Jo Spain on Never to Be Found, Jōhatsu & the Japanese Art of Vanishing

Jo Spain on Never to Be Found, Jōhatsu & the Japanese Art of Vanishing

From Quick Book Reviews with Philippa Hall by Philippa Hall

July 17, 2026 · 31 min · Episode 478

About this episode

Philippa Hall interviews Jo Spain about her new novel Never to Be Found and the concept of jōhatsu.

Philippa sits down with the brilliant Jo Spain — 13 bestselling thrillers already published, translated into 17 languages, TV writer and producer — to talk about her extraordinary new novel Never to Be Found , which sparked a bidding war from some of the biggest names in television before it was even published. 🎙️ Jo Spain on Never to Be Found In Japan, up to 100,000 people every year voluntarily evaporate from their lives — a phenomenon known as jōhatsu . Entire industries exist to help them do it, providing new identities, documents, and a clean start. Veronica Paige has brought this concept to Britain, running a business disappearing people — until she discovers she's helped a murderer vanish. Jo and Philippa discuss: How a lunchtime article led to the entire concept of the book — and why Jo raced to write it before anyone else could The once-in-a-career bidding war: Sam Mendes' production company, Amazon MGM, and The Walking Dead showrunner Angela Kang all in pursuit of the same book Why Jo always writes books for the love of them and scripts for the money — and why those two things are entirely separate The three categories people fall into when they hear about jōhatsu…

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