What was the weirdest thing you needed to research for the story?
Ok, without any spoilers, let me just say that I had to do a lot of research for this book including answering questions I had about firearms, meat butchering (super hard for a vegetarian to listen to), serial killers, PTSD, climbing and the Butterfly stroke. The weirdest was probably the day I spent researching curse words in various Scandinavian languages.
What was the first scene you thought of and how did you know that the story was worth exploring?
There were two scenes that came instantly to mind. The first was of a teenage girl in a cistern. It was as if I was looking down on her. I could see she was injured and that she’d fallen from a great height but then wondered, how did it happen, did someone push her and why?
The second scene was from the killer’s POV at aged 9, and it involved a pig, named Ferdinand that they had hand-reared. That scene almost wrote itself. I had the voice figured out immediately.
Thinking about bringing those two characters together was all the motivation I needed.
What is your favorite scene and why?
There are many scenes in the book I am very proud of. Without spoilers (again), there’s a funny conversation between my protagonist Ari and her best friend Lynne at the swimming hole which goes from light to dark. And then there’s a scene later on when Ari has to drive a stick shift truck for the first time and she is under great duress – that one is not so funny. Also, the scene where the serial killer finds meaningful work. Oh and the climatic scene! I kinda like the whole book, tbh.