Yesterday’s News – a psychological thriller

“Social media-obsessed Laura Morgan has the perfect life. At least, that’s what she’ll have you believe…”

Social media-obsessed Laura has the perfect life. On holiday in La Rioja, Spain, she entices her growing band of followers with reels of her glamorous lifestyle, whilst professing her love for new boyfriend Rick, her soulmate and sidekick behind the camera. But what the glossy photos don’t show are the hashtag reality of the poky tent they’re sharing to eke out their budget, the nightly slanging matches heard across the campsite, nor Rick’s extracurricular activities when Laura’s back is turned.

On their way to the airport, Rick goes missing at a remote service station. When the body of local girl Maria is found in the woods the next day, his missing persons case turns into a manhunt, and Laura realises she’ll have to use all her influence to persuade the world – now turned judge and jury online – that he is innocent. Even if she thinks he might not be…

Career-driven, no-nonsense Comisario Principal Monica de Souza is not won over by her charms and, as the evidence starts to stack up against Rick, who they discover was having an affair with Maria, Laura comes under suspicion herself. The friendly world of social media she previously inhabited is now plagued with trolls wanting to bring her down.

Laura has to resort to an unlikely ally – Pepe, the ineffectual police officer she managed to get thrown off the case – to help get to the truth. Working outside of the law, they have their own theories as to who might be behind Maria’s death and Rick’s disappearance – Antonio – the broody, moody owner of the café who was the last person to see both Maria and Rick alive. Trouble is, Antonio is dating de Souza.

Small-town politics and global social media scrutiny collide and Laura realises that – without the filters, the hashtags and the lens showing only what you want to see – real life is far more frightening than the distorted fictions we tell the world.

A stray newspaper leads Laura to discover that Antonio has faked the CCTV showing Rick’s disappearance. When the café burns down and all the evidence is destroyed, she and Pepe know they’re on to something. But when she receives a text from Rick admitting his guilt, she needs to make a choice between fighting for the (less than perfect) man she loves and saving her own skin. Deleting the text, she follows Rick’s digital trail to the river, where it looks like – consumed with guilt – he has killed himself.

When Antonio kidnaps Pepe’s daughter, the bumbling cop has to shake himself out of the decade of grief he’s experienced since his wife died, and fight for his family. He abandons Laura and for the first time in her life she has no one to turn to – no boyfriend, no social media bubble, no protection from the madman out to kill her. In a dramatic climax, Laura has to face her demons, fight for her life, and ensure that she doesn’t become yesterday’s news…

Read the first ten pages here.