It's the Grand Finale for TERROR by EAMONN HICKSON!

On Tour with Prism Book Tours

I want to be a devil’s advocate in one of most topical issues of our time: terror attacks. While I’m not condoning the characters’ beliefs or actions, I want to see what’s on the other side of a terror attack: why do ‘they’ do it? What motivates ‘them’? One man’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter. Most of us see those who do unspeakable acts as terrorists, but to someone they might be heroes. Terror was also inspired by a visit to Belfast in Northern Ireland, where I (as a southerner) got to see both the Catholic and Protestant sides without fear.


She reaches for words to say but they’re trapped behind a double-glazed window, visible but untouchable— Robert clasps her wrists. Ally doesn’t resist, and he throws her to the carpeted floor. She lands on all fours and a murder of tingles rush to her hands like demented crows stabbing a finch to death, while the mattress cover unclips from the edge of the bed and becomes a snapping Venus flytrap. Robert throws the piece of paper in front of her face and leaves the bedroom.


You know how it works: you spend days, weeks or even months deciding on their appearance, memories, experiences, dreams, motivations, fears, desires, hopes… and they give you the middle finger halfway through your novel. If this hasn’t happened to you, can you tell me how you managed to keep a tight rein on your characters.


Quite some time ago, I visited Northern Ireland and, more specifically, Belfast. Being from the southern part of the Republic of Ireland, I had only heard bits and pieces about ‘The Troubles’ of the 1970s and ‘80s. So, I visited Belfast as an outsider, devoid of any strong views on what’s happened there. I went on a ‘black taxi tour’ through areas which were at the center of the conflict in the past and something dawned on me; the Catholic driver spoke of the events of his youth, how soldiers targeted his family and friends, how one put their life in danger by going down the wrong street, and how every action had a reaction.


"I enjoyed this book. With the title like TERROR, I was expecting more fear and horror – like a horror story – but the suspense and the mysteriousness of it all definitely made for a good read.

If you can follow along with the different characters, the different stories, not always having the backstory right away when you want it – you will enjoy this book. It is definitely one that I think I will read again!"


Nestor leaves the kitchen via the back door, walks around the house and stops in the driveway. His house sits on the corner across the street like an obedient dog. The new paint, the rattling window chimes, the nylon washing line, the new AC unit, the repaired woodwork, the balloon tied to the balustrade, the flank of flowers—they’re all imposters, along with Sarah and the Grinch.


Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book?

The plan was to write standalone books. However, that’s changed with my latest release. I feel there’s another story to tell involving some of the characters in this novel and if I were to move onto something different, it’d be a storyline that I wouldn’t be able to seamlessly grasp onto again. So, in short, I’m trying to create connected stories. More on this in a later question.


Breaking up is hard to do—and so is killing your favourite characters. I suppose it’s a compliment (from you to you) when there’s a character who is more than just a collection of letters and words and thoughts and actions. A non-existent persona, one conjured up and moulded in a joint collaboration between your brain and fingers, begins to relay messages back, asking you to spare them.