Interview with Hannah Mary McKinnon
First of all thank you Hannah for taking the time to be on Art, Books, & Coffee. As a long-time reader of your thrillers, I am excited to be able to ask you some questions.
Thank you! Such a pleasure to be here ☺
One of the things that I love about your books is that you explore and push the limits of the relationships of your characters. How do you start writing a novel or come up with the initial concept? Do you will from outside influences or is it just something that pops up into your brain begging to be written about.
It really depends on the book. The idea for The Neighbors, a story about an ex-boyfriend moving in next door, came to me when two houses next to ours went up for sale and I was wondering about who might buy them. For Her Secret Son, Sister Dear, and You Will Remember Me, news and radio articles planted seeds of an idea that eventually grew into books.
For Never Coming Home the character appeared first. I love books and movies where the audience roots for the villain despite knowing they shouldn’t and wondered if I could do that. I wanted to write about someone who was evil, despicable, but also relatable on some levels, and definitely funny—and whose enemies were even worse. Cue Lucas and Bobby Boyle. The story evolved from there, so it was very much character driven. Writing from the antagonist’s point of view was an entirely new experience. I had so much fun, and thoroughly enjoyed crafting another novel entirely from a man’s perspective.
Many of your books take fabulously dark and addictive twists and turns, so I would love to know what type of a writer are you. Are you a plotter or a pantser? Do you know the ending before you get into the book or does the story reveal itself to you as it does your reader?
I’m a total plotter. I can’t imagine not plotting – I’d spend weeks meandering around not getting anywhere. I love twists and turns, and the more books I write, the more I plot them. Detailed outlines make me more productive and efficient because I know where I’m headed. That doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll end up at the destination I mapped out though. In The Neighbors, for example, the ending changed quite dramatically as I got closer to finishing my first draft. In Her Secret Son, the final chapters were different because I wasn’t happy with whom I’d planned to kill off. Sister Dear’s and You Will Remember Me’s endings are close to how I’d imagined but more sinister.
Out of all my books so far, Never Coming Home turned out the closest to my initial vision and was the smoothest to write and edit. I even knew the final word before I sat down and typed “Chapter 1,” which is something that has never happened before. The storyline was crystal clear in my mind and the bones of the story didn’t change significantly during the editing process. Having said that, and as with all my books, more twists and turns appeared when I wrote. That’s another fun part of writing, discovering what your characters will do when you let them loose. I can’t possibly know everything from the beginning.
What do you want readers to know about NEVER COMING HOME that separates it from your previous novels?
The humor. It’s a dark book and deals with gritty themes, after all, it’s written exclusively from the villain’s perspective, and he hires a hitman on the dark web to murder his wife. But Lucas is also wry and witty, and made me laugh out loud. I wrote the novel in 2020, shortly after the pandemic arrived in Canada, and we went into lockdown. My mum passed away a few months later and because of Covid I couldn’t travel to Switzerland to say goodbye, which was devastating. I think because of the state of the world and my world, I needed a place to go where I could have fun despite everything else being so desperate, and I hope my readers will have fun with Lucas’s antics too. In hindsight, it’s very obvious to me that Lucas, murderous ways and all, saved my sanity that year.
I noticed in your backlist that you wrote a book called TIME AFTER TIME which is not a thriller. Do you ever think you would go back to writing something that is more humorous and more of a “feel-good” type of book? Or has the thriller genre pulled you in and will not let go?
Funny you should say that! We recently announced that I’m writing a holiday rom com, tentatively called THE CHRISTMAS WAGER for Putnam Books, and Penguin Canada, for publication in fall of 2023 under the pseudonym Holly Cassidy. But fear not, you’ll still get your annual thriller fix from me. It’s been fun to write something lighter which, I fear (or hope…) will make my suspense novels even darker. Muahahaha!
In your down time, what do you do to recharge or take a break from writing if you need to?
I love baking, reading, walking (with audiobooks), and spending time with my family and friends. Going to the movies is an absolute favorite of mine. I live for the previews (and the popcorn)!
There are so many books coming to the screen. Are you binge-watching anything lately? Any of the shows or movies coming out making it into your cue?
