It’s a pleasure to be taking part in the blog tour for Saving Sophie, the debut thriller by Sam Carrington and published yesterday to rave reviews. I haven’t had time to read my Netgalley copy yet but I’m hoping to get to it very soon and will post my review. In the meantime I have a guest post from Sam for my turn on the tour. Saving Sophie is available to download from Amazon at the current price of 99p
The Importance of Setting
I’ve often heard it said that the location an author chooses to set their novel in is as important as the characters they write about. In fact, some writers feel that ‘place’ IS a character in its own right. So, how do you make that decision of which location your characters are going to inhabit; where the action is going to take place?
I always knew that I would set Saving Sophie in Devon, after all, it’s where I’ve lived all my life and so it’s the area I know best. The town of Coleton, where the murder of a teenager takes place, is fictitious, although I have drawn on a few local towns to inform my descriptions. I’m really lucky to live equally as close to the sea, as the moors – I’m in the middle! And when I was growing up, both of these locations played a key part in my life.
My sister, who is seventeen years older than me, used to take me out with her almost every weekend. We spent lazy days at the beach and more active days on Dartmoor; walking, swimming at Spitchwick Common (a really popular haunt for teenagers), playing games and having picnics in various locations across the moor.
At primary school we were told folklore tales about Dartmoor, including the legend of the Hairy Hands, and haunting tales like that of Jay’s Grave, all of which freaked me out, yet also piqued my curiosity. Of course we also have Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s book The Hound of the Baskervilles which was largely set on Dartmoor – so for me, Dartmoor is one of my favourite places. With its beauty, yet underlying tales of hauntings and creepiness, together with its vastness, it’s always been an attraction for me. There’s always somewhere new to explore.
I also have a lovely view towards Haytor, one of the many tors on Dartmoor, from the back of my house, so it’s a big part of my life. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve stood looking out at the dark, granite rocks on a cloudy day, or watched the cars wind their way up the roads on a summer’s day, the sun glinting off their windscreens, or observed a stunning sunset creating streaks of fiery orange across the sky over the tor – just as Karen does in Saving Sophie.
Dartmoor really is a wonderfully atmospheric place and I had to include it in my novel, in fact it was perfect for the story I was going to tell. It’s also going to make an appearance in my next novel.
About the book:
Published by Avon
ebook 12 August 2016 | Paperback 15 December 2016
A teenage girl is missing. Is your daughter involved, or is she next?
Your daughter is in danger. But can you trust her?
When Karen Finch’s seventeen-year-old daughter Sophie arrives home after a night out, drunk and accompanied by police officers, no one is smiling the morning after. But Sophie remembers nothing about how she got into such a state.
Twelve hours later, Sophie’s friend Amy has still not returned home. Then the body of a young woman is found.
Karen is sure that Sophie knows more than she is letting on. But Karen has her own demons to fight. She struggles to go beyond her own door without a panic attack.
As she becomes convinced that Sophie is not only involved but also in danger, Karen must confront her own anxieties to stop whoever killed one young girl moving on to another – Sophie.
A taut psychological thriller, perfect for fans of The Girl on the Train and I Let You Go.
About the author:
Sam Carrington lives in Devon with her husband and three children. She worked for the NHS for 15 years, during which time she qualified as a nurse. Following the completion of a Psychology degree she went to work for the prison service as an Offending Behaviour Programme Facilitator. Her experiences within this field inspired her writing. She left the service to spend time with her family and to follow her dream of being a novelist. SAVING SOPHIE is her debut psychological thriller novel.
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