In ‘Into the Water’, her follow-up to the bestseller, Hawkins writes about women’s greatest fears – so often at the hands of men. But nobody is innocent in her books

Adults spend about 20 to 25 per cent of the night in a deep ‘slow-wave’ sleep, where your body is properly relaxed and from which it’s unpleasant to be woken

Intimate, gritty novel offers a realistic account of self-harm – and a glimmer of hope

Word-of-mouth sensation has made the novelist $10m in the last year, outselling George RR Martin, but still earning a fraction of James Patterson’s $95m

Megan Abbott delivers another intense thriller about the unknowable world of teenage girls

Crime reviews: Declan Hughes on the latest from Michael Connelly, Ian Rankin and JK Galbraith and a compendium of women crime writers

Irishwoman Gillian Flynn and South African Wesley Bearpark met while both were working in Florida

Hollywood adores an ‘integrated solution’, but Oscars tension shows it losing its touch

‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ makes top 100 for first time, but ‘Wimpy Kid’ dominates charts

To mark Library Ireland Week ‘The Irish Times’ surveyed the country’s libraries

Noted gloom merchant David Fincher has adapted the popcorn-ready bestseller ‘Gone Girl’. The grim result? ‘A very realistic view of marriage’

Noted gloom merchant David Fincher has adapted the popcorn-ready bestseller ‘Gone Girl’. The grim result? ‘A very realistic view of marriage’

‘Don’t waffle. Be honest. Write so you’re ashamed. Edit it about 20 times, get another three professional people to edit it. Edit it another 10 times’

Crime Beat

Brian Boyd and Emma Somers root through a bumper crop of TV, film and music to find gift ideas for the loved one who thinks they’ve seen it all

Fiftysomething: The sheer tedium of Gone Girl, ‘the thriller of the year’, will obliterate your critical faculties

A short visit to the birthplace of the skyscraper makes for a fun-filled holiday