Deadly Lies description is this:
Husband and wife stand on opposite sides of a
divide created by lies and rooted in a dark and deadly past…
As a
teenager, Jill Shannon fell victim to her stepfather's cruel abuse. Now as an
adult, Jill's made it - she has a successful career and a solid, if not static,
marriage to Detective Alex Shannon. Together they live out what seems to be a
perfect life in Seattle.
The vow she made as a teenager to never again be a victim lies dormant - until one day a reporter lures her to his hotel room under the pretense of an interview - and suddenly all of it comes rushing back. Jill seeks revenge on the reporter, triggering a series of events that leads Jill down a wormhole of retribution, forcing her to spin an ever-widening web of lies.
Meanwhile, Alex is pulled into a case of a series of murders that began as cyber relationships. There seems to be a familiar fingerprint on these crimes, but Alex refuses to believe the murderer could be someone close to him…
The vow she made as a teenager to never again be a victim lies dormant - until one day a reporter lures her to his hotel room under the pretense of an interview - and suddenly all of it comes rushing back. Jill seeks revenge on the reporter, triggering a series of events that leads Jill down a wormhole of retribution, forcing her to spin an ever-widening web of lies.
Meanwhile, Alex is pulled into a case of a series of murders that began as cyber relationships. There seems to be a familiar fingerprint on these crimes, but Alex refuses to believe the murderer could be someone close to him…
“Chris Patchell”s debut novel, Deadly Lies, is a taut, fast-paced
thriller that grabs you from the start and doesn’t let go. Patchell is a master
storyteller with a real talent for creating pulse-pounding suspense.”—Kevin
O’Brien, New York Times Bestselling Author of Unspeakable.
When Chris Patchell isn’t hiking in the Cascade
Mountains or hanging out with family and friends, she is working at her hi-tech
job or writing gritty suspense novels. Writing has been a lifelong passion for
Chris. She fell in love with storytelling in the third grade when her half-page
creative writing assignment turned into a five-page story on vampires. Even
back then Chris had a gift for writing intricate plots that were so good her
father refused to believe she didn’t steal them from comic books.
Years later, Chris spent long
afternoons managing her own independent record store and writing romance novels.
After closing the record store and going to college, Chris launched a successful
career in hi-tech. She married, had kids but amid all the madness, the itch to
write never really went away. So she started writing again. Not romance this
time – suspense filled with drama, and angst, speckled with a little bit of
blood.
Why suspense? Chris blames her obsession with the dark on two things: watching
Stephen King movies as a kid and spending ridiculous amounts of time commuting
in Seattle traffic. “My stories are based on scenarios I live every day,
distorted through the fictional lens. And my stories come with the
added bonus of not having to be restrained by socially acceptable
behavior."
INTERVIEW
Where
are you from?
I’m a long way from home. Born and raised
in Sticksville Ontario, Canada (okay, it’s really not called Sticksville), my
husband and I moved as far west as we could without falling into the Pacific
Ocean. After spending five years in Vancouver, BC, we moved to the Seattle
area. Since then, fifteen years have passed in the blink of an eye. Two kids
and a decade and a half later, we’re still here, both working in tech and me
writing suspense novels. It’s a good life.
Tell
us your latest news.
I’m finishing the last major edit cycle on
my latest novel. It’s a story about a woman’s whose daughter goes missing and
her desperate search to find her. Also set in the Northwest, it features a
couple of flawed heroes as well as a few really awesome bad guys.
I’m super-excited to be almost finished
this book. Once I release it into the wild I can fully focus on some of my new
projects.
When
did you first consider yourself a writer?
I had the great pleasure of meeting New
York Times Bestselling Author, Erica Bauermeister through her husband. Ben was
my mentor at work, and when he told Erica I was a writer, she graciously offered
to read an earlier draft of DEADLY LIES. I was scared to death when I sent her
the manuscript, because by then, I’d read her first book. It’s a gorgeous
literary novel called THE SCHOOL OF ESSENTIAL INGREDIENTS. For days I waited on
pins and needles for some feedback. A few days later, it finally came, and
Erica liked the book! I think that was the first time I actually felt like a real
writer.
What
inspired you to write your first book?
I fell in love with writing early on, and long
to escape into the dark corners of my imagination as often as I can. DEADLY
LIES was inspired by an idea – a woman logs into her husband’s computer and
finds something, an image. Days later, she can’t shake the image from her head.
So she goes back and finds out that her husband has a secret life. And now that
she knows about it, she can’t look away. But that particular setup felt cliché.
Why is it always the husband who is up to no good? What if the wife is out
doing bad things? And what if her husband is a cop? How far would she go to protect her secrets?
That was the original idea behind DEADLY LIES.
Do
you have a specific writing style?
