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

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/quick-book-reviews-with-philippa-hall-183832/jo-spain-on-never-to-be-found-j-hatsu-the-japanese-art-of-vanishing
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/quick-book-reviews-with-philippa-hall-183832/jo-spain-on-never-to-be-found-j-hatsu-the-japanese-art-of-vanishing.md
Podcast: [Quick Book Reviews with Philippa Hall](https://stenobird.com/podcast/quick-book-reviews-with-philippa-hall-183832)
Published: 2026-07-17T04:05:00+00:00
Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/quick-book-reviews/episodes/jo-spain-on-never-to-be-found-jhatsu-the-japanese-art-of-van
Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/6087d3aca4a81031ba098a59/e/6a46a7672d7a15a97937ad1f/media.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/quick-book-reviews-with-philippa-hall-183832/episodes/jo-spain-on-never-to-be-found-j-hatsu-the-japanese-art-of-vanishing
Duration seconds: 1843

## Resource

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: those who want to vanish, those horrified by abandonment, and those who think they'd be brilliant at making people disappear How Veronica justifies what she does — and the moral question at the heart of the book Why layers matter more than first drafts, and what it looks like from the outside when Jo is deep in the editing stage Her dream writing location: the coast path between Moville and Greencastle in Donegal — where the Wi-Fi barely works and the day takes its time Her nightmare: a writer's room, surrounded by other writers, expected to create on demand The pressure of reader expectations for…

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