Blog Tour - The Secrets You Hide by Kate Helm

In her eyes, no-one is innocent... A knock-out read for fans of Clare Mackintosh, Anatomy of a Scandal and Apple Tree Yard. Georgia Sage has a gift: she can see evil in people. As a courtroom artist she uses her skills to help condemn those who commit terrible crimes. After all, her own brutal past means she knows innocence is even rarer than justice. But when she is drawn back into the trial that defined her career, a case of twisted family betrayal, she realises her own reckless pursuit of justice may have helped the guilty go free. As Georgia gets closer to the truth behind the Slater family, something happens that threatens not only her career - but even her own sanity. At first, she fears her guilt around the events of her terrible childhood is finally coming back to haunt her. The truth turns out to be even more terrifying . . . THE SECRETS YOU HIDE is an ambitious rocket of a novel. Every layer, every twist, every revelation makes you question the very characters you thought you could trust, and rethink a plot you thought you were beginning to unravel...

Publisher: Zaffre Publishing
ISBN: 9781785764745

Today I am very pleased to welcome Kate Helm to my blog to celebrate the e-book  publication of her new novel 'The Secrets You Hide'. I have read a number of Kate's previous books which have been published under her name, Kate Harrison, and it is fair to say that they all feature food and/or diet in a number of guises so I was really pleased that Kate decided to tell me about how she has stepped away from the food and turned to the dark side of murder!

The story behind The Secrets You Hide (or how a diet author ditched calories for killers)

I often have murderous thoughts when I’m at the gym.

Who doesn’t? We know exercise is good for us, but sometimes we’re just not in the mood, and the zig-zagging on the treadmill – my chosen instrument of torture – feels endless.

My tactic is to listen to podcasts and audiobooks: that way, I’m distracted from the repetitive movements by dramas or documentaries. I love thrillers, true crime podcasts and health shows – the latter for work reasons, as I’ve spent the last 6 years writing about health and intermittent fasting diet after sharing my story of weight loss in The 5:2 Diet Book.

But I never expected my podcast habit to give me the idea for writing my first thriller.

I was on my usual cross-trainer when my phone started playing the latest download of Criminal – an American show which gives quirky takes on all aspects of the justice system. This episode, Pen and Paper, dealt with the work of courtroom artists, who are employed to capture dramatic moments during criminal trials, because photography and filming is banned.

Courtrooms have always fascinated. When I was a junior reporter, I covered a huge range of cases, everything from celebrities accused of speeding, to husbands accused of murdering their wives.

I knew all about the drama – and the boredom too: court cases can be so drawn out. But I’d never thought of what it must be like to have to draw the defendants, to stare into their eyes and try to capture their likeness. 

But, as I plodded on with my workout, I began to wonder what might happen if someone with their own troubled past might take that job and try to skew their drawings to suggest guilt or innocence.

I also did Criminology as a mature student with the Open University, and remembered how early profilers had tried to make a link between someone’s facial appearance and their likely guilt – all disproved now, of course, but we all do still judge on appearances without thinking.

The character of Georgia – my damaged yet talented courtroom artist – began to form and I used my reporting experience to create the court cases she might cover. Her desperation to help tip the balance towards a guilty verdict had to have a dark cause – and her flawed judgement would have frightening consequences.

There’s another, even stranger element to the book that also came from a podcast I heard only a week later on that same cross-trainer – but you’ll have to read the book to find out what that is because it’s the key to one of the story’s mysteries.

Inspiration can come in many forms  - what we notice as individuals has so much to do with our own interests, experiences and preoccupations. This moment in the gym marked a thrilling new departure for me. 

I’ve even got a new name, Kate Helm –so people don’t buy the book expecting low-cal recipes…

And I have an extra reason to go to the gym these days, because I’m always hoping for another eureka moment – as well trying to undo the damage of the most sedentary job in the world.

Exercise can be murder in all the right ways.

The Secrets You Hide is published as an e-book on October 4 and paperback on February 7. Join Kate’s free book club for exclusive previews and competitions to win signed books by your favourite thriller authors, via Kate’s website www.kate-harrison.com or follow her on Twitter @katewritesbooks

I enjoyed reading 'The Secrets You Hide'. It is one of those books that draws the reader in and doesn't let go until the last word. It was a really interesting topic that I was very interested in and gave me food for thought. Earlier in the year I read Fiona Barton's 'The Widow' which was written from the point of view of a defendant's wife, a point of view that is rarely written from and this book is very similar, a book written from the point of view of the court artist - I found this to be really interesting, someone who has been in many courtrooms and seen hundreds of accused in the dock and given the responsibility of capturing the drama of the courtroom in one picture.

I really recommend this as a great and unique book for fans of crime fiction to pick up and enjoy.

Thank you to the publishers, Bonnier Zaffre and to Kate Helm for inviting me to take part in the blog return and send a copy of the book in return for an honest review.