Essays
Jason Voorhees: Neurodivergent Icon?
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I was working the day that it happened, preparing meals. Jason should’ve been watched every minute! He was … he wasn’t a very good swimmer. —Pamela Voorhees, Friday the 13th What would he be like today? An out-of-control psychopath? A frightened retard? A child trapped in a man’s body? —Friday the 13th Part 2 He…
Dorothy B. Hughes, In a Lonely Place, and the Birth of the Modern Serial Killer Novel
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Published in 1947, Dorothy Hughes’ noir novel In a Lonely Place is a masterpiece of crime fiction whose influence has extended to both books and films, including a 1950 movie adaptation starring Humphrey Bogart. The story follows a mercurial and mysterious lead, Dix Steele, who is many things: Los Angeles dreamer, war veteran, aspiring crime…
‘A Face in the Crowd’ Forecast Our Future – If We’d Only Been Paying Attention
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It’s a cliché to cite some decades-old book, movie or TV show and say, “This is as relevant today as it was back then.” That said, one 1957 film satire is possibly more relevant today than when it was first released to movie theaters. “A Face in the Crowd,” directed by Elia Kazan and written…
The Dark Humor of Millennial Crime Capers
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The millennial is a strange beast. Though “millennial” is factually the word to describe someone born between 1981 and 1996, hearing it conjures a number of confusing associations: we’re soap killers, selfish and entitled, we can’t afford diamonds yet we hoover up avocados as if they contain the cure for austerity-driven ennui. And yet we…
When is a Character’s Dishonesty Justified?
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Deception is elemental to a good mystery. The author misleads the reader constantly, from every angle. The characters mislead each other. Or they mislead the reader, or both. Lying is a theme in my new novel, This Is How We End Things, which is set in a psychology department at a small university where ethically…
Writing a Domestic Survival Thriller
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I’ve always been obsessed with survival stories—people braving the elements, or out-scheming malevolent captors or striving to survive the end of the world. The apocalyptic trope might be my favorite of the bunch, as I never grow tired of the unique ways writers imagine the unwinding of modern society, and how those at the end…
When True Crime Meets Police Brutality
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In 2016, journalist Amelia McDonell-Parry and I were asked to look into the death of Freddie Gray for the Undisclosed podcast, a series that focused on wrongful convictions. Gray had been killed in Baltimore police custody the year before, which led to mass protests and riots and became a national news story. State’s Attorney Marilyn…
Celebrating the Iconic Suspense of Lois Duncan
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I still own three of Lois Duncan’s books. Growing up, I read so many, but these are the three I have left: Daughters of Eve, Stranger with My Face, and Summer of Fear. The covers are creased and falling apart, and the pages are so fragile that they tear when I try to turn them,…
Some Conspiracy Theories Surrounding the Royal House of Windsor
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One of the joys of writing historical fiction as opposed to non-fiction is that the author can take a well-reasoned conspiracy theory and run with it, imagining how such deliciously scandalous events might have unfolded. That is exactly what I have done in my new novel, The Royal Windsor Secret. The British Royals have been…