With over 35 years of writing experience and several novels behind him, John Paxton Sheriff is able to present the art of creating suspense in easily understood, practical terms. Beginning with the suspense created by placing memorable characters in an evocative setting, the author progresses to the devising of tight plots which can be improved by linked sub-plots, tells how characters' traits and their reactions are indispensable to the building of suspense, and offers help with the all-important first chapter. Literary devices such as foreshadowing and overlapping chapters are dealt with alongside the time-honoured techniques of hooks, cliff-hangers, and time-limits.