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‘The Marsh King’s Daughter,” A Conversation with Karen Dionne

June 19, 2017 by Mark Rubinstein Leave a Comment

Karen Dionne is a member of the International Thriller Writers, where she has served on the board of directors. She has been honored by the Michigan Humanities Council as a Humanities Scholar.

The Marsh King’s Daughter features Helena Pelletier who has a loving husband and two young daughters. The family lives on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Helena has a dark secret: she’s the product of an abduction. Her mother was abducted as a teenager, and Helen is a result of that event. She and her mother lived for the first twelve years of Helena’s life in the company of the kidnapper—Helena’s father—until he was captured and sent to prison.

When a prison inmate kills two guards and escapes from prison, Helena’s past threatens to return, and only she possesses the skills to hunt her father down—ones her father taught her.

The very first lines of the novel are compelling. “If I told you my mother’s name, you’d recognize it right away. My mother was famous, though she never wanted to be. Hers wasn’t the kind of fame anyone would wish for. Jaycee Dugard, Amanda Berry, Elizabeth Smart—that kind of thing, though my mother was none of them.” How did the idea for this novel come to you?

I woke up in the middle of the night with those sentences fully formed in my head. I wasn’t dreaming about the character, although I was looking for a back story about a character in another novel. I was in that dream state where you can’t get out of bed and write it down, so I repeated it enough times so I’d remember it I in the morning.

I wrote a few paragraphs which became the first section of the novel.

Once those first few pages were written, by what process did the novel come into being?

As I wrote those paragraphs that morning, I almost gave the book an urban setting. I was thinking about the women in Cleveland who were hidden in plain sight. But at the last minute, I changed the setting to a cabin on a ridge, surrounded by swamp in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The reason I chose that setting was I wanted to make the book different; and, my husband and I homesteaded in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in the 1970s with our infant daughter. I know that area very well.

In the following days, the character kept talking to me, and I kept writing little snippets in her voice—such as her imagining what it was like for her mother to give birth in the cabin. I finally decided to find a story for her. I went to my childhood book of fairy tales because I always loved fairy tales—the darker, the better.

You’ve anticipated my next question which is: the novel takes its title from a Hans Christian Anderson fable. Tell us about that.

I also like modern stories that have fairy tales as the bones of the story. I paged through my book of fairy tales, and when I found Hans Christian Anderson’s The Marsh King’s Daughter, it gave me chills. Everything in that fairy tale dovetailed beautifully with the story I was starting to tell. The daughter in the fairy tale is the child of an innocent and a monster—she has a dual nature, which I envisioned for my character.

Using one of the main story threads in the fairy tale that resulted in the redemption of that character, I structured my story to determine what would happen with Helena. I named her Helena because in the fairy tale, the character’s name is Helga.

Not only did the character of the fairy tale mesh with my story, but the fairy tale was set in a northern Viking marsh.

It was astonishing. I knew I was on to something, and it just developed from there.

You paint a compelling picture of Helena’s life (and her mother’s) while being held for years by her father. She has a complicated relationship with him. Some would call this a Stockholm Syndrome. Will you talk about that?

I don’t consider Helena’s relationship with her father to be a Stockholm Syndrome. I think her relationship with her father is a lot more complicated than that. In many ways, it’s the same as any child’s relationship with a parent. When we’re small, we don’t judge our parents as good, bad, moral, or evil. We love them because they’re our parents. I’ve always been fascinated by people who survived a far less than perfect childhood and made something good out of themselves. I see Helena as an extreme example of this. Her situation was very stark—there was no one other than her mother and father. At the beginning, she loves him unconditionally, but he’s manipulating her. But her attitude toward him changes over time. I won’t say anymore because I don’t want to spoil the book for readers.

In some ways, The Marsh King’s Daughter and its descriptions of the wilderness remind me of Jack London’s writing. Tell us about that.

I lived in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula for thirty years. Like Helena, I love wild places. I feel very much at ease with nature. I wanted to convey my love of the wilderness to readers. I really feel the book is partly my love letter to the Upper Peninsula.

The novel is replete with psychological suspense. Did you intend it to be a suspense story?

When I started writing the novel, I didn’t know what I would write. As I said, the character came to me and I started writing down her story. I wasn’t sure if it would be a thriller or literary fiction. I think it helped to enhance the book because I didn’t slot it into any particular mold. I was just writing Helena’s story in the most compelling way I could. And it turns out that there’s a strong psychological component to the book.

Your prose is quite lyrical and yet, crisp. Who are your literary influences?

I enjoy reading books that have won Pulitzer Prizes, National Book Awards, and Booker Prizes. I want my prose to be of good quality. I try to reach up. But I also admire the writing of Lee Child in his Jack Reacher series. It’s very spare. He told me he deliberately writes at a fourth-grade level because he wants to reach as wide an audience as possible. I admire the way he can write a simple sentence and include just one descriptor or one adjective or adverb and it’s perfect for hitting that note. So, I like making my prose a combination of the two—elevated but very accessible.

