I'm pleased to welcome Jeremy Siemens back to Cozy Up With Kathy. Jeremy writes the Sloane Donovan Mystery series. CALL OF THE VOID is the second book in the series and was released earlier this month.
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Q: In TO THOSE WHO KILLED ME we met Sloane
Donovan, an ex-cop struggling with mental illness as she delves into the
circumstances surrounding her friend’s murder. Tell us something about
the sequel, CALL OF THE VOID.
A: This novel takes place roughly
six months following the events of TO THOSE WHO KILLED ME. Sloane had a
rough go in that first book, and while the physical damage may be
healing, the psychological scars are still very fresh. She is now
working as a full-fledged private investigator with her partner, Wayne
Capson, and against his wishes, she takes on the case of Emily Pike, a
girl who has been missing for seven years. The case takes leads them
into far deeper and darker territory than they anticipated, involving
organized crime and women who have been missing for up to forty years.
Q: What’s the significance of the title?
A:
CALL OF THE VOID refers to a psychological phenomenon that many people
have experienced at one time or another, usually involving something
like an unnerving and sudden thought to step over the edge of a cliff or
veer into the path of an oncoming car. The impulse seems to come out of
nowhere, and though it is not the same as suicidal ideation, it can
feel quite troubling to the person experiencing it. One of the
characters is a young woman who managed to escape abduction and conveys
how these urges have continued to haunt her since the event. Since
Sloane’s impulses often pull her toward dangerous situations, this is
something she can relate to.
Q: What drew you to this story?
A:
Certain crimes really get under my skin, enough so that I feel
compelled to write about them. The first novel dealt with the teenage
sex trade and human trafficking, and this one deals with young women
going missing, just vanishing from the face of the earth. Most people
don’t really want to think about what happens to them, and I can only
imagine how traumatic and gut-wrenching their disappearances are for the
families. Often those cases eventually go cold, and parents will
exhaust their savings, hiring investigators to attempt to locate their
missing children. Most of the cases end in futility and financial ruin.
Reports from investigators and cops alike often say how this type of
unsolved case haunts them for the rest of their careers, even into
retirement. It would haunt me, too, and it certainly does Sloane, whose
obsessive tendencies will allow her to stop at nothing in her quest to
discover what happened to Emily Pike.
Q: How did writing the sequel differ from writing the first book?
A:
CALL OF THE VOID was written before the first book was published. In
fact, the first book had received so many rejections I was beginning to
think it was a lost cause and was ready to move onto something new.
Since some of the main characters were already living in my head, and I
had what I believed to be a solid story idea, I just ran with it, and I
believe the enthusiasm to be working on something fresh translated into
the fast-paced energy of the story. Another change in the second book is
that Sloane is now a licensed P.I., which legitimizes her and
realistically broadens the scope of what she is able to do to solve
cases.
Q: What is your research process like?
A: Before
embarking on the first draft, I try to front-load as much research as
possible, otherwise it’s too easy to procrastinate with a never-ending
need to look things up. For me, a big part of research means physically
going to places where the story is to be set. Once there, I try to
absorb as much of the surroundings as possible, as well as take photos
and notes. Whenever possible, I like to talk to people and ask questions
that pertain to details of the story I want to get right. I do online
research, which is also helpful, but to me there’s nothing that compares
to boots-on-the-ground kind of learning. It takes more work, but I
think it’s good for us writer-types to get away from the screen and out
of our comfort zones.
Q: Which authors have been your biggest influences?
A:
Michael Connelly, Don Winslow, Tana French, George Pelecanos, Dennis
Lehane, and Jo Nesbo. There are many others as well, but those are the
authors that resonate most deeply with me. These are exciting, dynamic
authors who tell a great story, but also have something to say about the
world around them. They also represent the level of excellence that I’m
aiming for as a writer. I have a long way to go, but the desire to
steadily improve at my craft is a huge motivator and fires me up like
nothing else.
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