It’s such a pleasure to welcome Alice Hunter to Linda’s Book Bag today to chat about her brand new thriller, Bad Apple. My enormous thanks to Laura Sherlock for putting us in touch with one another and for sending me a copy of Bad Apple which is calling to me from my TBR!

Let’s see what Alice has to say:

Staying in with Alice Hunter

Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag Alice and thank you for agreeing to stay in with me.

I’m SO thrilled to be here, Linda – thank you for inviting me over!

It’s my pleasure! I know I already know, but tell me, which of your books have you brought along to share this evening and why have you chosen it?

I’ve brought along my new release, Bad Apple because it’s… well… new! This is the first of my novels outside of The Serial Killer’s family series and so I’m in equal parts excited and nervous about it!

How brilliant. Happy publication day. So tell me, what can we expect from an evening in with Bad Apple.

Bad Apple is a standalone, twisty, and suspenseful crime thriller tackling themes such as trust, abuse, power, corruption, and justice. One reader put it very succinctly, saying: “Bad Apple sheds light on the disturbing reality of corrupt authority figures exploiting their power, a theme all too familiar in today’s news.”

Ooo. That sounds so pertinent to today’s society. I can’t wait to read Bad Apple. Tell me more.

You can expect the same in-depth exploration of the psychological impact of a crime from the woman’s perspective as I’ve written in the previous novels: The Serial Killer’s Wife, The Serial Killer’s Daughter, and The Serial Killer’s Sister.
In Bad Apple we follow Becky, a former detective, as she embarks on her journey to gain justice after a system she believed in, the establishment she trusted, let women down – and she has a personal connection with the perpetrator…

I need to bump up Bad Apple to the top of my TBR don’t I? It sounds riveting.

I hope that once readers pick up Bad Apple, they are hooked and can’t possibly go anywhere, or do anything else until they’ve finished it!

I imagine they will… What else have you brought along and why have you brought it?

I’ve got an excellent selection of songs from my Spotify: Women’s Empowerment Playlist that we can listen to while chatting. It includes great hits such as Carole King’s ‘Beautiful’, Alicia Keys’ ‘Girl on Fire’, Aretha Franklin’s ‘Respect’ and Heather Mae’s ‘Warrior’. I think these encapsulate the overarching theme of Bad Apple.

Fantastic music choices Alice!

As coffee is my go-to fuel, I’ve brought us a posh latte each – it’s called a Becca-Double-Stamper! (You’ll have to read Bad Apple to get this reference – haha!) But, as a backup, in case latte isn’t your bag – I’ve a selection of pre-mixed G&T cans (found in Becky’s fridge!

Thank heavens for that. I’m not a coffee drinker. Gin, however, is always welcome!

Last, but not least, I’ve also brought Agatha the cat (virtually speaking – because she’s fictional) as she plays a significant role in the novel. She enters the story early on and as I wrote, I imagined my own cat. Sadly, as I neared the completion of the story, my 18-year-old cat, Chester passed away, so Agatha is quite poignant for me.

Oh no! I really miss our cats too – and if you look around you, you’ll find cat relates items everywhere!

It’s been lovely hearing about Bad Apple Alice. Thank you so much for spending part of publication day with me. I can’t wait to read Bad Apple. I think you’d better pour us a celebratory gin and I’ll give Linda’s Book Bag readers a few more details. 

Bad Apple

Trusted officer. Family man. Monster?

Prepare to be hooked by Alice Hunter’s addictive new novel – so shocking it should come with a warning…

What would you do if you found out the man you loved was rotten to the core?

Becky Lawson’s life has been shattered.

When she discovered her husband, John – a trusted policeman – was a monster, she reported him. But her faith in the system was crushed when it didn’t lead to any charges or consequences.

Now, John lives freely with a new girlfriend and her young daughter, while Becky battles guilt over missing the obvious signs.

Determined for justice, Becky hunts him down. But John wants her silenced – at any cost. Becky knows only one of them can survive, and she’ll do anything to make sure it’s her.

Becky must tread carefully though, because John isn’t the only bad apple lurking in the shadows…

A gripping heart-in-mouth psychological thriller. Perfect for fans of K.L. Slater, B.A. Paris and the Netflix hit TV series You.

Published today, 9th May 2024, by Harper Collins’ imprint Avon, Bad Apple is available for purchase through the links here.

About Alice Hunter

After completing a psychology degree, Alice Hunter became an interventions facilitator in a prison. There, she was part of a team offering rehabilitation programmes to men serving sentences for a wide range of offences, often working with prisoners who’d committed serious violent crimes. Previously, Alice had been a nurse, working in the NHS. She now puts her experiences to good use in fiction. Bad Apple, and her previous novels The Serial Killer’s Wife, The Serial Killer’s Daughter and The Serial Killer’s Sister all draw heavily on her knowledge of psychology and the criminal mind.

For further information sign up for Alice Hunter news, updates and competitions here. You’ll also find Alice on Twitter/X @Alice_Hunter_1, Facebook and Instagram.