I can’t wait to see the adaptation of Karen Dionne’s The Marsh King’s Daughter and Mary Kubica’s The Other Mrs. In the meantime, I’m watching reruns of The Goldbergs, which always make me laugh as I grew up in the 80s. I have to catch up on Truth Be Told, based on the novel by Kathleen Barber, and I’m excited for the second season of Yellowjackets. Speaking of…did you know that Alex Wyndham, who narrates Never Coming Home, plays the detective Kevyn in Yellowjackets? He’s incredibly talented and I love listening to anything he narrates.
I always like to think of authors as avid readers, so I am interested in any recommendations you may have. Or let us know what books are on your to-read pile?
I read The New Neighbor by Carter Wilson and absolutely loved it. He’s written nine psychological thrillers and it’s my intention to read everything on his backlist. I also read Things We Do in the Dark by Jennifer Hillier, which is fantastic. Highly recommend both.
Is there any author that you will drop everything for and instantly dive into their book on the release date?
Gosh, there are many but definitely Jennifer Hillier, Samantha Downing, Hank Phillippi Ryan, and David Nicholls.
When you curl up with a good book, what is your go-to drink? Personally, I am a coffee, tea, or wine person, but if you don’t drink while reading, maybe it is a cozy spot you like to read.
Hmm…probably sparkling water, so not that interesting. Favorite place to read? In the garden when weather permits or in front of the living room fire when it’s cold. But to be honest, I’ll read anywhere. I generally have my Kindle in my bag so if I’m waiting in line somewhere, I can sneak in a few pages! I guess being a bookworm might be an occupational hazard ☺
Thank you so much for the chat. This has been lovely!
Hannah
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Hannah Mary McKinnon: INTERNATIONALLY BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF SUSPENSE NOVELS
I was born in Manchester, UK to British & Swiss parents. A year later they moved my older sister and me to Switzerland. Rather unsurprisingly I love mountains, chocolate and cheese…or mountains of chocolate and cheese, and my sister, of course.
After completing commercial studies in Geneva, I worked as a PA for DuPont. A year later I moved to Neuchâtel and became the Purchasing Manager for a high-tech company that made motors for industrial and space applications. While working, I returned to university, studying part-time for a Bachelor of Science. And then a friend of a friend introduced me to another friend who’d started up an IT recruitment business. I joined the company late 1995, and over the next fifteen years rose through the ranks to become CEO.
Things outside of work were hardly boring, either. A chance encounter back in the dark ages of the Internet in 1999 led me down the aisle with Rob, my Canadian rock, five months later. Actually it was exactly ten weeks after we met face-to-face at the Saint John airport in New Brunswick, Canada – and we’re still married. True story. Our first son was born in 2003, followed by identical twin boys just sixteen months later, so I’m heavily outnumbered (and at 5ft8 officially the shortest of the family).
My writing career began after we moved to Oakville in Ontario, Canada in 2010. Maybe it was the failed attempt at a start-up company, or an early mid-life crisis, but one morning I decided to follow my oldest passion, started writing, and never wanted to look back. My first book was a rom-com, but then I switched to the dark side of suspense (say it with me: muahahaha).
While I may never have enough time to get all of the ideas out of my head and on paper, I’ll be darned if I won’t have fun trying!
-Hannah Mary
The Latest Book from Hannah Mary McKinnon
First comes love. Then comes murder.
Lucas Forester didn’t hate his wife. Michelle was brilliant, sophisticated and beautiful. Sure, she had extravagant spending habits, that petty attitude, a total disregard for anyone below her status. But she also had a lot to offer. Most notably: wealth that only the one percent could comprehend.
For years, Lucas has been honing a flawless plan to inherit Michelle’s fortune. Unfortunately, it involves taking a hit out on her.
Every track is covered, no trace left behind, and now Lucas plays the grieving husband so well he deserves an award. But when a shocking photo and cryptic note show up on his doorstep, Lucas goes from hunter to prey.
Someone is on to him. And they’re closing in.
Told with dark wit and a sharply feminist sensibility, Never Coming Home is a terrifying tale of duplicity that will have you side-eyeing your spouse as you dash to the breathtaking end.
Find the book on Amazon and Bookshop.
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