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Galaxy Exclusives

• Anatomy of a Villain
• An interview with Karen Rose
• Scream For Me (Extract)

Anatomy of a Villain

The villain is the most important character in a suspense novel. If the villain weren’t doing his dastardly deeds, there would be no story. So the villain’s desires, motivations, and personality must be the deepest and most well understood.

Have you ever thought about why people do bad things? Of course you have, every time you watch the television news and some monster hurts a child or shoots up a McDonalds. So do I. Quite often people think, ‘That person must be insane, for how could a normal person do such a heinous thing?’

An interview with Karen Rose

Where did you get the idea for DIE FOR ME?

I had just finished a sci-fi time-travel book in which the characters return to medieval France. For a moment I thought, ‘Wouldn’t that be cool?’ Of course, the lack of modern toilets and no TV or computers squashed that desire right away. Then the thought became, ‘What if a character had an obsession with this time period?’ So the book started with the medieval premise.

I was also a teacher at the time and one of my students was absent one day. The other students were shaking their heads, a sure sign of something afoot. When pressed, they admitted their classmate, a normally well-behaved boy, was 'Home, playing Halo.' Halo was a wildly popular video game at the time. The idea of a kid so immersed in a video game that he’d skip school entered into the recipe in my mind.

The archaeologist and linguist angle was a direct result of my own addiction to Stargate SG-1, a sci-fi TV show in which my favourite character, Daniel Jackson, routinely digs up ancient archaeological finds and speaks ten languages (or more). It all kind of rolled together and took on a life of its own to become DIE FOR ME!

In this book, we are re-introduced to Vito Ciccotelli, a character we first met in YOU CAN’T HIDE. Why did you decide to set your books around a group of characters, rather than focus on one main series character?

I didn’t originally set out to structure my books this way. There is a character in my first book, DON’T TELL, that begged to have his own story, and Steven’s story became my second book, HAVE YOU SEEN HER? My readers liked this continuing approach and I enjoyed expanding the world of my characters, one person at a time. So I kept doing it, and my readers kept enjoying it! I do enjoy reading books that focus on one main character, such as Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch or J. D. Robb’s Eve Dallas. Perhaps someday I’ll write such a series. For now, there are too many characters in my mind who are jockeying for attention to focus on just one!

Do you often feel drawn to a particular character and want to write their story?

Yes, often. For example, the character of Detective Mia Mitchell in COUNT TO TEN was in my mind for many books. She’s first introduced as the hero’s partner in I’M WATCHING YOU and her character builds until she gets her own story in COUNT TO TEN. Mia grew as a person – she was very real to me and her story unfolded in a surprising way.

Vito Ciccotelli is first introduced in YOU CAN’T HIDE when he comes to help his sister, Tess. As I wrote his character, there was a heaviness on his shoulders and I didn’t know why. I couldn’t wait to write his story to find out.

Another character whose story I can’t wait to write is David Hunter, featured in COUNT TO TEN and NOTHING TO FEAR. David’s story gets the most requests from readers!

The importance of family and siblings is a recurring theme throughout your books. Can you explain why this is so important to you?

As a child, I always wanted to be part of a big family. There’s something comforting in knowing you have the unconditional love and support of so many. It creates a connection between characters, and the manner in which they interact with their families is such a rich way to build their personality. I think it makes the characters, both primary and supporting, more appealing to readers – and to me.

Scream For Me (Extract)

Arcadia, Georgia, Present day

Friday, January 26, 1:25 a.m.

He’d chosen her with care. Taken her with relish. Made her scream, long and loud. Mack O’Brien shivered. It still gave him goosebumps. Still made his blood race and his nostrils flare as he remembered how she’d looked, sounded. Tasted. The taste of pure fear was like nothing else. This he knew. She’d been his first murder. She would not be his last. He’d chosen her final resting place with equal care. He let her body roll off his back and drop to the soggy ground with a muted thud. He squatted next to her and arranged the rough brown blanket in which he’d wrapped her like a shroud, his anticipation growing. Sunday was the annual cross-county bicycle race. One hundred cyclists would be passing this way. He’d placed her so that she’d be visible from the road. Soon she would be found. Soon they would hear of her demise.

They’ll wonder. And they’ll suspect each other. They’ll all be afraid.

He stood, satisfied with his handiwork. He wanted them to be afraid. He wanted them to shake and tremble like girls. He wanted them to know the true taste of fear. Because he knew that taste, just as he knew hunger and fury. That he knew all those flavours so intimately was their fault. He looked down, nudged the brown blanket with his toe. She had paid. Soon, every one of them would suffer and they would pay. Soon they’d know he’d returned. Hello, Dutton. Mack is back. And he wouldn’t rest until he’d ruined them all.

Cincinnati, Ohio, Friday, January 26, 2:55 p.m.

‘Ow. That hurt.’

Alex Fallon glanced down at the pale, sullen teenage girl. ‘I suppose it does at that.’ Quickly Alex taped the IV needle in place. ‘Maybe you’ll remember this the next time you’re tempted to skip school, eat an entire hot fudge sundae and end up in the ER. Vonnie, you have diabetes and denial won’t change that. You have to follow—‘

‘My diet,’ Vonnie snarled. ‘I know already. Why can’t everybody leave me alone?’

