We chat with debut author Matthew Blake about Anna O, which is a dark, twisty, and shocking mystery about a young woman who commits a double murder while sleepwalking, and then never opens her eyes again.
Hi, Matthew! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hi! I’m a novelist and screenwriter who lives in London. Anna O is my debut novel. It’s all about sleep, sleepwalking and should appeal to anyone who loves twisty mysteries with a big hook and jaw-dropping twist like The Silent Patient and The Girl on the Train.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
The first time I ever fell in love with stories and writing was reading The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie. The twist at the end is probably still the most famous twist in the history of the genre. I knew then that one day I wanted to shock and surprise readers in the same way. I’ve always been a huge mystery fan and I always knew that’s what I wanted to write.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis.
- The one that made you want to become an author: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. The first great mystery and riddle and one that is still being read and performed thousands of years later.
Your debut thriller, Anna O, is out January 2nd! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Sleeping Beauty or Sleeping Killer?
What can readers expect?
Anna O is about Anna Ogilvy who kills two people while sleepwalking and then never opens her eyes again. Dr Benedict Prince, a sleep psychologist, has to try and wake her up so she can stand trial for murder. There are great emotional character relationships, lots and lots of twists, mysterious suspects with secrets in their past and all of it is based on real-life psychology. It also has an ending that you will never see coming.
Where did the inspiration for Anna O come from?
I’ve always been fascinated by sleep. It’s the one universal experience that connects all 8 billion of us on the planet. We spend around 33 years of our lives asleep. But what really happens in that shadow life? And what is our unconscious truly capable of? Could you commit murder in your sleep? People sometimes say that after reading or watching Jaws they never went in the water again. I wanted to write a thriller where after reading it you’ll never sleep in the same way again.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
Absolutely. The central relationship in the book is between Anna and Ben and I loved writing both those characters and their interactions with each other. Both are so different, and yet this case brings them together in such a unique way. Through both Ben and Anna, I also really enjoyed exploring what we are all capable of when we sleep. Most of us have nightmares. But what if those nightmares were true?
Did you face any challenges with writing Anna O? How did you overcome them?
The main challenge was to devise a plot and final twist that would wrongfoot even the most seasoned mystery fan or Netflix binge-watcher. It took four years to write and most of that was figuring out the architecture of the story and ensuring all of it was based on real life psychology and things that had really happened in the world.
With it being the new year, have you set any resolutions or goals for 2024?
I have an idea for my third book. So my goal is to write it in 2024.
What’s next for you?
My next mystery thriller is called Memory and is about false memory. It’s set in Paris and involves art, symbols and how all of us misremember crucial events from our past. It starts with a memory specialist getting a call to say her grandmother has just confessed to a terrible crime in her past. Hopefully that should be out in 2025.
Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
I’m currently re-reading Presumed Innocent by Scott Turrow. It’s one of the classics of the genre and a touchstone for all of us writing mysteries and thrillers.
