{"version":"1.0","type":"rich","provider_name":"Acast","provider_url":"https://acast.com","height":250,"width":700,"html":"<iframe src=\"https://embed.acast.com/$/6087d3aca4a81031ba098a59/6a9ed535107236e8f1a772a6?\" frameBorder=\"0\" width=\"700\" height=\"250\"></iframe>","title":"In Conversation with Ian Rankin: The Heights","description":"<p>This episode is a special one — a full interview with Ian Rankin on <em>The Heights</em>, his first standalone thriller in nearly two decades. But first, a confession: I've just been away for the weekend and had a small crisis about how some people can remember every name — actors, characters, everyone — while I can't hold onto a single one. Is it just me? Answers on a postcard (or better yet, in your own colour-coding system, which is apparently what I need).</p><p>Then it's on to the books. I'm reviewing three with no spoilers, before sitting down with Ian to talk about how a short story character, Detective Gillian Gish, refused to let him go; why Tottenham and a gleaming Hyde Park high-rise became the perfect collision of two Londons; and why he thinks readers have fallen out of love with police procedurals in an age of institutional corruption. Ian also tells me how the book was written almost entirely at sea, and what would happen if I sent him to write in a tiny, sweltering Tokyo apartment instead. Plus: his verdict on the correct way to eat a chocolate hobnob.</p><p>This week's reviews:</p><ul><li><em>Someone Just Followed You</em>, Liane Child — a propulsive, unsettling look at the world of kidfluencers, told mostly from a teenager's perspective</li><li><em>Hum</em>, Helen Phillips — winner of the Climate Fiction Prize 2026; gripping, reflective, slightly dystopian, and hard to put down</li><li><em>The Eyewitness</em>, Naomi Williams — a quick, twisty read about a woman whose eyes shut tight for 48 hours at a time, and the fear that someone is watching when she can't see</li></ul><p><strong>Featured book:</strong></p><p><em>The Heights</em>, Ian Rankin</p><p>That's this episode — spoiler-free reviews of <em>Someone Just Followed You</em>, <em>Hum</em>, and <em>The Eyewitness</em>, plus Ian Rankin on <em>The Heights</em>.</p><p><strong>Get in touch</strong></p><p><strong>Quick Book Reviews Facebook Group | Instagram | </strong><a href=\"mailto:quickbookreviews@outlook.com\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">quickbookreviews@outlook.com</a></p><p><em>Quick Book Reviews: author interviews and book reviews with no spoilers.</em></p>","author_name":"Philippa Hall"}