Pan Mac scoops deep dive on secrets by Heretics host Gold

Pan Macmillan has acquired world rights to journalist and podcaster Andrew Gold’s debut book, The Psychology of Secrets: My Adventures With Murderers, Cults and Influencers.

Originally snapped up by Pan Macmillan’s Matthew Cole from Donald Winchester at Watson Little, it will be published by editor Ause Abdelhaq in April 2024.

As well as being an award-winning documentarian, Gold is the host of popular podcast “Heretics”, which features unconventional guests who have battled with social contagion. His fans started to send him increasingly intense secrets involving betrayal, fraud and even murder, and he decided he needed to explore the phenomenon and delve into the shocking history of secrecy. The Psychology of Secrets asks the question: how far would you go to keep something quiet?

Gold said: “I poked around and tugged at a seam, and a new world of secrets slipped into view. Everything from cults and Tom Cruise to politicians and the influencer industry was cast in an Upside-Down world sheen; I’m not sure I’ll ever get back to the real world, or that I’d have any desire to do so. Really though, this was about showing that we’re not who we say we are – and that that’s OK. It has been a lot of fun to write, and I hope readers will be as entertained and educated as they are shocked – I certainly was.”

Abdelhaq said: “This is by far the most fun book I’ve ever worked on. I’m thrilled to be able to share Andrew’s trademark dry wit and journalistic rigour with the world. His determination to get to the heart of things, even at the expense of his own personal safety – and sanity! – has resulted in a thoroughly entertaining and eye-opening read. I cannot wait to see readers’ reactions to some of the secrets he reveals within!”