Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: This Is Why We Lied by Karin Slaughter

Book Description

Everyone here is a liar, but only one of us is a killer…

A secluded cabin retreat

For GBI investigator Will Trent and medical examiner Sara Linton, McAlpine Lodge seems like the ideal getaway to celebrate their honeymoon. Set on a gorgeous, off-the-grid mountaintop property, it’s the perfect place to unplug and reconnect. Until a bone-chilling scream cuts through the night.

A murderer in their midst

Mercy McAlpine, the manager of the Lodge, is dead. With a vicious storm raging and the one access road to the property washed out, the murderer must be someone on the mountain. But as Will and Sara investigate the McAlpine family and the other guests, they realize that everyone here is lying….Lying about their past. Lying to their family. Lying to themselves.

Who killed Mercy McAlpine?

It soon becomes clear that normal rules don’t apply at McAlpine Lodge, and Will and Sara are going to have to watch their step at every turn. Trapped on the resort, they must untangle a decades-old web of secrets to discover what happened to Mercy. And with the killer poised to strike again, the trip of a lifetime becomes a race against the clock…

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Elise’s Thoughts

This is Why We Lied by Karin Slaughter is a book that has all the trademarks including twists, and intensity. A word of warning there is child abuse, domestic violence, brutal treatment of women, incest, substance abuse, and rape as part of the story, but it is done in a very empathetic way for the victims.

The plot has GBI investigator Will Trent and medical examiner Sara Linton, going to McAlpine Lodge to celebrate their honeymoon. Set on a gorgeous, off-the-grid mountaintop property, it’s the perfect place to unplug and reconnect. Until a bone-chilling scream cuts through the night. They investigate and find out that Mercy McAlpine, the manager of the Lodge, is dead. With a vicious storm raging and the one access road to the property washed out, the murderer must be someone on the mountain. But as Will and Sara investigate the McAlpine family and the other guests, they realize that everyone here is lying.

Every member of this family is despicable. They are cold, unfeeling, manipulative, abusive, and controlling.  There are suspects galore because almost everyone in the story, not just the family, has some sort of motive to kill Mercy.

The story unfolds through the dual points of view from Will and Sara. Mercy’s point of view and backstory are revealed in the letter entries written to her son over the years that chronicle her mental and physical abuse as well as the resentment festering within her toxic family.

This is a great crime procedural.  As Faith, Will’s police partner, says about the crime, “an Agatha Christie locked-room mystery with a VC Andrews twist.”

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: How is the TV series coming along?

Karin Slaughter: It is going great.  It is starting up on the third season.  I read the first script, and it is fantastic.  I think they are doing a terrific job. I think they captured the spirit of the characters and Ramon, who plays Will Trent, is incredibly sexy and really has the heart of Will. This is what matters. I think of this as a separate thing where the books are the books, and the show is the show. I keep to the books as I tell stories based on the characters I created, and they tell stories based on the interpretation of the characters.

EC: How did you get the idea for the story?

KS:  It was a locked lodge mystery.  I go up to my cabin in the North Georgia mountains when I write my books. I want to lean into it to write about the woods and the mountains. Of course, I must bring in a murder and not have people just being happy.

EC:  Did you take any of your characters out of their comfort zone?

KS:  Sara is comfortable in the woods, while Faith hates it. Sara and Will see nature as beautiful and amazing.  Faith complains about there being too many birds, the heat, not to mention how many mosquitoes.  She is not an outdoor person by any stretch.

EC: What role did Will and Sara’s honeymoon play in the story?

KS: I think it was my way of moving the relationship forward without having to write a wedding scene.  I was able to show the difference for them between dating, living together, and being married, having it formalized.  Sara previously has been in a bad marriage and a good marriage, to the same guy.  Sara wants to make sure she is supportive, but also very clear about her needs. Sara has learned as she got older to listen and compromise. 

