New train of thought for Paula

HOW do you follow the mega global success of a book like The Girl On The Train, the hottest thriller of the decade?

It's a question Paula Hawkins must have asked herself when she sat down to pen her second standalone thriller, Into The Water – and the 44-year-old admits she has the jitters about how people will react to her latest offering.

The publicity wheels are already turning at a ferocious pace, with major book tours at home and abroad, while film rights have been snapped up by DreamWorks – who also turned The Girl On The Train into last year's box-office hit starring Emily Blunt – with Hawkins as executive producer.

Not bad for a woman who had maxed out her credit cards back in 2014, and had to borrow money from her father to make ends meet while working on the book.

'When I got a book deal, it was the greatest call to be able to ring him up and say, "It's all going to be fine, you can have your money back",' she said.

'There are different sorts of pressures now,' Hawkins agrees.

'The first time around, all the pressure was internal and to do with my own situation. Now the pressure is possibly quite self-inflicted.

'Lots of people have been waiting for this, lots of people are going to read it and lots of people are going to talk about it. That makes you feel very nervous. I tried not to let it bother me when I was writing it, but inevitably you're going to sit there thinking, "Ooh, am I making the same mistakes I made last time?" You think about what you were criticised for and wonder if you are doing the same thing again.'

Read the full interview with Paul Hawkins in today's Guernsey Press