Pub Day Spotlight: Alison Gaylin
Celebrating We Are Watching
I’m so glad for the opportunity to introduce the Friends & Fiction community to USA Today bestselling and Edgar and Shamus Award–winning psychological thriller author Alison Gaylin. Alison is known for masterworks like The Collective and the Edgar-winning If I Die Tonight, her unparalleled insight into human fragility and societal fears which cemented her as a master of the genre. Readers love Alison’s razor-sharp, deeply modern storytelling which features deeply resonant themes and searing social commentary. She joins us to discuss We Are Watching (William Morrow, Jan. 28), her new chilling and all-too-plausible thriller that explores the chaotic intersection of conspiracy theories, grief, and the frantic need for truth. At a time when misinformation fuels real-world dangers and trust is an increasingly fragile commodity, Gaylin delivers a novel as thought-provoking as it is terrifying. With raves from and Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, and Booklist, and praise from authors like Megan Abbott, Laura Lipmann and Alafair Burke, We Are Watching is a timely and terrifying tale of suspense about a single mother who must protect her family from a group of violent online conspiracy theorists. It’s in stores everywhere today!
In We Are Watching, Meg Russo’s life is ripped apart following a tragic car accident that kills her husband. As she struggles to rebuild her life and reopen her small-town bookstore, she finds herself and her eighteen-year-old daughter, Lily, targeted by a violent conspiracy group who are sparked by a YA novel Meg wrote 30 years prior. That’s a little of what the book is about. Can you tell us more? And, in true Friends & Fiction fashion, what is the book really about?
I consider We Are Watching my scariest book – I even scared myself while writing it! It’s about a grieving and fractured family who find that the world really IS out to get them. In addition to Meg’s book, the group has been obsessed for years with a song Meg’s father, Nathan, wrote and performed as the bassist of a marginally famous rock band—which they believe contains Satanic messages. They’ve created their own strange mythology around Meg’s normal little family, where they believe that they must kill them within days in order to save the world. How can Meg, Lily and Nathan fight against that? Who can they trust?
What is the book really about? I’d say it’s about the power – and danger – of a large group of people believing the same (untrue) thing.
In We Are Watching you plunge us into a QAnon-like conspiracy cult, down internet rabbit holes, and onto 4chan-esque websites where anonymous posters spread misinformation with unnerving reach and velocity. Kirkus praises the plot as “timely, terrifying, and all too plausible.” We couldn’t agree more. What drew you to tackling the volatile power of misinformation and its devastating ripple effects? What are you hoping readers take away?
I’ve long been fascinated by stories like that of the McMartin pre-school case back in the 80s—and more recently, Pizzagate and the targeting of the parents of the murdered Sandy Hook children by followers of Alex Jones—where normal families have found their lives destroyed by believers in bizarre false narratives. In the book, I draw parallels to the story of a boy who was bullied at camp, because that’s what I believe these cases are—an extremely brutal form of mass bullying. What I’m hoping readers take away is how dangerous it is when we cease to see each other as human beings and refuse to change our minds or listen to reason.
What research did you have to do into conspiracy theories and those who succumb to them? What did you learn along the way? Any surprises?
One of the bigger surprises I found in my research is that the most educated, outwardly normal people can fall down conspiracy theory rabbit holes. There are support groups for recovering QAnon believers, who are grappling with how wholly they fell for this incredibly bizarre story. Looking at message boards like 4Chan (where QAnon was born) it’s easy to see how the strangest theories can take hold and thrive on the internet.
You really know how to ratchet up the tension. We can feel the fear and paranoia mounting. Tell us about your process of puzzling these stories together and getting the pacing right. Do you know the ending before you begin? Do you write straight through chronologically? Plotter or pantser?
I’m more of a pantser, but that said, my first drafts are always horrible. The first draft of We Are Watching was particularly bad—only Meg’s and Lily’s names and basic idea survived into the final draft. Pacing is very important to me, but if I put pressure on myself to get that right in the first draft, I’d never finish a book. I firmly believe that a writer’s best tool is the ability to rewrite.
The obsession at the heart of the conspiracy in your book is over a 30-year-old YA novel The Prophesy. Did you have fun with this book-within-a-book construct? How did you come up with this concept of their obsession being over a novel?
I actually wrote several scenes from The Prophesy in one of my previous drafts—as well as the lyrics to Nathan’s song, Pearly Gates. I did have a lot of fun with it, and even though these sections didn’t make it into the final draft, they were helpful in getting the conspiracy grounded in my mind.
I feel like this is a fairly common occurrence in real life—people finding warped meaning in someone else’s art. John Lennon’s murderer Mark David Chapman clutching a copy of Catcher in the Rye, John Hinkley’s obsession with Jodie Foster’s performance in Taxi Driver, Charles Manson’s fascination with The Beatles’ White Album. The idea of the object of obsession being a novel was most relatable to me personally.
You do an incredible job of capturing the book’s Hudson Valley, NY setting. Was the town of Elizabethville based on a real place? What research did you have to do for the area and for the indie bookstore that Meg owns? (As the parent of a current Ithaca College student athlete—and having done that drive many times—you really had me on edge with that opening scene!)