The words echoed in Alex’s mind, as they always did. Gratitude to her family mixed with the sympathy for her patient, as it always did. ‘One of these days you’re going to eat the wrong thing and end up . . . downstairs.’ Vonnie gave her best shot at belligerence. ‘So? What’s downstairs anyway?’

‘The morgue.’ Alex held the girl’s startled gaze. ‘Unless that’s what you want?’

Abruptly, Vonnie’s eyes filled with tears. ‘Some days it is.’

‘I know, honey’ And she understood more than anyone outside her family imagined. ‘But you’re going to have to decide which it’s going to be. Live or die.’

‘Alex?’ Letta, their charge nurse, poked her head in the examination room. ‘You’ve got an urgent call on two. I can take over in here.’

Alex squeezed Vonnie’s shoulder. ‘I’m done for now.’ She gave Vonnie the eye. ‘I don’t want to see you in here again.’ She handed the chart to Letta. ‘Who is it?’ ‘Nancy Barker from Fulton County Social Services.’ Alex’s heart sank. ‘That’s where my stepsister lives.’ Letta lifted her brows. ‘I didn’t know you had a stepsister.’

Technically Alex didn’t, but the story was too long and her relationship with Bailey too convoluted. ‘I haven’t seen her in a long time.’ Five years, in fact, when Bailey had shown up on Alex’s Cincinnati doorstep higher than a kite. Alex had tried to get Bailey into rehab, but Bailey had disappeared, taking Alex’s credit cards with her.

Letta’s brow creased with concern. ‘I hope everything’s okay.’

Alex had been both expecting and dreading this call for years. ‘Yeah. Me too.’

It was one of those sad ironies, Alex thought as she hurried to the phone. Alex had been the one to attempt suicide all those years ago and Bailey was the one who’d ended up an addict. Family had made a huge difference. Alex had had Kim and Steve and Meredith to get her through. But Bailey’s family . . . Bailey had no one. She picked up line two. ‘This is Alex Fallon.’ ‘This is Nancy Barker. I’m with Fulton County Social Services.’

Alex sighed. ‘Just tell me, is she alive?’ There was a long pause. ‘Who, Miss Fallon?’ Alex winced at the ‘Miss’. She still wasn’t used to not being ‘Mrs Preville.’ Her cousin Meredith said it would be just a matter of time after her divorce, but a year had passed and Alex felt no closer to closure. Perhaps it was because she and her ex still crossed paths several times a week. Right at this moment, as a matter of fact. Alex watched Dr Richard Preville reach next to the phone for his own messages. Carefully not meeting her eyes, he bobbed an awkward nod. No, sharing shifts with her ex was not speeding her along the road to relationship recovery.

‘Miss Fallon?’ the woman prompted. Alex wrenched her focus back. ‘Bailey. That is who you’re calling about, isn’t it?’ ‘Actually, I’m calling about Hope.’ ‘Hope.’ Alex repeated it blankly. ‘I don’t understand. Hope what?’ ‘Hope Crighton, Bailey’s daughter. Your niece.’ Alex sat down, stunned. ‘I didn’t know Bailey had a daughter.’ That poor child. ‘Oh. Then you didn’t know that you’re listed as the emergency contact on all of Hope’s registration forms at her preschool.’

‘No.’ Alex drew a bolstering breath. ‘Is Bailey dead, Ms Barker?’ ‘I hope not, but we don’t know where she is. She didn’t show up for work this morning and one of her coworkers went to her house to check on her. The coworker found Hope curled in a little ball in a closet.’ Sick dread settled in Alex’s gut, but she kept her voice calm. ‘And Bailey was gone.’ ‘The last anyone saw her was last night when she picked Hope up from preschool.’ Preschool. The child was old enough for preschool and Alex had no idea she’d even existed. Oh, Bailey, what have you done? ‘And Hope? Was she hurt?’ ‘Not physically, but she’s scared. Very scared. She’s not talking to anyone.’ ‘Where is she?’ ‘Right now, she’s in emergency foster care.’ Nancy Barker sighed. ‘Well, if you’re not going to take her, I’ll line up a permanent foster family for her.’ ‘I’ll take her.’ The words were out of Alex’s mouth before she even knew she planned to say them. But once said, she knew it was the right thing to do. ‘You didn’t even know she existed until five minutes ago,’ Barker protested.

‘It doesn’t matter. I’m her aunt. I’ll take her.’ Like Kim took me. And saved my life. ‘I’ll get there as soon as I can arrange leave from my job and buy a plane ticket.’ Alex hung up, turned, and walked into Letta whose brows were nearly off her forehead. Alex knew she’d been listening. ‘Well? Can I have the leave?’ Letta’s eyes were filled with worry. ‘Do you have vacation saved up?’ ‘Six weeks. I haven’t taken a day in more than three years.’ There hadn’t been reason to. Richard never had time to go anywhere. He’d always been working. ‘Then start out with vacation,’ Letta said. ‘I’ll get somebody to cover your shifts. But Alex, you know nothing about this child. Maybe she has a disability or special needs.’

‘I’ll cope,’ Alex said. ‘She has no one, and she’s family. I won’t abandon her.’ ‘Like her mother did.’ Letta tilted her head. ‘Like your mother did you.’ Alex fought the wince, keeping her face impassive. Her past was only a few clicks away from anyone with Google. But Letta did mean well, so Alex made her lips curve. ‘I’ll call you when I get down there and find out more. Thanks, Letta.’

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