The Poison Tree: the addictive , twisty debut psychological thriller from the million-copy bestselling author

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And funny part is, they took this seriously. Thought about all pros and cons. Practised tripping and hitting him at some place they planned. Apart from the guilt feeling gnawing at them, they were all set to get this plan into action. The Poison Tree is a bit of a change in direction for you - why did you decide to go from big Hollywood films to a relatively small British TV drama? Yeah, they're so much more fun. I always want to play the bad guy. Well, she doesn't strike you as unlikeable. She's very bewitching and she's the kind of character, the kind of person, that you feel like no-one else in the world exists when they're speaking to you.

Reminiscent of the beautifully written suspense novels by Daphne du Maurier, Erin Kelly has delivered a stunning look at human desperation, loyalty, and absolute terror. Like Daphne, she has found a way to wrap a chilling tale inside a tranquil setting.

Biba's brother Rex is completely different from Biba but he too drew Karen further into their world. How could I have stopped reading half-way through the book before I discovered the horrible crime? Did you ever hear someone take so long to set up a joke that you lost interest before the punchline was delivered? That's how I felt about this book. I just got tired of all these hints and build-ups to some horrific crime or accident and decided I had spent enough time with these characters. Sorry I spent as much time as I did. What do they do? Make a run for it. Hoping one of them goes free. They get to Daniel first. And eventually Paul the next day. And we know what happens next. I actually got really excited for this story when we found out that Adam Glasslake (Alan Murray) was still alive. Then I got even more excited when he went missing. I thought for sure that we were going to find out that he was Paul's father all along; Paul is mistaken for Adam on numerous occasions, and also renaming himself yet again seemed extremely plausible as he's already done it once before. GlassLAKE to SEAforth? Definitely would've been an acceptable pattern. The timeline might have needed some tweaking then (perhaps if he disappeared sooner rather than 5 years later) but it would have brought in a whole new layer of maturation for Adam's character. The drama that would ensue between Paul and Louisa would've been palpable not only because of her shagging her love's son from another woman but also because he would be carrying the extra baggage of being the sole witness to his gruesome (and this time true) death. At one point in the novel, Karen turns the tables on Alison Larch, a television journalist she suspects of investigating Rex, and interrogates her on her current roster of work. In what other ways did you draw upon your own experiences as a journalist?

Till that point it was pretty much clear she might have been Adam's murderer. But the why and how were the mystery which gets solved. Broadchurch: The Novel (August 2014) inspired by the first season of 2013's mega-hit ITV series BroadchurchAnd all this time Paul was simply gaping at him, didn't try stopping him fearing he'd get caught in the camera. Yes, coming to the murder for which Paul is a witness for the trial now. What happens? Even this wasn't a surprise. Daniel and Paul were committing another burglary, but this time they get caught by a caretaker of the area, an old man names Ken Hillyard. He has already called the cops, and tells Daniel that there are secret cameras around recording his every move, couldn't he read? Yep, that was the question. Louisa readily agrees. Anything to save her life, and to save the secret she has been hiding all these years. But as soon as Carl left, they sat and thought through it. Who's to say he'll stop at this. Who's to say he won't return to end their life once he got what he always wanted? He gets defensive when she tried to pry into his life, and STILL expects her to be goody two shoes girlfriend, why?

I do think Kelly is a talented writer, which is why I've read three of her books. I just wish her characters were a little more likeable, or at least a little more fleshed out, not so formulaic in their vulnerability, or distress. The endings, of her books are also kind of predictable. I am not saying I wouldn't read one of them again, but maybe three, one after the other, was just not the best idea to get the most out of them, without starting to sense a pattern. Quite a few members chose to borrow her next novel which suggests that they wanted more and there was also interest shown in her first novel The Poison Tree, which I have read a couple of times and rate very highly. It might sound strange but I found writing a dark novel reassuring rather than disturbing. I felt very vulnerable when I was pregnant, very aware that nothing was under my control, from the size of my belly to the big bad world my baby would be born into. Writing The Poison Tree allowed me to exercise total control, even if only over a fictional world. These two, scarred and solitary, begin a secret affair. Louisa starts to believe she can again find the happiness she had given up on. But neither of them can outrun his violent past.The Poison Tree is autobiographical with respect to its setting—like Karen and Biba, I turned twenty-one in the summer of 1997 and remember it like it was yesterday, and I was living in Highgate at the time. This was simply because I was daunted by the task of writing my first novel; there were so many unknowns that I wanted to root the action in a time and place I could be confident about describing. In terms of character, I probably resemble Karen the most; like her, I was a studious teenager, and I have been that girl who hides in a corner at the party, overawed and tongue-tied, more times than I care to remember! That said, Karen is more naïve than I have ever been, something I think we can attribute to her sheltered, provincial adolescence and the fact that she is, due to her precocity, always an academic year ahead of her classmates. As for Biba, while I would love her ability to beguile (and indeed her extensive wardrobe), she is definitely drawn from friends and acquaintances rather than my own experience. Louisa became this possessive girlfriend, where the idea of Adam cheating on her haunted her dreams. And that's fair, but she should have known what kinda guy Adam was before getting into all of this. I mean, he WAS seeing a girl when she met him, remember? He dumped that girl for Louisa, who's to say he won't dump her for someone else? but - yeah- this book - a great diversion, definitely captivating, good characters. i don't know that i would encourage anyone to own it, but it would be an excellent library loaner. it is a fairly uncomplicated story about cause and effect, with some odd human behavior thrown in. just a lot of me second-guessing the characters with "why didn't she..." and "but why not simply..."

Biba and Rex live in a run-down old house that used to belong to their parents. Their mother committed suicide, and their father is a movie executive who wants nothing to do with them. As the days go by, they ask Karen to move in, and they spend the summer drinking and having fun. Rex and Karen begin a relationship, and Biba begins a relationship with a young man named Guy, whom no one likes. We caught up with Erin to talk about writing and reading psychological thrillers as well as what it was like filming a creative writing course during a pandemic...So we come to the present. Knowing just that Paul is treated as a witness and not as an accomplice to the murder, which murder you ask, yes, I'll get to that. And he'll be getting sent to some place in the meantime until the Trial starts, and that place is where Louisa works, and also hides herself from the world. Is any part of this novel autobiographical, or is it wholly imagined? Would you say that you were—or are—more like Karen or Biba? On the other hand, as soon as Louisa sees Paul returning she panics, as there are Adam's stuff lying around and she doesn't want Paul to see them and realize that Louisa loved him due to his resemblance with Adam. What does Louisa do, collect them at one place and burn that down. Karen was a bit of a square at University specialising in languages for which she has a special gift. Her life was dull and safe until she met Biba a bohemian drama student whom she adored and whose lifestyle she coveted and adopted for one special summer.