Tell me about your latest book and why we should read it?
Dark Pines – a claustrophobic crime-thriller set in a small Swedish town. On the first day of the elk hunt a body is found deep in the woods. It’s a bit Broadchurch/Twin Peaks/Fargo. You should read it because it has a pair of wood-carving sisters who live in the forest (and make trolls), a deaf protagonist called Tuva Moodyson, and because Val McDermid says ‘The tension is unrelenting and I can’t wait for the next outing.’
If someone was to write your life story what would the title be?
The beardy hermit forest dude who got lucky.
What’s the strangest fan question or request you’ve received?
A reader asked me to sign the back of her hand.
If you could co-write with anyone in the world (alive or dead) who would it be?
Cormac McCarthy, Yaa Gyasi, Sarah Waters, or Stephen King.
Tell me something nobody else knows about you (yet!).
I was a very weird kid and spent most of my childhood building woodland dens or reading stories (in woodland dens).
Finally please recommend 3 books that you have recently read and tell me why you’ve chosen these.
1. You Don’t Know Me by Imran Mahmood – a stunning voice (and I loved the ending).
2. The Dry by Jane Harper – incredibly atmospheric crime novel set in Australia.
3. Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith – unrelenting tension and characters to die for.
Who is Will Dean? Will Dean grew up in the East Midlands, living in nine different villages before the age of eighteen. After studying law at the LSE, and working many varied jobs in London, he settled in rural Sweden with his wife. He built a wooden house in a boggy forest clearing and it’s from this base that he compulsively reads and writes.
