Three books that inspired Courier

Here are three books that inspired me when I wrote my stalker novella, Courier, which came out in January 2024 and tells the story

of Bob, a lonely courier who becomes obsessed with a woman on his delivery route.

You by Caroline Kepnes

I adore this book. The writing is perfection, and the experience of being inside the head of Joe Goldberg, a character who is at once charming, funny and likeable, and yet also dangerous, scary and completely unhinged is a really fun experience.

In You, Joe addresses the narrative to the object of his stalking obsession – you. I love how this creates a creepy intimacy in the book; you feel you’re part of his infatuation, and you’re with Joe every step of the way as his obsession escalates.

I used this approach in Courier, with my main character Bob mentally narrating the story to his love interest, Natalie. It was a fun way to write and enabled me to get right into the head of Bob, feeling every ounce of his obsession.

Damage by Josephine Hart

I saw the Netflix series of this book and was drawn in by the character of Anna and her compelling line, ‘Damaged people are dangerous; they know they can survive’, which led me to read the book the series was based on, by Josephine Hart.

The book is told from the point of view of an unnamed British politican, who becomes obsessed with Anna, his son’s new girlfriend, and embarks on an affair with her.

His voice throughout the book is yearning, desperate, sometimes poetic, and you almost sympathise with him, but not quite. He’s toxic. He puts his own lust before his son’s happiness, and his marriage, and no stretch of the imagination can turn him into a sympathetic character.

However, I enjoyed his lack of self-awareness, his extreme midlife crisis, and the blatant male privilege that makes him think he can project all his inadequacies and loneliness onto a woman, believing she can somehow reinvigorate him. Like Hart's protagonist, my main character, Bob, is also middle-aged and entitled and believes a woman can give his life the meaning it so deeply lacks.

100% Match by Patrick C.Harrison III

I picked up this indie novella on a whim, not really knowing what to expect. It tells the story of Bart, a deviant who works at a fast food joint and is obsessed with finding his perfect woman.

The man is revolting. He drinks his own urine with teabags in. He kills neighbourhood cats and serves them in burgers to customers He also kills people. His story is written in such a quirky, unique and surprising way that you end up as amused as you are creeped out.

100% Match is short but impactful, and its indie release inspired me hugely with Courier. The book feels free from constraints. It’s gross, crazy, unhinged, punchy and edgy, and it’s the kind of book I hadn’t been seeing in traditional publishing. It inspired me to go indie with my own title and embrace a similarly punk approach.