About the author… Stacy Willingham

She lives in South Carolina and worked as a copywriter and brand strategist before deciding to write fiction fulltime. This is her first novel.

This novel was inspired by… My interest in serial killer psychology. I’ve always been fascinated with the way the human mind works and when it comes to serial killers in particular, I’ve wanted to understand why they don’t need much of a motive to do the terrible things that they do. The majority of murders take place due to common emotions like love, vengeance or greed, but serial killers kill just because they want to. After spending years thinking about this, I had a realisation that if I couldn’t understand how or why a serial killer operates, I couldn’t imagine how their families must feel. This led to the creation of Chloe, the daughter of a serial killer. I wanted to really get inside her head and navigate the complicated emotions that must accompany loving someone who turned out to be a monster.

The most challenging thing about writing it was…

The ending! Endings are incredibly hard for me to write. A good ending, in my mind, has to be surprising yet believable; satisfying yet still open for interpretation. The best endings are the ones that leave me in a stunned silence after I’ve turned the final page. My writing habits are…

I don’t follow daily word goals or structured hourly routines. When the words are flowing and I’m feeling inspired, I typically write in marathon bursts of 10-12 hours per day. When I’m not sure how to move forward or I’m having writer’s block, I spend my time doing pretty much anything but writing – going on lots of long walks, which is when I do the majority of my plotting.