I have to keep pulling myself out of the rabbit hole and concentrating on getting the words down. – The Dorset Book Detective

For my first author interview of 2025, I speak to the wonderful Holly Seddon about her books and why she’s so passionate about writing.

Please tell me about your books.

I’ve published six books so far, most of them thrillers. The next – 59 Minutes – comes out in September in the UK (November in the US). My debut, Try Not to Breathe came out in 2016, six years after I first started writing it!

All of them, I hope, have propulsive plots, grounded but often creepy settings and authentic characters. They all feature family dynamics in some form (The Short Straw was sisters, 59 Minutes features several mothers, The Hit List was about marriage – well, that and finding your name on a hit list!).

Which one was your favourite to write? 

In some ways, the first (Try Not to Breathe) because there was total freedom and no expectations. But there was also a lot going in my personal life that made it hard to prioritise something that felt so indulgent, and therefore it took six years from idea to publication!

I don’t know if I enjoyed writing 59 Minutes so much as felt entirely obsessed with it. It’s the most terrifying concept I’ve explored – what would you do if the world was ending in 59 minutes? – but it features some of my favourite characters, ones that arrived almost fully formed and showed me exactly what they would do.

What’s your favourite part of being an author?

God, there’s just nothing else I’m suited to than writing or helping other people to write! I was an abysmal employee when I worked in an office.

I guess my favourite thing is the feeling of knowing that a story I entirely made up in my head is now part of someone’s day as they listen to the audiobook on their commute, or read the ebook in bed, or crack open the paperback on holiday… What an enormous privilege.

What books do you like reading yourself? Any authors you’re particularly fond of?

I read very widely, in terms of genre, era and style. I find that I go through stages where I’ll read about five books in a row by the same author (I read almost all of Muriel Spark’s backlist in one go and experienced pure joy!), or I’ll do a deep dive into a theme or setting, then I’ll get bored and go for something totally different.

One of the proudest moments in my life was when Augusten Burroughs, one of my all time favourite authors, said kind things about my writing. I nearly collapsed.

If you could collaborate with anyone, living or dead, on a writing project, who would it be and why?

Great question! There are a lot of contenders among the dead, but I’m going to choose H.G.Wells.

Many of his books were written off in his lifetime as trifles, silly, mass entertainment (as if there’s anything wrong with that) but have been absorbed into the fabric of our culture and set a template for accessible speculative fiction and, to some extent, thrillers.

Sadly, I think a lot of his underlying messages have been overlooked by modern readers and I’d love to work on something that would help people to see how nuanced his work was. For example, The Time Machine warned against unchecked technological advances that drove social inequality and encouraged both cruelty and apathy. Pretty prescient! Maybe I’ll do a PhD on H.G. Wells one day!

What books are you looking forward to in 2025?

One of the best bits about being an author is getting to read proof copies of novels before they come out. So I’m really looking forward to seeing if everyone else loves Swept Away by Beth O’Leary, Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister, Deep Cuts by Holly Brickley and The Quiet by Barnaby Martin as much as I did!

What’s next for you? Any new projects you’re excited about?

I’m at the early stages of drafting my next book and it involves a lot of world building and research, which I enjoy immensely but I have to keep pulling myself out of the rabbit hole and concentrating on getting the words down. This will be a rough-ish first draft, nothing I would feel comfortable sharing even with my agent! I enjoy the later drafts more, when it properly comes together and starts to feel closer to the book that will be on the shelves, rather than a chaotic mess on my screen.

Do you have anything to add?

59 Minutes is now available to pre-order in the UK (it will be available in the US soon!) and it honestly helps authors so much if we get pre-orders!

Huge thanks to Holly for answering my questions! If you’re interested in her work or pre-ordering 59 Minutes, check out her website and Amazon page.