The Fearful

In 1699 William Milmullen took five children to Lake Mou, but only William returned. He claimed that a terrifying creature rose from the lake and devoured the boys. But did it? And if it all happened so long ago, does it really matter to anyone nowadays anyway? The legacy of that tragedy lives on in the town of Moutonby. A town divided between those who believe that something terrible still lurks deep down in the lake, and those who don’t. Is it real or just a story? A legend or a tourist trap? Tim Milmullen wishes he knew. Every day he watches the dark waters, looking for a sign. Because if the stories are true, if ‘the dragon in the lake’ is real, then according to the legend he’s the only one who can stop it from killing again.

This one was tough. It’s the longest book I’ve written and was definitely the most difficult to get right. It’s gone through more drafts than any of my other books and now includes pages that were written in Grimsby, Edinburgh, Poland, Venezuela and Spain over a period of several years. I’ve jotted down ideas in cafes and pubs, on buses and trains, and on the inside covers of other people’s novels.   I've had girlfriends leave me and pets die during the writing of this book.  But it’s done now. Finally finished. At long last. Hooray!

I think the reason why it took so long to write was because the idea seemed to grow, getting bigger and more complex. It started out as a straight-forward horror story; big, bad lake monster terrorises small town in Yorkshire - that kind of thing. But the more I thought about it, the more I realised I could use the story to talk about many other things too. The conflict between the believers and non-believers was what really began to interest me, and then the relationship between a believing father and his doubting son. Perhaps one of the most important lines in the whole book is when Tim says: ‘I love Dad. I just don’t want to be Dad.’ At this point the book has long stopped simply being about a lake monster.

Although it was hard work, I did enjoy writing the book. I wanted all of the action to take place today, in modern times, but I still needed to invent a whole legend of my own, and I enjoyed creating the three hundred year-old history of the Fearful and the creature they believe in. Writing the gross stuff about the Feed was fun and the atmospheric chapters with Tim out on the lake at night included the scary parts I’d wanted to get in right from the very beginning.

Of course the best part was keeping the reader guessing. Does the Mourn exist? Is it real? That’s for you to decide. Do you believe?

'Dark, brooding...  talented author returns to form.'                                                        Nicholas Tucker,                                                               Books for Keeps 'Gray's storytelling gripped me.'                                                        The Scotsman 'A suspensful rites of passage novel'                                                        The Bookseller 'An engrossing and unsettling fantasy...  Gray weaves a complex and haunting story at the heart of which is a searching exploration of personal courage.'                                                        The Herald

Shortlisted for the Catalyst Book Award

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