THE THE FIRST FIVE FIVE PAGES
Conversation, overheard
Psychological thriller author Claire Douglas explains why she decided to begin her new novel with someone accidentally eavesdropping on the people next door
Photo by Ferla Paolo
Most of us have been at one time or another fascinated or intrigued by a neighbour, imagining what their lives could be like behind closed doors, and it was this that I wanted to explore in my new psychological thriller, The New Neighbours. The idea for the plot started off – as my books usually do – with a question: What would you do if you overheard your unassuming, middle-class, elderly neighbours planning a crime?
I wanted to do something a bit different to my other books, something fresh, which explored the themes of loneliness and obsession. I’d recently watched an old 1960s film called Séance on a Wet Afternoon with Richard Attenborough and Kim Stanley, who play an older couple who decide to embark on something illegal. It’s fascinating to watch as the audience have no idea what has led to the put-upon husband doing exactly as his wife wants. I loved the idea of writing a book about a recently retired, well-educated couple who are hiding a huge secret and the dynamics between them, and this gave me the idea for Henry and Marielle Morgan, the new neighbours of the title who move in next door to my main character, Lena.