I had no intention of ever writing young teenage fiction. I thought I was going to be a comedy scriptwriter – I had two series on the radio and was having scripts developed for television. Then one night when my daughter, Katie, was on the way to the school youth club she was attacked by a gang of boys and girls, a lot older than her, a gang who had a bad reputation both in and out of school.It was after that the real bullying started. Katie couldn’t walk along the school corridors or go beyond the school gates without them waiting for her. She hated going to school and so I wanted her to move to another school, but Katie wanted to stay where she was. What happened to Katie made me see how often teachers’ hands are tied when dealing with bullies. I was growing angrier and feeling more and more useless. Finally, I decided I was going to write a book about it. But I knew right then that I didn’t just want to write a book about bullying, I wanted to write the kind of book I like to read – a mystery and a thriller.
