Sunderland author sees childhood dream come true after publication of first book

Former civil servant, Frances Mackintosh, who has spent the last 25 years immersing herself in the study of criminology and the workings of the brain to pen her first book, said it felt “surreal” to finally see her debut psychological thriller published.

Coming For You takes readers on a mind twisting journey into the warped mind of serial killer William Channing, who has teamed up with his mother to take the lives of 17 victims.

However the tables are turned and the “hunter becomes the hunted” when his would be 18th victim turns out to be an equally disturbed individual who has also fantasised about committing murder.

Frances, 52, said: “I always wanted to create a psychological thriller featuring a serial killer, and seeing this book published is the culmination of 25 years of life research. I took a communications team job at the Council to develop experience of writing.

“During this time I also studied creative writing alongside psychometrics - personality profiling - and completed a degree in Psychology and Criminology to enable me to understand how a criminal's brain may work.”

Frances took redundancy in January to focus on her writing and Coming For You was published by Amazon last month (April).

On Wednesday May 24, she hosted a launch event at The Royalty Theatre in Sunderland.

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Frances. From Middle Herrington, said: “It was a childhood dream to write a book and see it published. As a little girl I used to play libraries, which shows how obsessed I was with reading.

“The first time I held a hard copy of my book was surreal.”

During the launch, Frances explained the journey behind the book’s creation and also answered questions from the 100 strong audience.

She said: “The launch event was so exciting. This is the first of a trilogy of books. I’m currently writing the second book and there was a draw last night, with the prize seeing the winning name incorporated as a character in the sequel.”

The feedback Frances has received has been “very positive” with Amazon giving it a 4.6 star rating (out of five).

France's added: “One reader said the ‘word dark isn’t dark enough' while another described it as ‘a serial killer on steroids’. 

The book retails at £9.99 and can be purchased from Amazon as well as from Frances's own website.