Thrillers are a mainstay of the fiction bestseller lists, demonstrating that this is a genre that readers in their droves can’t get enough of. But why? And what are the ingredients of a top-class thriller?

To provide some answers, we’re thrilled (ha!) to present two superb exponents of the page-turning thriller genre.

Clare Mackintosh is the multi-award-winning author of four Sunday Times bestselling novels, which have been translated into forty languages and have sold more than two million copies worldwide while attracting praise from the likes of Lee Child and Karin Slaughter. Her new novel “Hostage” is set on board the first non-stop flight from London to Sydney, and provides a modern high-concept take on the classic, locked-room thriller.

Melanie Golding is the Stroud-based author of two novels: her debut “Little Darlings”, which has been optioned for screen by Free Range Films, and her new novel “The Replacement”, which weaves Melanie’s trademark folklore-inspired narrative with the pace and twists of a police procedural.

Chaired by Jo Durrant

Venue: Subscription Rooms

Tickets: £10