‘THERE ARE THINGS YOU’D NEVER DO f y rself that y ’d ha ily do f y r kids’
Dervla Mctiernan on the magic of books and the inspiration behind her new thriller, What Happened To Nina?... By Keeley Ryan
Irish crime author Dervla Mctiernan has told how when she started writing, she“knew I’d never stop”— and opened up about the inspiration behind her new book. Her latest thriller, What Happened To Nina, hit shelves last month. And Dervla told Chic how while books “kind of felt like magic”, it wasn’t something she thought she would pursue as a career as she“did not think that that was available to me”.
She said,“i grew up in Ireland in the 80s or 90s and it was like, you get a job and you pay your bills. And writing was something that was just so far away, it belonged in another world.
“I didn’t know any writers, my family didn’t know any writers.
“And because I love books so much, it kind of felt like it was magic. I thought people could do it or not.”
Dervla told how books remained a big part of her life and how she“could not function without multiple books going at once”— but it wasn’t until she moved to Australia with her family that she ended up taking the leap.
The Cork native told how she’d initially thought about doing an MBA, which would have been ve years part time — but instead decided to“give ve years to writing” instead.
She said,“this was in 2014. And I said,
I’d be studying every night if I was doing an MBA, so I’m going to write every night; I’m going to take it as seriously.
“We took Thursday off, it was wine night — we’d open a bottle of wine and talk about what I was writing and all that good stuff.
“And I just said, ‘that’s it, I’m going to work really hard for ve years and take it seriously — and if there’s no potential at the end of ve years, then I’ll reconsider’.
“But to be honest with you, as soon as I started writing, I knew I’d never stop.”
What Happened To Nina tells the story of Nina and Simon, a young couple who appear to have a perfect relationship — until they go away for a week at his family’s cabin, and he is the only one to return home.
And his explanation as to what happened doesn’t add up.
As the investigation into Nina’s disappearance continues, the two families are pitted against each other.
One family wants justice and one family is desperate to clear their son’s name.
Dervla opened up about the inspiration behind the book and how it began with a chat she and a friend were having over coffee about their kids. She said,“my children are quite young, my daughter is 14, my son was 12. But her older boy is 18, and he was going to college.
“And she was talking about the way that she worries when he goes on a night out.
“I said,‘what do you mean, you’re worried about him? He’s a really good kid’. And she said, ‘the world has changed really fast — and what we expect of young men is very different’. And obviously, we’re in favour of the change, no one wants to go back.
“She wasn’t talking about major issues like consent, which is black and white. She was talking about 18-year-old boys who’ve had a few drinks and with the group, who might do stupid stuff — the kind of stupid thing you don’t do at 25, because you’ve got experience under your belt and you’re a bit more sophisticated,
“But at 18, you make a bad joke or your friend makes a bad joke and you stick up for them on social media when you shouldn’t.
“Her point was like, these are mistakes we’ve been making since time immemorial.
“But it used to be you could make a mistake and apologise and learn from it and move on. Now, sometimes that mistake, someone screenshots it, there’s a bit of an outrage machine that gets behind it and maybe it gets a little bit spun.
“And it can end up following you for a very long time — you know, someone Googles your name and stuff comes up.
“She was talking about that and I was taking her point, which was new to me because I hadn’t really thought about that stuff.”
Dervla added that she walked away from the conversation thinking about how parents think about their kids — and how “to us, they‘re always, or nearly always, the good guy in the story”.
She continued,“but what happens if you’re the mother and your son is accused of something really serious?
“Not an off-colour joke, but something like what happens in Nina and you know in your heart and soul that he’s innocent?
“You absolutely believe it, because you know your kid.
“What would you do? And where would you draw the line in terms of like, protecting them or saving them? I just couldn’t get that out of my head.”
The other thing that played on her mind came from her experience as a lawyer, and the duciary duty that they have — and how they“have to put the interest of your client rst, regardless, and always act in their best interest”. Dervla continued,“as a lawyer, I saw lawyers do terrible things in the name of duciary duty — if you’re acting in a divorce and you’re sending this horri c letter to the other spouse, of if you’re acting in a commercial transaction and you’re really sharp and aggressive.
“You wouldn’t behave that way on your own behalf, but because you’re doing it for your client, it can be justi ed.
“And I thought about that within the context of your child.
“There are things that you would never do for yourself that you will quite happily do for your kid.
“I kept thinking about that — and the book grew out of that: if you have the parent of a son, and the parent of a daughter, and this dreadful thing has happened and you’re both going into overdrive, what happens?”
In 2019, it was announced that Colin Farrell’s production company was set to adapt Dervla’s book, The Ruin.
And in 2022, The Murder Rule was also announced to be making the move from the page to the screen when it was optioned for TV — and the author told how things have been moving in a“very exciting”direction since then.
She said,“it’s gone to script now, which is very exciting. I saw the pilot, which went down really well.
“They’ve gotten word to go for full script. It’s in progress, I guess, at this stage — it was slowed down by the writers’ strike.
“But as far as I know, it’s going ahead — that’s really positive and very exciting.”
And as for her dream cast if What Happened To Nina were to make the move from the page to the screen, Dervla told how it was“so tricky”to decide.
She said,“that’s really hard, because it very much depends on where we end up setting it. But I just think there’s such strong parts for all four parents — and it’s the parents that I’d really be focused on.
“I would love to see some phenomenal actors in those parts.”■
WHAT HAPPENS IF YOUR CHILD IS ACCUSED OF SOMETHING REALLY SERIOUS?”