Fulbeck author Philippa East’s most ambitious project A Guilty Secret receives rave early reviews from her peers.

Gripping psychological thriller A Guilty Secret is Philippa East’s most ambitious project to date, with the Lincolnshire author receiving rave early reviews from her peers.

The novel, which explores themes of friendships, lies and hidden pasts, is released today (Thursday, January 18).

In 2003 Carrie and her friends spend their days studying at boarding school, and their nights sneaking out to the woods. It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt.

Fast forward to 2019 and Finn receives a shocking call from his estranged wife, Mhairi, informing him of their friend Kate’s death.

Neither, however, is prepared for the secrets they will uncover as the trail leads them to the events at a boarding school many years before.

“I think it’s probably most ambitious book so far in terms of the cast of characters and different settings,” said Fulbeck-based Philippa, author of Little White Lies, Safe And Sound and I’ll Never Tell.

“I hope the readers will feel its very much another Philippa East book, but stretching things.”

It was the release of Gillian Flynn’s 2012 novel Gone Girl which launched psychological thrillers into the mainstream and helped Philippa – who also works as a clinical psychologist – discover a genre which continues to inspire her writing.

“I think there’s a lot of crossover for me with my work as a clinical psychologist and the sorts of stories I’m interested in writing,” she continued.

“I’m a psychologist and write psychological thrillers, but more specifically, clinical psychology is working in the field of mental health, so it’s often looking at the more difficult and distressing aspects.

“I think that that’s what I’m trying to explore in my writing as well, but I’m always trying to tell stories about characters who are overcoming those things.

“I’m not scared to go to those darker places or explore darker themes, but I always try to do that from the perspective of characters coming to terms with those things.

“That’s the character arc I’m often describing, how does someone overcome guilt, trauma or coping with a secret they’ve kept for a long time.

“Hopefully, readers will feel they’re in safe hands going into those dark places and that there’s a message in there that we can come to terms with those things.”

A Guilty Secret has been well received by fellow authors with Andrea Mara (Hide And Seek, Nobody Saw A Thing) calling it ‘masterful’ and ‘sublime’ while Holly Seddon (Try Not To Breathe) described Philippa as ‘a phenomenal talent’.

Despite the dark themes, A Guilty Secret was enjoyable to put together.

“It was the book I had the most fun writing. I love writing but, as you can imagine, writing novels is hard work,” Philippa explained.

“Sometimes it’s not going well, but I had real fun with this one. It felt like the character and storylines arrived fully formed.

“And although there was a lot of work to do, it really felt like I was just having fun telling the story and I’m just excited about it coming out now.”

Philippa – who grew up in Scotland – drew inspiration from her father’s former boarding school in Perthshire for A Guilty Secret, as well as games she would play with friends in her formative years.

“In the book are these games the teenage girls play, these slightly supernatural games like the things we played as teenagers, mucking about with the ouija board or a game called lights as a feather, stiff as a board,” she said.

“I vividly remember playing that at school.

“When I researched that it was fascinating, the first reference goes back to the 1600s Somehow teenage girls have been playing this for centuries.”

Despite her roots north of the border, Lincolnshire has been home for Philippa and her partner for the past 10 years, a county she describes as ‘perfect’ for her.

“My spouse and I, we’ve been here for a decade now and we absolutely love it,” Philippa added.

“I’m from Scotland and she’s from Blackpool. We met in London but we both love the country and we’ve made great friends here.

“The communities are lovely. We’ve bought a house and we’ll be here until we die – it’s perfect for us.”

A Guilty Secret is published by HQ, an imprint of HarperCollins, today (January 18), priced £8.99.

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