A blast from the past. The real-life inspiration for The Devil's Face.

A while back, I told the gang in the fan club on Facebook that I would one day reveal the very real inspiration for The Devil’s Face.

Several years ago, before I became a full-time author, I was in a turbulent, high-stress job. I lived out in the sticks, enduring a fifty-mile round trip through pitch-black, unlit country roads in the middle of winter.

One morning, at 5:40 a.m. as I passed a church, the temperature in my car seemed to plummet. My eyes were drawn to a figure in the periphery of my vision. It was freakishly tall, hooded, and seemed to be walking with jerky, frame-by-frame movements. I had never believed in supernatural forces, yet every alarm bell in my body told me to get out of there. I hit the gas and didn't look back.

I convinced myself it was stress-induced, but weeks later, it happened again. This time, the figure stood straddling the white line near a bridge—closer and more threatening. Later that January, I saw it a third time, hunched and walking uphill. Each time, I was left almost hyperventilating, covered in goosebumps, checking my mirrors, and wondering if my car would suddenly quit, trapping me with whatever the hell it was.

Eventually, the sightings stopped. Looking back, I still maintain they must have been hallucinations caused by an unparalleled level of stress. It’s the only logical conclusion I can offer. However, I knew I needed to harness that visceral fear for a horror novel.

The true "seed" of the book came later. We installed a new light fitting in our dark kitchen. At night, for a split second, a weird reflection hits the window when you turn the light on while the door is still opening. The first time it happened, I did a double-take. Then, the realisation hit me. This could be the perfect hook for a horror novel. What if these fleeting glimpses weren’t just optical illusions?

What if that figure I saw on the road was real? What if these shadows are stalking us, waiting for our moments of vulnerability? That question sparked the idea. Suddenly, Lev, Jodie, Beth, and the rest of the cast were in my head, demanding to have their story told.

The Devil’s Face was born from one of the most tempestuous periods of my life. It turns out that fear can be a powerful creative tool—provided you survive the experience.