5 Questions With John Marrs
Multi-million bestselling author of titles such as Keep It in the Family and Netflix-adapted The One shares his favourite despicable character and the book that was tough to write
I am so honoured to have interviewed the brilliant mind that is John Marrs. His incredible thriller, Keep It in the Family (known for the infamous one-word Chapter 39) had me hooked and I loved the Netflix series based off his speculative fiction, The One. Now, I’m working my way through his 14 books and counting.
A journalist turned author, John began his career as a self-published author (like myself!) and wrote his first three books on his commute. Then, through the power of social media, he gained attention from Amazon Publishing for his psychological thrillers and Penguin Random House for his speculative fiction. His 2020 thriller, What Lies Between Us, won the International Thriller Writers Award for Best Paperback Original Novel and he has been nominated for several others.
In this interview, I speak to John about the “nasty” character he can’t get enough of, why writers shouldn’t fear irrelevant fluff, and which author’s book he wishes he’d written.
1. If you could spend the day as one of your book characters, who would you choose?
I think I’d spend it with Laura, my main character from The Good Samaritan, who also appears in Dead in the Water. She’s such a nasty piece of work that I always find it fascinating where my mind takes me when I’m writing her. Just when I think she can’t do anything more despicable, I somehow find another way to take her in a different direction. I’d love to see her in action in person and watch how she succeeds in playing mind games with troubled people.
2. When coming up with storylines, you mention that your subconscious plays a big part. What advice do you have for writers on accessing it?
It’s not something I give a great deal of thought to, to be honest. Ideas have come to me as I’ve drifted off to sleep, forcing me to wake myself up and dictate them into my phone. Other ideas come from conversations with people, TV shows, books I’ve read, or news stories. I find it more important to be aware of the world around you and let ideas grow naturally from that.
3. Out of all your books so far, which was the most enjoyable to write, and why? Which was the most challenging, and why?
Dead in the Water was tough to write because, for a long time, I couldn’t quite get across what I was trying to say to the reader. Then I had a lightbulb moment, and everything shifted. I realised I’d been trying to throw too much at it, so around the fifth or sixth rewrite, I did a lot of deleting and simplifying.
Probably the easiest book to write was You Killed Me First. Once I’d decided who my three main characters were going to be, the story practically wrote itself.
4. As a new-ish author, one of my challenges is building out a storyline without adding irrelevant fluff. What advice do you have for creating more depth and developing subplots that are as engaging as the main plot?
I honestly believe one of the things that puts new authors off starting – or finishing – a book is the fear that they haven’t got it right. At this stage in your career, that really doesn’t matter. Just get everything out of your head and onto the screen. The rewrite is where the depth comes.
Some of what you think is irrelevant fluff might turn out to be really important. It’s only when you reread what you’ve written – or ask other people for their opinions – that you realise what you thought was fluff is actually valuable background or character development.
5. Which other author’s book do you wish you had written?
Peter Swanson’s The Kind Worth Killing. It’s my all-time favourite psychological thriller. There are many other books I love, but this is the one I truly wish I could have written.
Look out for John’s Amazon Original novella coming out in e-book and Audible October 2026, as well as his new novel, I’m Not Done With You, releasing early 2027.