Oh thank you! I live in the Hudson Valley, in Woodstock, New York, and Elizabethville was loosely based on some of the smaller, surrounding towns. I really wanted to create a place where everybody knows each other (but do they, really?) As for the indie bookstore, James Conrad—who co-owns The Golden Notebook bookstore in Woodstock—is one of my best friends. (We went to college together!) He was able to provide a lot of information and insight about being a bookseller.
In addition to your original books, you have had the honor of posthumously continuing the work of award-winning, bestselling, dean of American crime fiction, Robert B. Parker, on his Sunny Randall detective series. How did this opportunity come about for you? What has it been like taking over such a successful franchise from such a beloved author? Were you a fan? What challenges have you faced with bringing Parker’s only female private investigator into the social media era?
I absolutely love Parker’s books and was so honored to have been hired to write the Sunny Randall series. The offer came through my agent, when the agent for his estate let her know that Mike Lupica, who had been writing the Sunny books at the time, was moving on to write Spencer. I was asked to write 20 pages of a Sunny book. I had a vague idea having to do with Instagram influencers, and I wrote the pages, and was hired. I love writing the books because Parker created such a wonderful assortment of characters. (I happen to think Spike is one of the best “sidekicks” ever written.) He left us legacy writers with so much to work with. His style was inimitable, and so no one can totally replicate it. But I do my best, and it’s so much fun trying. As far as social media goes, Sunny is a bit of a curmudgeon. Despite being in an age group that’s heavily involved online, Sunny seemed to be off the grid when I took over. I like having her learn more and more about social media with each book. She now has an Instagram account (well, actually her dog, Rosie, does. But she manages it.)
Tell us about your work collaborating with Megan Abbott on the graphic novel Normandy Gold. Did you enjoy the co-writing process? How was the experience for you of exercising a different creative muscle?
I loved working with Megan on Normandy Gold. The key to successful collaboration is being flexible and able to listen to each other, and I feel like we struck that chord. Megan and I both share a love of 70s conspiracy thriller movies, and Normandy Gold was our own dark version. To write a graphic novel, you have to think very visually. Much of the script is communicating images to the artist. You are limited space-wise in terms of dialogue and internal monologue (which goes into captions) and so you need to be very spare and to-the-point. I enjoyed writing with those constraints.
What’s next from you? Do you have more Sunny Randalls—or more writing collaborations—on the docket?
I’m currently at work on a new Sunny Randall novel called Booked, which features a character used by both Parker and Lupica—bestselling novelist Melanie Joan Hart.
How can our community connect with you online and on book tour?
My website is www.alisongaylin.com where you can find lots of info, including about my book tour. I’m also on Instagram (@alison.gaylin), Facebook (AlisonGaylinAuthor) and bluesky (alisongaylin.bsky.social).
About the Author
Alison Gaylin is the USA Today and international bestselling author of thirteen books, including the stand-alones The Collective and If I Die Tonight (winner of the Edgar Award) and the Brenna Spector series: And She Was (winner of the Shamus Award), Into the Dark, and Stay With Me. Nominated for the Edgar four times, she has also been a finalist for numerous awards, including the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Strand Book Award and the ITW Thriller, Macavity and Anthony Awards. She lives with her husband in Woodstock, New York.
About the Book
“Alison Gaylin proves once again that she is a master at mining the zeitgeist to create smart thrillers that are at once emotionally resonant and truly terrifying... utterly captivating.”
— Alafair Burke, New York Times bestselling author of The Note
From USA Today bestselling and Edgar and Shamus Award-winning author Alison Gaylin comes a slick, riveting, and all-too-plausible tale of psychological suspense where a mother is desperate to protect her family as they become targets of a group of violent conspiracy theorists.
Sometimes the world is out to get you.
Meg Russo was behind the wheel when it happened. She and her husband Justin were driving their daughter Lily to Ithaca College, the family celebrating the eighteen-year-old music prodigy’s future. Then a car swerved up beside them, the young men inside it behaving bizarrely—and Meg lost control of her own vehicle. The family road trip turned into a tragedy. Justin didn’t survive the accident.
Four months later, Meg works to distract herself from her grief and guilt, reopening her small local bookstore. But soon after she returns to work, bizarre messages and visitors begin to arrive, with strangers threatening Meg and Lily in increasingly terrifying ways. They are obsessed with a young adult novel titled The Prophesy, which was published thirty years earlier. An online group of believers are convinced that it heralds the apocalypse, and social media posts link the book—and Meg’s reclusive musician father—to Satanism. These conspiracy theorists vow to seek revenge on The Prophesy’s author...Meg.
As the threats turn violent, Meg begins to suspect that Justin’s death may not have been an accident. To find answers and save her daughter, her father, and herself, Meg must get to the root of these dangerous lies—and find a way to face the believers head-on ... before it’s too late.
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Excited for this one!
Another new to me author. Definitely a book I will want to read! Thanks, Meg!