Because my last poll about top thriller tropes was so much fun, I decided to conduct another one! This time I was curious about which elements you look for when you're deciding whether or not to pick up a new thriller. So, I asked my readers via my newsletter. I know as a reader myself, looking over this list, I don't want to give up any one thing in favor of another. (Give me breakneck pace AND deep characters! Suspense AND all the twists!) But that's the fun of it. Which el

This is hands down the question I get asked most often. I think it's a curiosity we all have about authors. I've often wondered it while reading a book, too. On this side of the question, though, it's not an easy, clean answer. Because sometimes my ideas are based off a thought I have (The Final Scene), and sometimes based off a scene I see in my mind (Last One Out). There's always an element of my life and experience in my books, but sometimes I draw more heavily from that f

I recently polled my email newsletter list of thousands of thriller readers to learn what are currently the most and least popular tropes in the genre. The results both did and did not surprise me, and I'll get into why. First, a bit about tropes. If you're unfamiliar with the term, it describes elements in a genre that constantly reappear in different shapes throughout stories. A common romance trope is "Enemies to Lovers" and we've seen this played out in thousands of books

I don't talk a lot about it, but I got divorced almost two years ago. After being partnered for so long (20 years in my case), it's been a fun process of learning to enjoy my own company. I'd never eaten at a restaurant alone, gone to a movie solo, and certainly I'd never taken a vacation by myself. In the winter of 2024, I decided it was time to take my first solo vacation. I chose Key West. I don't know why. Tropical plus Ernest Hemingway, ok, GO! was probably what my brai