Rachel Neely

Rachel is looking for: dark academia, book club fiction, historical fiction, tragic love stories, rom-coms, fantasy, crime and thrillers.

Rachel is not looking for: Children’s, YA, women’s fiction, uplit or science fiction.

Her favourite novels include: The Girls, The Hunting Party, The Talented Mr Ripley, The Secret History, How to Kill Your Family, The Confessions of Frannie Langton, The Mercies, The Lovely Bones, The List, Other People’s Clothes, The It Girl, The Girl Before, Notes on an Execution, Fourth Wing, City of Brass, My Dark Vanessa, The Things We Do to Our Friends and My Sister the Serial Killer.

Rachel would love to see: a commercial locked-room thriller in the vein of The White Lotus or with shades of Succession, novels about cults, a voice-led serial-killer thriller reminiscent of YOU, compelling dark academia to rival Donna Tartt, gothic historical fiction with a unique hook, a tragic love story that will make me ugly cry, and anything that has an outsider trying to break into the world of the privileged and morally bankrupt.

Rachel says . . . ‘Whether commercial or literary, or something in between, I want authors who can match a distinctive voice with an equally compelling plot. I generally prefer darker stories; my favourite books often centre characters with tragic fates, dark pasts or buried trauma. I would also particularly like to find authors from underrepresented groups, who bring a fresh perspective to well-worn story arcs or reflect experiences that are shared by many but, as of yet, under-explored in fiction.’