Q&A with Click author Sarah Bailey

We chat with Sarah Bailey about her latest thriller Click.

A&U: Can you tell us a little about your upcoming thriller Click? 

SB: Oli Groves, the tenacious journalist from The Housemate, returns in this technological thriller set in early 2020. One woman has been murdered, another is missing and feared dead, when a third disappears. Penelope Kibbs, a new homicide detective, is as determined as journo Oli is to find the killer but when the assumed killer starts to communicate directly with the police and the media it’s clear they are dealing with someone who likes to play games. Click is a traditional thriller, set against the backdrop of a technological revolution that challenges how crimes are committed and solved and how the public consumes stories, calling into question the role we all play in true crime as entertainment. 

Oli and Pen engage in a dangerous game of cat and mouse to catch the killer while simultaneously wrestling with their own demons.  

A&U: How did the idea originate?  

SB: Initially I intended to write a standalone book set in the nineties. Partly because I had a good premise that I was interested in exploring and partly because I thought it would be nice to write a thriller without having to navigate the challenges of modern technology. But the more I thought about it, the more I thought it might be fun to throw myself at the technology rather than avoid it and centre an entire plot around it. I have always been fascinated with The Zodiac Killer and other criminals who contacted authority figures and set about crafting a modern-day version inspired by that story.  

My career in advertising required me to embrace of all kinds of tech, including AI and opens up interesting conversations about the good and bad impacts these new initiatives and capabilities can have on human life. I thought it would be interesting to explore how in Oli and Pen’s worlds it enabled a different kind of crime to be carried out, and how it impacts the way news is approached and managed. For the cop characters, this focus on technology also enabled a different kind of whodunnit construct. 

A&U: Does new technology present more challenges or more solutions to crime solvers (and crime writers!) 

SB: I think it is just something else to navigate. The main challenge with technology is that it can take the reader out of the story because everyone has an understanding of what is possible these days. So if I’m writing about a crime set in current time and I don’t mention CCTV I know the reader will be thinking about it. Therefore, I think technology makes old fashioned puzzle style mysteries a little more challenging but then, I guess that’s part of the fun! 

A&U: For the uninitiated can you give us a little explainer on who is Oli Groves and why you wanted to return to her? 

SB: Oli is an old school journalist who is keen to explore the world of new media. She had a difficult childhood but she is a positive person and takes the responsibility of bringing stories to the people very seriously. She is ambitious but humble and has discovered podcasting and completely fallen in love with the connection it enables with her audience. She has challenging relationship with her family and an on/off relationship with policeman, Rusty Frost. I loved introducing Oli in The Housemate but I thought her story ended there. When the premise for Click started forming in my mind it just made sense to me that Oli would be front and centre, reporting on the momentous news story. 

A&U: What are you reading right now?  

SB: I’ve just launched a podcast and social media brand called He Read She Read® with fellow author JP Pomare so Right now I’m reading lots of books for that so that I’m prepared for our upcoming episodes. Coming up next on the show is Deep Cuts by Holly Brickwell, Mystic River, by Denis Lehane and I’m also reading I Heart the Lover, by Lily King because so many people have recommended it to me. 

You can follow He Read She Read on Instagram @heread_sheread and on podcast platforms such as Apple and Spotify.

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Click

by Sarah Bailey

A taut crime thriller about a city on edge, a killer playing games, and the two women determined to bring him down.

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