BEING a crime writer brings with it certain occupational hazards and, for Co Armagh author Stuart Neville, becoming an anxious parent has proved one of them.
His latest book, Lost You – the second to be published under his US-set stories alias Haylen Beck – deals with every parent's worst nightmare: when a child goes missing. Its genesis lies in a few panicky moments experienced by the award-winning novelist during a family holiday in Spain several years ago.
"I didn't really start writing about parenthood until I became a parent myself and, with this subject, I have found imagination can sometimes be a bit of a curse," he reveals.
"As a crime writer, you spend your time imagining some of the worst things that can happen and then writing them down. It becomes difficult to switch off that part of your mind.
"In our family, I'm kind of the 'health and safety' chief – if a child climbs up a wall, I'll be the one shouting to get down, and if someone is home 20 minutes late I'll be imagining all the worst possible scenarios.
"I find it hard to shut down that 'catastrophist' part of me that comes from writing what I write about."
In relation to Lost You – which officially launches in Belfast tonight at No Alibis on Botanic Avenue – Neville traces its inception back to an experience in a hotel corridor in Spanish holiday resort Salou when his then three-year-old made a dash for the lift and almost managed to travel solo.
"It was a typical Spanish hotel and we were on the top floor," the father-of-two recalls.
"Every time we came out of the room, I would have my arms full of inflatables and bags of supplies for the day. I was laden down and our son would make a dash for the lifts at the end of the corridor and start pressing all the buttons.
"I would run as fast as I could to get to him before the doors closed and he disappeared out of sight. Thankfully, he never actually managed to escape, but a couple of times I got there just in time, just as the doors were closing and they caught my wrist.
"It occurred to me, 'what if?': what if the doors actually did close and a child was suddenly left on his own?"
This alarming thought set him plotting the new book which sees three-year-old Ethan stepping casually into a hotel elevator before his mother, Libby, can stop the doors from sealing shut. Moments later, he is gone.
Described as an "adrenaline-pumping, anxiety-inducing thriller that might just make you cry", Lost You takes a chilling look at the emotional fallout from what the novelist found to be a loose and inconsistent legal framework surrounding surrogacy in America today.
"When I was doing research on surrogacy in the US, I was genuniely shocked by what I discovered," Neville explains.
"In New York state, for instance, it is illegal, while in Pennsylvania there is no law governing it at all. It leaves vulnerable individuals open to exploitation."
Neville's 2009 debut novel The Twelve was an LA Times Book Prize-winner and his subsequent works have regularly appeared in reviewers' 'best-of-the-year' lists.
However, a modest perfectionist by nature, he tends to feel he could always have done "a little bit better" after each book hits (and invariably flies off) the shelves.
That said, he seems as happy as he can be with Lost You, the ninth novel in a stellar career to date.
"I think I'm pleased with the book itself, but there will always be things you wish you had done differently and things you wish you could go back and re-do," he mulls, good-humouredly.
"Even when the book is sitting on the shelf, you are never truly finished with it.
"Also, I'm usually thinking of a couple of books ahead of the one I'm actually working on, and I think the reason for that lies in the fact I haven't – yet –managed to mess up the one I'm doing next."
However, before he gets back to his writing duties, there is another rather important launch date coming up for him this weekend – at Glastonbury.
Along with crime fiction, Neville's other passion is music. He is a vocalist and lead guitarist with The Fun Lovin' Crime Writers, a crime-themed covers band whose line-up also includes like-minded authors and musicians Mark Billingham. Chris Brookmyre, Doug Johnstone, Val McDermid and Luca Veste.
The group have been invited to make their debut at the famous festival this Saturday with a set on the acoustic stage, sharing the bill with the likes of Marti Pellow, Keane and Hawkwind.
"The Fun Lovin' Crime Writers came together as a bit of fun, really, after an impromptu jam session at the 2016 World Mystery Convention in New Orleans, so you could say Glastonbury just wasn't on our radar," Neville laughs.
"Glastonbury kind of came out of the blue and everyone is really thrilled about it. It's like the world's best mid-life crisis for all of us."
Not one for going to festivals generally, he says he has been told to pack his wellies but, apart from that, their on-stage 'look' is not something to which he has given much thought.
"Some of us put more effort into our 'look' than others... I'm at scruffier end of the scale," he confesses.
"But it's all about the music. Our set will be a shortened version of what we usually do – songs from all genres, but with one thing in common: they are all about crime.
"Some of our favourite covers which we play at various book festivals include, I Fought The Law by The Clash; Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash, Watching The Detectives by Elvis Costello and Breaking The Law by Judas Priest, as well as some punk classics.
"We cover country, rock 'n' roll, folk – there is an endless supply of songs out there."
And will the Glastonbury date inspire them to write their own material, I wonder?
"Ah, no, I think that would take the fun out of it entirely," Neville admits.
"I have just had a flashback to that scene from Father Ted where he and Dougal try to write a hit song for a Eurovision-type contest and end up screaming at each other and having a meltdown.
"I think we'll stick to covers; you wouldn't want to be getting to that point of stress. Although, I have feeling Glastonbury will pop up in a crime novel by one of us at some stage in the future."
:: Lost You will be published by Harvill Secker on June 27. Stuart Neville will take part in a special Q&A with fellow writer Steve Cavanagh at tonight's launch event at No Alibis in Belfast. Doors 6.30pm, free tickets available via Tiny.cc/haylenbeck
