Jonathan Holt

Hi, I'm Jonathon Holt. Or rather, I'm not - it's a pseudonym. A while back I had the idea for a standalone trilogy of three interlocking thrillers, in which each book would give a new perspective on the events of the previous one - a bit like a series of Russian dolls. I decided to set it in Italy, a country I know well, partly because the political turbulence (and, let's face it, the corruption) lends itself to a contemporary thriller series... but also because of its history, specifically the years following defeat in the second world war, when Italy was on the front line in the Cold War. So the thrillers are about two young women, friends from very different backgrounds - one an officer in the Carabinieri, the other an intelligence analyst on a US air base - who start to discover how the secrets of those years are still influencing events today. In truth, the trilogy was heavily influenced by my admiration for Stieg Larsson's Millennium books, and tackles some similar subjects. But I was always very clear there would be just three in the series - hence the pseudonym, to keep it separate. Since completing the trilogy, I've been writing books of psychological suspense under the name JP Delaney, and been fortunate that they've been bestsellers around the world. If you liked books of mine such as The Girl Before, Believe Me or The Perfect Wife, I think you might quite like the trilogy as well. The subject matter is different, but the themes are surprisingly similar. Confusingly, the books within the Carnivia trilogy were published under a couple of different titles in different countries. Book One, The Boatman, is also known as The Abomination. The second book is The Abduction, and the third, The Traitor, is also known as The Absolution in the US. You can find out more about me and the different kinds of books I write at www.jpdelaney.co.uk. Thanks!