And who is Dean and what hold does he have over Claire? But it’s the psychology that’s harder, that will eat her up inside and make her believe she has cursed herself and everything she touches. The physical part goes as well as a spot of impromptu burying can go. She’s got the right vehicle not to get stuck in the mud on the forest trails, the right tools for digging a grave. It’s fairly easy getting rid of the body. It turns out to be someone she knows: Dean, a charismatic old friend, who has driven a long way to see her because he is in trouble, he needs her help disposing of the body wrapped up in plastic in the boot of his car.Where better than the dense and sprawling woods where Claire lives? Who could it be and what are their intentions? With only her rescue dog for company, since her husband, Iain, is working abroad, she has no choice but to confront the intruder. Whoever they are, they aren’t trying to be subtle. The security light keeps going on and off and there is a crunch of stones in the drive. On a dark and inhospitable night someone is prowling outside Claire’s house, and she lives in a cottage way off the beaten track.

Right from the off, we are in unsettling territory. Her newest book is Body in the Woods, one of four novellas that make up the second wave of NewCon press’ novella series and while the first wave was clearly rooted in the world of science fiction, this second wave, consisting of novellas by Lotz, Simon Clark, Alison Littlewood, and Jay Caselberg, mine a far darker seam. That is currently being turned into a TV series by the BBC. As one of the contenders was Sarah Lotz’s novel The Three, it was a bit of a no-brainer. A couple of years ago I was a juror on the panel that chose the British Fantasy Award for Best Newcomer.

The three sarah lotz series