It’s World Book Day, so here are three books that made me fall in love with reading when I was 11 or 12.

1. The Fog by James Herbert. My mum brought this home from the library and left it where I could pick it up. I’m still recovering! Mind-blowing gonzo horror about a chemical leak that turns people into homicidal maniacs. I will never get over that scene in the school gym…

2. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4. So funny, so educational… I still quote from this book and its sequel regularly. No giro. Longing for Wolverhampton. Sharon Botts will show you everything for 50p and a bunch of grapes. I think, like Adrian, we were all profoundly in love with Pandora.

3. The Chrysalids by John Wyndham. I read Triffids first but this is my favourite. A beautiful, gripping post-apocalyptic tale of religious intolerance and what it’s like to grow up with a secret that could get you killed - or help you escape. 

Have you read any of these? What were the first books that you fell in love with? 

Oh, and because it’s #WorldBookDay, go out and buy one!

99p on Kindle! If you still haven’t read The Wasp Trap, or perhaps you want to keep your paper copy pristine, now’s your chance. It’s The Traitors with shotguns, a deadly game in which everyone is forced to reveal their biggest secret. With added 90s nostalgia and a psychological test designed to identify psychopaths. The Wasp Trap is a Sunday Times bestseller and a thumping good read. Just go to Amazon to get it.

Bay Tales is a wonderful one-day festival in Whitley Bay. Amazing audience who bought TONS of books and a beautiful location. My fellow panellists were all highly entertaining too. A great end to a truly amazing, memorable month.

My dad, a retired carpenter who has taken up art as a hobby, painted me this picture and I’m absolutely made up with it. I’m very lucky to have parents who are proud of me. I inherited my love of reading from my mum and my creative urge from my dad. She still loves books and he, in his seventies, is still always making stuff, whether it’s wood carvings or art. This will join the many other things he’s made me - from a beautiful chess table to several other paintings - in my office.

Look what I’ve got! Proofs of One of the Family have landed. It’s about spending a week on holiday with the family from hell. If you thought the toxic in-laws in Here To Stay were bad, wait till you meet the Grants! It’s Succession meets The Girlfriend in the Scottish Highlands. I can’t wait for everyone to read it!

You can pre-order the UK hardback now and save 25% at Waterstones. Just follow the link in my bio and enter FEB26 during checkout. Offer ends this Friday, 20th. Here’s the blurb:

Patrick couldn’t believe his luck when Holly fell for him. She’s wickedly funny, beautiful, and with an intimidatingly successful father, Charles. So when she invites him to Charles’ mansion for a New Year’s break in Scotland, all he’s hoping is that they’ll accept him as one of the family.

But everything feels a little off. Whispers in hallways. Rumours of a body that got found nearby the previous year. And something very strange about Charles’ new girlfriend.

Every family has secrets, and Patrick tells himself all he needs to do is survive the next few days.

But then the first body is found, and Patrick realises that all he needs to do is survive the next few days…

It’s out on June 18 in the UK (July in Canada and August in the US) and will also be an ebook and audiobook.

STRAIGHT IN AT NUMBER ONE!!

The Wasp Trap was the biggest-selling paperback in Waterstones last week, and the evidence is right here in The Times. Thank you to everyone who has bought it! You can still find the special edition with bonus chapter in every Waterstones in the UK.

Tell me what you think in the comments… Do you like books that take a little time to set the scene, slowly but effectively ratcheting up the tension? Or do you demand fast-paced action from page 1? My aim as an author is to pull you into the story gradually, without ever being boring. And it’s something I grapple with every time I start a new book.