Time Travel, Robots, and Dinosaurs—Oh My! By Dawn Ius Rob Hart would never call himself an overnight success—he’d written a half dozen (excellent) novels, including one with bestselling author James Patterson, before…
Between The Lines
The Importance of Persistence, Resilience, and Writing Well By Dawn Ius Anyone who has tried to put pen to paper knows that publishing is an emotional roller coaster, not for the faint…
A Chilling Tale of Human—and Animal—Survival Interview by Millie Naylor Hast From submarines to courtrooms to the Arctic, thriller authors immerse us in exotic locations and shower us with details only an…
Celebrating Two “Darkly Ingenious” Releases By April Snellings It’s been more than 22 years since John Connolly roared onto the thriller scene in May 1999 with his brutal debut Every Dead Thing,…
Starting a New Series with a Bang By José H. Bográn Authors Brian Andrews and Jeffrey Wilson have had a bang-up couple of years. In addition to thrilling readers with installments of…
The Slow Burn of a Ballet Thriller By Karen Hugg When Megan Abbott saw The Nutcracker for the first time, she was enthralled. “Such magic and mystery,” she says, “and a young…
Treading on Dangerous Territory By Dawn Ius Though Tess Gerritsen and Gary Braver have been friends and writing colleagues for more than 25 years, it wasn’t until the two chatted at a…
The Art of Juggling By April Snellings If you think you don’t have time to write a novel, Jake Tapper is here to disabuse you of that notion. Since he was named…
Playing the Long Game By Adam Meyer In talking about his new novel, A CALLER’S GAME, author J.D. Barker spent some time reflecting on his long and varied career. Some highlights include…
Navigating a New Genre By J.H. Bográn In RED WIDOW, a young CIA officer is asked to track down the mole inside Russia Division who is giving up important assets—Russians that the…
Revisiting the Long and Dark Shadow of a Killer By Dawn Ius The name John Douglas is familiar to anyone involved in forensic science—and to be fair, true crime junkies across the…
Love, Hate, and the Devastating Power of Nature By Robert Rotstein As part of the International Thriller Writers’ debut class of 2013, I met many wonderful writers, including award-winning author Daco S.…
On Incorporating Traditional Fairytale Elements By J. H. Bográn Three years after her smash hit The Marsh King’s Daughter, internationally bestselling author Karen Dionne returns to familiar ground in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula…
Playing the Long Game By Dawn Ius Joe Clifford knows better than most that publishing—like life sometimes—is a tough grind. “This is interesting work,” he says, with a touch of irony. “You…
Charting Unfamiliar Territory with a Familiar Character By Dawn Ius Almost 30 years have passed since Sara Paretsky’s V. I. Warshawski burst onto the literary scene, quickly establishing herself as one of…
The Extraordinary Life of a Legend By Dawn Ius It’s difficult to adequately describe the impact of a literary legend—even more so when that icon is Clive Cussler, the undisputed “Grandmaster of…
Dexter Creator Dreams up a New Antihero By April Snellings When faced with the dreaded question to which every novelist must submit—“Where did you get the idea for this book?”—Jeff Lindsay had…
Accidental Spies (and Spy Novelists) By April Snellings If you want proof of the thriller genre’s remarkable elasticity, look no further than the world of spy fiction. There’s an entire vein of…
Refuelling the Creative Well By Dawn Ius Patricia Cornwell has spent almost a quarter century in a literary morgue, carving out 24 page-turning forensic thrillers featuring her fierce protagonist, Dr. Kay Scarpetta.…
Tackling a Story That’s a Little Too Timely By April Snellings [Note: The following piece contains spoilers for the Grant County series, which concluded in 2007 with Beyond Reach.] It’s been 13…
The Fine Line Between Psychological Thriller and Horror By April Snellings In Riley Sager’s LOCK EVERY DOOR, a young woman, struggling with grief after a tragic loss, accepts a rare opportunity to…
Mastering the Thriller Craft By Dawn Ius In the opening scene of John Sandford’s new thriller NEON PREY, Deese—a thin, ropy-muscled “aggressive orangutan” of a man—lightly brushes extra virgin olive oil on…
An Overnight Success, 13 Years in the Making By April Snellings Considering that few readers had heard of Liv Constantine before the stunning success of 2017’s The Last Mrs. Parrish, you’d be…
Weaving the Hidden History of a Girl Most Likely By Alex Segura If you’re a fan of hardboiled fiction or comics, the name Max Allan Collins is a familiar one. His CV…