We chat with author Mark Edwards about The Wasp Trap, which follows a dinner party at a beautiful Notting Hill townhouse that turns into a sinister game as six old friends are forced to spill their darkest secrets…or else.
Hi, Mark! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
I’m the author of over twenty psychological thrillers, I live in Wolverhampton in England, and my main interests are horror movies, karaoke, cats, Lana Del Rey and psychopaths. I’ve been writing since I was in my early twenties and doing it full time for the last decade.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
When I was eight or nine years old, my mum brought home a James Herbert novel which I picked up and flicked through, unaware of the effect the scenes of crazy horror and mayhem were going to have on my imagination. I actually started out writing and drawing comics which I’d distribute around my school – I used to read every comic I could get my hands on; Judge Dredd was my hero – and whenever I was asked to write a story in English lessons I would turn in something that involved monsters or bodies being found in freezers. Thankfully none of my teachers discouraged me, although I eventually stopped writing horror and switched to thrillers.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: The Chrysalids by John Wyndham
- The one that made you want to become an author: Salem’s Lot by Stephen King
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Your latest novel, The Wasp Trap, is out September 16th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
The dinner party from hell
What can readers expect?
The Wasp Trap is a psychological thriller about a group of former colleagues who worked together during the dotcom boom in 1999, trying to create an early dating site. 25 years later they reunite at a dinner party and find themselves having to play a deadly game where they are all forced to confess their darkest secret – or die. It ties back to the events of 1999 when they created a test designed to identify psychopaths. It’s a fast-paced read with loads of twists and a dash of dark academia.
Where did the inspiration for The Wasp Trap come from?
I’ve always wanted to write a book about a home invasion but couldn’t think of an original scenario until I hit upon the idea of it occurring during a dinner party. I then put this together with a real-life experience. I worked for a start-up around the turn of the Millennium and worked at a country house in the middle of nowhere. I thought this would make a perfect setting and put the two ideas together, along with my love of reality shows like The Traitors.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I particularly loved writing the 90s chapters, with the fruit-colored iMacs and dial-up internet, the Radiohead songs and primitive phones. It was a joy to go back to my favorite decade. There’s also an unrequited love story – or rather, an unfinished love story – that runs through this book. The main character still carries a torch for Sophie, who is also at the reunion dinner. It was fun to relive how it felt to be young and callow and shy, and to see what would happen when these characters meet again now they’re in their forties.
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
I had to figure out whether it would be possible to create a foolproof psychopath test – or at least foolproof enough to be believable in the contect of the story – using 90s tech. And I needed the dating site timeline to fit with what happened in real life. I actually had to shift it forward slightly because eHarmony and Match.com invented algorithmic dating in 2000 and I needed my characters to be racing to get there ahead of those big American sites.
What’s next for you?
My next novel is about a guy who goes to stay with his new girlfriend’s family at their vacation home in Scotland over New Year. When he gets there he discovers that he might be about to spend a week with the in-laws from hell, the tension ramped up by the presence of the patriarch’s new fiancée. The title is not 100% confirmed yet but it will be out next summer.
Lastly, what books have you enjoyed reading this year? Are there any you’re looking forward to picking up?
I absolutely loved The Death of Us by Abigail Dean, a beautifully-written literary thriller about a couple who are still recovering from a devastating assault years before. And I’m intrigued by The End of the World as We Know It, a collection of stories by an assortment of authors set in the world of Stephen King’s The Stand. I love a bit of post-apocalyptic fiction so this sounds right up my street.
