No spoilers, but what can you tell us about your book that we won’t find in the jacket copy or the PR material? In the first draft I was holding so much back that it was really challenging to write, but then my editor suggested that some of it would work better in the set-up, so it gets established really early on, and you know what? It made the story work so much better. That trying to keep characters identities secret is HARD! And something important that I learned during the editing process actually: that not everything has to be a twist or a reveal. Was there anything new you discovered, or that surprised you, as you wrote this book? Opportunity-wise, I was able to draw in a bit of a “last girl” horror strand, which was a lot of fun to write. This was a challenge in ambiguity! But as I wrote it from an external POV (a police officer) it became all about his perception of the two, and so I think I managed to keep their identities hidden. I have a strand which is set in present day, where there are two hikers at a police station and the reader is not supposed to know which of the original four they are. What was the biggest challenge this book presented? What about the biggest opportunity? I’m fascinated by the dark sides of personalities, I like to be thrilled, and I like to be transported to different locations-that’s what I read, and that’s what I write! Setting! I love to set my books in exciting locations, and this one came about when I went on the actual hike featured in the book-and as the day got longer and tensions frayed, the idea of turning an innocent walk in the mountains into something much more sinister began to take shape. Which took shape first: plot, character, or setting?

Susi Holliday recently spent some time with The Big Thrill discussing her latest thriller, THE HIKE: What really happened up on that ridge? Who are the survivors? And what secrets are they trying to hide?

But when only two of the four hikers make it down from the mountain, the police press them for their story-but soon become suspicious when their accounts just don’t add up. It’s an opportunity to reconnect with each other after years of drifting apart-and patch up marriages that are straining at the seams.

When sisters Cat and Ginny travel with their husbands to the idyllic Swiss Alps for a hiking holiday, it’s not just a chance to take in the stunning scenery.

The last resort susi holliday