
Demons of Ghent sees Veerle De Keyser trying to settle into a new life in the city of Ghent after the traumatic events of Silent Saturday. Her biggest challenges seem to be fending off well-intentioned questions from her new classmates and the fact that her boyfriend Kris Verstraeten has suddenly stopped taking her calls. Then unexpectedly she sees a face in the crowd - a face intimately connected with the horrific events of the previous summer. As mysterious and violent deaths occur in the ancient city and rumours abound of demons on the Ghent rooftops, can it be that Veerle's past is catching up with her?
ORDER IT!
Demons of Ghent is out on Thursday 5th June. You can preorder it from Random House - or to see if it's for you, read a free sample online by clicking on Open the book.
READ ABOUT IT!
Meanwhile there are lots of super launch activities and events coming up! There's a blog tour for the book's launch - all the dates and participating sites are listed on the banner at the top of this post. I'm thrilled to say that the book has also been featured on the Choose YA site as part of Jim Dean's Countdown to 5th June campaign - you can read a great interview if you click on that link.
The very first review of Demons of Ghent has been posted by the Bookwitch and you can read that here: The Demons of Ghent review by Bookwitch. I'm thrilled to say that she described it as "that strange thing, the perfect book...heart-stoppingly scary."
COME AND HEAR ME TALK ABOUT IT!
There are going to be TWO sets of launch events - one here in Scotland, where I now live, and one in Flanders, where the book is set. If you're near either of those, I do hope you'll come along and say hello!
...IN SCOTLAND
On Wednesday 11th June I'll be appearing at Blackwell's Bookshop in Edinburgh (53-62 South Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1YS) from 6pm. There will be wine at this event! Also, excitingly, I am going to be interviewed by fellow author Susy McPhee (Husbands & Lies, The Runaway Wife, Back To You). As anyone who has met Susy will know, she is great fun so this is sure to be a sparkling event!
This event is ticketed, but tickets are FREE. Tickets are available from the front desk at Blackwell’s Bookshop or by phoning 0131 622 8218
For more information on this and other Blackwell's Edinburgh events or if you would like to order a signed copy please contact Ann Landmann on 0131 622 8222 or events.edinburgh@blackwell.co.uk
...IN BELGIUM
My hero and heroine Kris and Veerle are from Flanders, so where better to launch the book than Belgium? As the summer holidays are going to be upon us pretty soon and a lot of people will be away, I'm going to come over to Belgium in September.
The plan is that I will be at:
Waterstone's Brussels (Boulevard Adolphe Max 71, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium, tel. +32 2 219 27 08) on Saturday 6th September at 6pm
and
Treasure Trove Books (Brusselsesteenweg 7, 3080 Tervuren, Belgium, tel. +32 2 767 74 76) on Sunday 7th September from 12 noon.
I'm also hoping to visit Ghent so if any official events are booked there, I will post details in due course!
Above: a previous visit to Ghent - the church is the background is the Sint-Niklaaskerk, which features in Demons of Ghent, as do many other Ghent landmarks!
If you're able to come to any of my events, please do - I love to answer questions and I'm always happy to chat! If Edinburgh and Flanders are too far away, I'd be thrilled if you'd follow my blog tour, which starts on Monday!