EC: Can you talk about this dysfunctional family?  How would you describe Mercy?

KS: She is complicated.  Women like her tend to be presented in black and white. She needed to get away from her family, protect her son, break the cycle of abuse, and get away from her lover, Dave. As readers find out more about her, they will realize she has no money, no friends, no place to live, no driver’s license, and no car. Questions to explore: if in that situation could someone walk away and take their child with them? For Mercy the answer is no.  Dave has always pulled her back each time.  For her, it is easier to just give in and stick with the devil she knows. She is really cut off from the world.  She makes bad decisions for herself.

EC:  Did you base her abuse on reality?

KS:  Yes, considering that is how someone in an abusive relationship lives with no one to turn to, no one to help them, and in complete isolation.

EC: How would you describe Dave?

KS: He has a similar background to Will but is a miserable, horrible turd, while Will is on his honeymoon, and this is the happiest time in his life. Dave is a drifter, abusive, and an alcoholic addict. Amanda, Will’s boss best sums it up, Dave is addicted to being broken. 

EC:  What is the theme of the book?

KS:  It is about safety.  Mercy never felt safe.  Sara felt safe because of her family and Will.  The realization for Will is that he can trust Amanda, Faith, and Sara. He has a support system he never had as a child.

EC:  Is Mercy the likable character and Dave the dislikable character?

KS:  I do not think it is that easy.  If you met Dave in real life someone would think he is fun, interesting, and charming, while people would not particularly warm to Mercy. Like people I have known, in her core Mercy is trying but she cannot get out of her own way.

EC:  What role did Mercy’s letters to her son Jon play?

KS: They are important.  They give readers some clues to figure out who done it. They also show how she felt invincible in her own life. She does not feel anyone is looking out for her. She is very aware that her job is to protect him and not the other way around.

EC: What do you want to say about Jon?

KS: Mercy tried to separate him from the toxicity of their family. She has diluted herself that Dave never hit him and was never awful to him. Like a lot of women, she does not understand their children watched what was happening, when their mother was being abused by their father. In Jon’s world it was acceptable, and the abuse was normalized.

EC:  What about Cecil, Mercy’s dad?

KS:  He is just an angry old man.  He has lost his sense of who he is.  From a physical level he lost some of his mobility. I think he knows he is an asshole and wants his way.  Mercy speaks about him being two different people where guests see him as laid back, outdoorsy guy, but he is a miserable person. He knows how to be nice and accommodating with strangers but does not do it with his own family. He was a bully and cruel, a choice he made.

EC:  What about Bitty, Mercy’s mom?

KS:  She is a lousy mother and grandmother. She is the worst kind of liar because she gaslights both her children, saying ‘listen to your father and do not talk to him that way,’ even though he deserves to be talked to that way. Her silence is just as damaging than showing anger. She was never on her children’s side. She was psychologically abusive and cruel.

EC:  Would you say that Christopher, Mercy’s brother is a schlump?

KS:  Yes. He is just a weak-willed person who never stands up for her.  He does the easiest thing. He allows her to be on her own. He never confronts anybody. He likes to fish, because it is solitary and quiet.

EC: How did you come up with the way you did the interviews with the suspects?

KS: I showed the different aspects of how they can approach an interview.  They can be defensive, combative, disinterested, or helpful. This is policing 101.  I did want to show these different sides.  The title of the book becomes so appropriate because everybody is lying.  Some lie because they want to be helpful and exaggerate. But exaggeration is a lie.  Some are hiding something that has nothing to do with the crime. Some are lying because they know about the crime and are complicit. 

EC: Do you canoe because you wrote a whole scene about it?

KS: Yes, I do and kayaking. I prefer kayaking because it is a good workout and can take people to the most beautiful places.

EC: Next books?

KS: It will be a stand-alone crime novel, and my 25^th book, out next year.  No title. After that I will do another book with the whole gang surrounding Will Trent.

THANK YOU!!

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