Thursday Themes

Thursday Themes – JV Baptie

It’s a great pleasure to be able to welcome JV Baptie back to my blog today, to discuss the themes of her latest novel The Departed…

Cover pic

I tend to not write my stories with initial themes in mind, but I’d say on reflection there are a few main themes running through ‘The Departed’. I was interested in the passing of time and missing people. Why do they go missing, how often are they found? I wanted to examine what would happen to the families left behind and explore how people try to move on with their lives while dealing with the unknown, loss, anger and bitterness.

Jealously also plays a big part in the story and spurs characters to do things that they might later live to regret and have lifelong repercussions. I also have things like domestic violence feature in the opening of The Departed as that plays the catalyst for what is to come.

My main protagonists are also dealing with their own fears, loss and family life some of which are carried from my first book ‘The Forgotten.’ The main theme running through that novel was revenge and the lengths someone would go to get it and I would also say survival. My main character Helen Carter must deal with a lot in both her professional and personal life but does her best to get justice for victims regardless.  She’ll also put her life in danger if it needs be and puts others before herself.  In a way both novels deal with the passing of times and the impact of crimes.




Meanwhile, Trish, John’s ex-girlfriend, had been working hard to forget the past – until she finds new evidence about her aunt Moira’s disappearance nearly two decades earlier. Did Detective Inspector Helen Carter miss something in the initial investigation in 1978, and could she live with the consequences if she had?


Author biography


Social media links: 


Twitter: @jvbaptie

Buy the books:

The Forgotten:

The Departed:


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