Fray: The haunting and mysterious new literary suspense novel of 2023, for fans of bestsellers THE LONEY and PINE

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So the last couple of years I’ve actually run without a watch, just getting out and enjoying it and that’s actually been fantastic. Haunting, gripping, a visceral portrayal of movement and mountains and the outdoors and the power and chaos of our own minds. There is a striving throughout the book to deal with personal demons and come out of them with a peace of mind.

But one thing that I knew before I was doing that all this stuff is I have to run in the morning, before I go, as a way of managing my anxiety in advance.But if you keep going - exactly like with running - if you keep doing bit and a bit, regularly and you don’t get put off when it gets tough, you don't give up and you've just kind of persist, then actually over time, you can really put something quite phenomenal together, whether that's training for a marathon and ultra or writing a novel. Anxiety is an interesting word because, obviously, everybody has some anxiety and that's a normal reaction to certain situations. Yes, my parents were both runners, they got into it because of the Great North Run, and I sort of followed on. The problem is that the same word also attached to people who may have extreme anxiety conditions that will totally derail their lives.

The story is set in the bleakness of the Scottish highlands, which sets the scene for a beautiful tale of loss, grief, and personal discovery. And it was a bit grey, a bit wet, but normal – not terrible weather conditions, and it wasn't forecast to be either. I have just been focusing on enjoying it actually, because I have a terrible habit of overdoing it or getting injured or just kind of being a bit over enthusiastic with training too hard. I didn’t know what to expect when I picked up Fray at Brome Lake Books; it seems to be a mystery with an appealing cover, and an Alan Cumming blurb the conjures up Masterpiece Classics. I highly recommend this cinematic and emotional whirlwind as a gift for family, friends or a personal treat!

When I sat down and read the final 100 pages in one sitting, I found I connected more with the rhythm and the cadences of the story. The bleak and inhospitable nature around her creates a stark background for our unnamed protagonists grief and guilt over her double loss; the loss of someone missing without resolve, and the loss of someone certainly gone for good.

It's the exact opposite: it's letting go of language, sort of stepping into a wordless space where you're free. But then contrasting that with a good running experience, where you might be breathing hard, but you're in control and you're connected to your body and you feel really composed.In reality, the experience is often very much like the one I had with actual marmite: I hate it, and now understand why others do to.

A twisting tale of grief and mental health that sucked me in from the start and swept me along with it … I couldn’t put it down. Along the way, they talk about the darkness that has clouded their life at times, and the ways they’ve tried to cope. You could argue the symbolism here: it being a reflection of the character’s “working through grief in real time”. There are interesting reflections on man’s interaction and alienation from the natural world, alienation from self and others.I liked the book overall but by the end some questions were still very much unresolved and I was hoping to see them answered. The Scottish highlands play their part perfectly and help create an equally intense but beautiful backdrop that brings despair and hope in equal measure. My understanding of it is that it is about a son experiencing guilt followed closely by depression, after losing his parents, because he realises that he never really knew them. Chris was diagnosed as autistic at the age of 40 and is a passionate advocate for mental health awareness. This certainly isn’t a book for everyone due to the experimental nature of the writing, however I absolutely loved it.