I like casting strong female characters in
traditional male roles. This is one of the things I like about Jill Shannon,
the antihero protagonist in DEADLY LIES. I tend to write complicated storylines
with dual plots that circle around each other and meld together in a searing
climax. And really, there is no better setting for gritty thrillers than the
Pacific Northwest. The mountains, forests, ocean, and rain provide great
atmosphere. My mother would tell you that although she likes my books, she
thinks my characters swear too much. Clearly I did not learn those words from
her. J
How
did you come up with the title?
The book was originally called Mirror
Mirror, to reflect the dual nature of the protagonist Jill’s personality. As
the story evolved though, I realized that there was far more to Jill’s story,
and the major theme of the first book was all about deception. The title DEADLY
LIES reflects the true nature of the secrets Jill keeps.
Is
there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
Life is full of shades of grey, not
necessarily in the stripped-down-armed-with-a-whip Christian Gray kind of way. The
characters are flawed and nuanced with good and bad in each. Personally, I love
exploring the darker side of human nature in fiction.
How
much of the book is realistic?
Ha! My husband would say that 90% of our
lives are represented in the book. That’s totally not true! I just want to say,
for the record, I’ve never actually killed anyone. But having said that, there
are certainly some similarities between my life and Jill’s. We both work for
software companies that are based in San Jose, but have offices in Seattle. We
both have good husbands. I’ve been to all of the places in the book, and try to
capture the unique essence of each setting. I’m always thrilled when readers
tell me that the characters in the book ring true.
Are
experiences based on someone you know or events in your own life?
Can I plead the fifth on this one?
Seriously though, this is a story entirely borne of imagination. That said
there are little bits of my everyday world sprinkled in there - small things
that could be as simple as a character’s gesture, or a phrase. Sometimes I see
a situation in real life, and think, hmmm…. What if… Reality sparks ideas that can
be fanned into the flames of fiction.
What
books have most influenced your life?
THE GREAT SANTINI, by Pat Conroy was the
first book I fell in love with. Nobody writes characters like Pat Conroy, and
the gorgeous prose that flows from his pen (or word processor), is like music
to my ears. I know it’s cliché to say this, but Stephen King is amazing. I read
a lot of his early stuff –THE STAND, NEEDFUL THINGS, THE SHINING, but I’m an
even bigger fan of his later works (DUMA KEY and UNDER THE DOME), I could go on
and on. His characters are layered and conflicted in brilliant ways. When it
comes to legal thrillers, Richard North Patterson is my king. EXILE is my
favourite. Kevin O’Brien’s thrillers VISCIOUS and TELL ME YOU’RE SORRY are
great reads. I also enjoy Lisa Gardner’s suspense novels. I just finished her
book TOUCH AND GO, and couldn’t put it down. It kept me reading until one in
the morning.
If
you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?
That’s easy. New York Times Bestselling
Author, Kevin O’Brien! Not only is Kevin a great writer (I’m a big fan of his
thrillers that keep me frantically turning pages to the end), he’s also been a
wonderful mentor. He wrote an endorsement for DEADLY LIES and is always wiling
to answer questions or lend a hand. I admire the way he treats every person he
meets with kindness and respect. Oh, and did I mention he’s hysterically funny?
Going to one of his book readings is like showing up for a stand-up comedy routine.
I’m a big fan.
What
book are you reading now?
I always have two or three books on the go.
Because I have a heinous commute into Seattle every day, I listen to audiobooks
and a mountain of books stacked precariously on my bedside table. Right now I’m
listening to THE WAYWARD PINES series by Blake Crouch. I’m also reading CLOSE
TO HOME, by Lisa Jackson, and have downloaded MY SISTER’S GRAVE, by Seattle’s
own Robert Dugoni onto my Kindle.
Are
there any new authors that have grabbed your interest?
As I mentioned above, I’m loving THE
WAYWARD PINES series by Blake Crouch. They’re fast-paced books with a great
cast of characters and some chilling twists and turns. Oh, and I recently
finished reading SIGN OF THE CROSS by Canadian writer, Anne Emery. I’ll be
looking for more of her books soon!
What
are your current projects?
I’m working on a new mystery set on Whidbey
Island. While my other books tend to be dark and gritty, this one has a
markedly different tone. Told from a first person point of view, the
protagonist is sarcastic, and funny, and totally in denial. So when he’s forced
to face a horrible truth about his past, he’s fully ill equipped to dive
headlong into his journey of self-discovery. I’m having a blast writing this
story. I think my readers will like it too.
What
would you like my readers to know?
My books are fast fun reads that will keep
you on the edge of your seat. With any luck they’ll keep you up reading well past
your bedtime, turning pages into the wee hours of the night. Sorry about that.
If you wake up a little grumpy for work the next day, here’s what I’d
prescribe: Tylenol, a stiff cup of coffee, and a couple more chapters (because
they’re short, and you can read them over breakfast before you hop in your
car).
BUY LINKS:
The Giveaway is for an ecopy of the book.
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Thanks for hosting Chris today. Fab interview. x
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