End Game
This was the most difficult book to write of the four part series. It’s the oldest idea in that I had this one in my mind before I started on the Langthorne Series, but the final book looks nothing like the original outline. Writing a series is both brilliant and damned difficult. The characters evolve naturally and you come to understand completely how they might react in any given situation. That then causes massive problems if you plan for a plot to go one way and then realise that your main character simply wouldn’t let that happen!
So that’s what happened with End Game. By the end of the third book George Elms couldn’t be the same man, he couldn’t be so committed, so likeable and he couldn’t think logically and straight. This actually made it really enjoyable to write! I felt like I was able to cut loose with George, he was working very much outside of the law at times and he makes mistakes, but readers who had followed the series would still be on his side. It’s good fun to write someone on the edge like that.
I also enjoyed the evolution of Helen Webb. She’s my favourite character to write, I can’t talk about her without giving away part of the story, but she was a pleasure to work with!
End Game is an angry, fast-paced thriller. I take inspiration from my day job as a UK cop when it comes to the pacing of my books. When someone major happens the responseis frenetic, chaotic - everyone talking at once. It reminds me of the reaction when you accidentally kick an ant’s nest! It’s every bit as fantastic as it is terrifying and this is something I desperately try and reflect in my books.
End Game is the final part of a series that has carried a lot of threads. There was a lot to wrap up and I feel that this was largely completed. Again the experience from my day job bleeds into my writing when I come to conclude a story. Happy endings are rare, justice even rarer but that doesn’t have to get in the way of a good story!
