Having already sold in excess of 200,000 books worldwide,the latest story from a local author has achieved success on both sides of the Atlantic.

Rona Halsall this week released ’The Ex-Boyfriend’, her sixth psychological thriller, through publishers Bookoutoure.

Within days of the release, her new book had already been ranked as the number one hot new release in Canada, the USA and in the UK, where it has also finished the week ranked in the top 30s of the book sales charts.

’The Ex-Boyfriend’ is the latest tense and suspenseful tale from Rona, who lives in St John’s.

Those who know Rona’s previous work will already be familiar with her knack of contriving a convoluted and suspenseful plot line from a seemingly innocent starting point and this book is no different.

It features a swirling plot line with as many strands as there are potential outcomes, as the central character, Becca, meets an old boyfriend by chance over social media.

From when they meet, Becca’s life starts to turn upside down and her child begins to suffer with an unexplained illness.

Rona blends characters and storylines together in such a dizzying plot that is difficult to guess the outcome until right towards the end.

’I have always enjoyed puzzles’, said Rona.

’When I start to create my stories, my challenge is to write a puzzle that people will not be able to figure out or know the answer to until the end.

’Even when some people do, figure them out, they won’t know for certain. That’s what keeps me writing, I think.

’My aim is to write books that are easy to read and that are easy to get lost in. I like them to be hard to put down because you constantly want to find out hat happens next.

’Every book has a different theme and this one covers factitious disorder, also known as "Munchausen’s-by-proxy", which is when you project a fictitious illness onto somebody else.

’The other theme in this one is about lost loves. Everyone has a boy or girlfriend that sticks in the mind.

’If they pop back up again, hwo would they feel? Will there be regrets or unfinished business or whatever. Maybe you didn’t behave very well at the time and you wanted to put right your wrongs. It has those elements and goes through all those machinations.

’Also, with this book, I learnt more about memory and how memories are more fluid,’ she continued, explaining one of the more darker themes running through the plot.

’They are not really solid at all and every time we revisit some memory, it will be slightly different each time you think about it and, over time, it changes to something that just isn’t a true reflection.

’You can have a narrative going on in your head that is either confirming or reshaping what has happen to you in the past.

’And that is the core theme of this book, that you can’t trust your own memories.’

’The Ex-Boyfriend’ is available from most online booksellers as an ebook and paperback.

by Mike Wade

Twitter:@iomnewspapers