I want my books to explore motives which make people think, 'Wow! Imagine the psychological state you'd have to be in for that to be your motive!' Whereas things like blackmail, jealousy - they're rational reasons for committing murder. — Sophie Hannah Copy Share Image
For me, a big part of writing psychological thrillers is choosing crimes committed for motives which would only apply to a particular person in a particular situation; a unique, one-off motive that is born out of someone's particular range of… — Sophie Hannah Copy Share Image
I never write about CIA conspiracies or the FBI or mafia or anything like that because I just don't understand that world. But I… — Sophie Hannah Copy Share
I am trying to write novels for properly clever people, but I also want them to be proper novels that also stick in a… — Sophie Hannah Copy Share
My father, whose hobby was collecting secondhand cricket books, came back from a book fair one day with a copy of 'The Body In… — Sophie Hannah Copy Share
“That's not me talking, it's your inner voice. I'd attempt the accent, only I don't speak low self-esteem. It's a language I've never needed… — Sophie Hannah Copy Share
“What they'd got was a fat, balding academic who bandied about the phrase "family annihilation", especially when there were cameras pointed at him, and… — Sophie Hannah Copy Share
In West Yorkshire, I'd have to drive three quarters of an hour to go shopping. — Sophie Hannah Copy Share
No highbrow literary type would ever say 'Moby Dick' is good but it's just about a whale, or a Jane Austen would be important… — Sophie Hannah Copy Share
There are very few well-adjusted people in my books. But I do think that's normal. Because everyone does have their issues and hang-ups. — Sophie Hannah Copy Share
With me, even if my life depended on it, I wouldn't be able to cry. Not with somebody there. Because even if I'm talking… — Sophie Hannah Copy Share
If you ask people if they enjoy crime novels, they'll say, 'Oh, my guilty pleasure is...' then name a really brilliant crime writer. — Sophie Hannah Copy Share
In a crime novel, if you are going to have a big revelation in chapter 30, you have to plant the information in chapters… — Sophie Hannah Copy Share
All through childhood, I wrote verses and mysteries. There is, for me, one connection: structure. My poetry is metrical, rhyming. — Sophie Hannah Copy Share
I always notice the dysfunctional dynamic of human relationships because most places where you encounter it, people are trying to pretend it isnt happening. — Sophie Hannah Copy Share
Some writers, I'm told, look for their characters' surnames in telephone directories. I don't - it seems too obvious. Or too deliberate: if you… — Sophie Hannah Copy Share
