Gaslight goes high-tech in USA Today bestselling author Cate Holahan’s new standalone thriller in which a family must determine who the real enemy is after a brutal home invasion breaks their trust in each other.
We chat with author Cate Holahan about all things Her Three Lives, writing, book recommendations, and more!
Hi, Cate! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
I spend my days highly caffeinated mining my own anxieties for material. Many of my suspense and thriller stories stem from things that make me uneasy in my own life. For example, Her Three Lives, my new book, examines the smart home devices and cameras that I and so many folks have and whether being recorded in our private spaces might have unintended negative consequences.
How is your 2021 going in comparison to that other year?
It’s been mixed. I am very fortunate to have the book out and to be healthy and vaccinated! But I’ve had some illnesses and deaths in the family which have made it a bit challenging. Unfortunately, hospitals are still very much locked down because of coronavirus concerns so seeing sick loved ones is challenging. Sorry, that’s a downer of an answer. On the upside, I am looking forward to my kids returning to in-person school. They’ve been virtual for fourteen months, and I’m pretty sure they’re ready to see some of their peers.
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!
The first book I ever read myself was a book about a monkey in a jungle. It rhymed. I was two or something and beyond proud of myself. I can still recite it to this day, but it didn’t make me want to be an author. Nancy Drew—the originals—were the books that made me fall in love with mystery writing. Ellen Raskin’s The Westing Game was also a childhood favorite.
When did you first discover your love for writing?
I wrote and illustrated my first story when I was seven-years old about a kid who discovers a monster under her bed. My mom sent it into Scholastic for me. It was rejected. But they sent me a very nice letter telling me to keep at it. So, a couple decades later…
Your new novel, Her Three Lives, came out April 20th 2021! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Suspenseful, intriguing, entertaining, thought-provoking, and well-written.
What can readers expect?
I think the story will be a page-turner that will make folks consider the public, private, and secret spheres of our own lives and how technology is blurring the boundaries.
Where did the inspiration for Her Three Lives come from?
I was spying on my children. We’ve had Nest cams in my house since my kids were little so as to watch over them at night. Now, my kids are tweens, and I noticed myself threatening to go to the tape when they would have conflicts or I wanted to know who’d left clothing on the floor, etc. I started to wonder whether constantly recording their activities would have any long-term damage. Sometimes, a kid needs the freedom to leave socks lying around or have a conversation with her sister without worrying that their mother has it all on tape.
Can you tell us about any challenges you faced while writing and how you were able to overcome them?
I’m a big outliner, so I always know when I sit down to write a chapter what I am hoping happens and where I’d like to go. Sometimes, the characters develop during the writing in such a way that the plot becomes forced. Then, I have to go back and replot or redesign characters and backstories and edit the manuscript to reflect the changes. But an outline really helps me stay focused on the goal for the day. I also write every workday, no matter what.
If it’s not too spoilery, was there a scene you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I loved the scene when Greg first gets the cameras. I could see this guy, paranoid from an attack and suffering a traumatic brain injury, trying to protect his family in the only way he knows how and also how his injured pride was already undermining his efforts.
What’s the best and the worst writing advice you have received?
The best was to write every day, even if what you write stinks. You can always rewrite it or throw it out. The worst was to write what you know. Unless you’ve lived an incredible, heart-wrenching, crazy existence worthy of a page-turning memoir, what you already know is probably relatable but not all that thrilling. I think we should all work to write what we are willing to learn about. If we do, our excitement for the new subject will show through the writing.
What’s next for you?
I have an Audible book, Young Rich Widows, coming out in early next year, which I am penning with three other wonderful, bestselling writers: Vanessa Lillie, Kimberly Belle, and Layne Fargo. And I am working on another domestic suspense book for Grand Central Publishing about a family that takes on a tenant during the pandemic and then can’t evict her, even when they suspect she was involved in the murder.
Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
I love so many domestic suspense and psychological thrillers. I am looking forward to reading the upcoming work by Wendy Walker, Riley Sager, Harlan Coben, and Liv Constantine. I thought Kate Moretti’s Girls of Brackenhill was deliciously twisty and awesome.
When I am writing, like now, I tend not to read in my genre. I recently read the near-future dystopian novel The Warehouse by Rob Hart, and I absolutely loved it. Less by Andrew Sean Greer, which won the Pulitzer in 2018 but didn’t hit my radar for some reason until this year, was also amazing.
Enjoyed the Q & A with Cate Holahan. I am a fan and have read all her books, including this one. Cate, once again, did not disappoint. It was a page turner and kept me guessing until the end.
Thanks for having me!