What’s your writing day like?

I write all day long. I start at about five a.m. My best work is done in the early morning. I hit a lull in the mid-afternoon and write again in the evenings.

If you could have dinner with any five people, real or fictional, living or dead, who would they be?

They would be the kind of people who’ve accomplished something elevated or who have taken a stand in life. Martin Luther King comes to mind. So do Gandhi and Jesus. I’d add Bill Gates because of his philanthropy and also, Jimmy Carter.

What’s coming next from Karen Dionne?

I’m writing another standalone novel that’s also set in the Upper Peninsula. It’s psychological suspense and will also have a fairy tale element.

Congratulations on penning The Marsh King’s Daughter, a superbly written and mesmerizing novel that’s been praised by the likes of David Morrell, Lee Child, Megan Abbot, Karin Slaughter, and many others.

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Filed Under: crime, Huffington Post Column, Interviews Tagged With: abduction, crime, fairy tales, hostages, kidnapping, Stockholm Syndrome

‘Say Nothing,’ A Conversation with Brad Parks

March 7, 2017 by Mark Rubinstein Leave a Comment

Brad Parks, a former newspaper reporter, is the only author to have won the Shamus, Nero, and Lefty Awards, three of crime fiction’s most prestigious prizes. Say Nothing is his 7th novel.

Say Nothing features Scott Sampson, a federal judge who’s held in great esteem. He has a lovely wife and two great kids. One morning, Scott and his wife, Alison, discover that their six-year-old twins have been kidnapped. Scott receives a call warning him to decide exactly as he’s told in a drug case he’s about to rule on. If he doesn’t follow these instructions, his children, Sam and Emma will suffer the consequences. He is told not to call the police, or anyone else. He’s told the Say Nothing.

But the call is only the beginning of a terrible ordeal. The first case is only a test run. It becomes clear, the kidnappers want to influence the outcome of the most high-profile trial of Judge Scott Sampson’s career. The ensuing events are harrowing.

When we last talked, you told me the newsroom has given you enough material for twenty novels. How did the idea for Say Nothing come to you?

I owe my friend Steve Hamilton a debt of gratitude. He gave me some advice years ago. He said, ‘You have to write the book that scares you.’ Ever since then I’ve ruminated about that. One day while I was jogging, I asked myself, What scares me? I’m the father of two elementary school-age kids. Nothing scares me more than the thought of something happening to them—like a kidnapping. I asked myself, ‘Who would want to kidnap my kids?’ From a storytelling standpoint, a ransom demand would be boring. I began considering what kind of character might have something to offer a kidnapper that could not be gotten any other way. And then it came to me: a federal judge might be a good target because he could not be bribed. He’s a moral paragon and the only way to influence him would be to have control of his children. He would then be forced to do the kidnappers’ bidding.

In Say Nothing, Scott Sampson is faced with ethical dilemmas of momentous proportions. Talk to us about the role of conflicting ethical decisions in your thrillers.

Conflict is paramount in many novels, especially in thrillers. However, in Say Nothing, there’s really no decision for Scott Sampson to make. Nothing matters to him but his children. His future, his financial situation, his reputation and his job are all secondary to the wellbeing of his kids. He really has no choice and it’s interesting to see how the decision he must make impacts him in the larger sense. He makes the decision he must, and the question becomes, what will it cost him? As the novel continues, it costs him more and more. Yet, he’s still willing to put everything on the line. He began the book with an ideal life: he has a wonderful job, a lovely wife and healthy children. He has everything a person could want. And then, slowly but surely, every one of those things is taken away.

Say Nothing has been described as a ‘Domestic thriller.’ Define that for our readers.

Different people might have slightly different definitions of a domestic thriller. To me, it’s a thriller in which the protagonist is someone you could meet at the grocery store. It doesn’t involve a superhero with Special Forces training. Rather, it concerns an Everyman or Everywoman. That’s always appealed to me because that kind of character is easy to relate to.

I’ve read a few of your novels. Among other things, they all involve the importance of family. Will you talk about that in relation to the novel?

As a writer, I need an emotional entrée to a book. If I care deeply about the characters and what’s happening to them, I’ll be able to make the reader care, as well. The notion of family resonates with me and with many other people. I could not have written this book when I was single and not yet a parent. Being a husband and parent gave me the insight to be able to write this novel. I’m always writing from a place of personal knowledge. When you get rid of all the trappings of your life, what really matters above all else is family.

Many thrillers involve either a missing person or a kidnapping. These issues seem to hold a special attraction for so many readers. Will you talk about that?

It goes to the heart of the definition of a thriller. Of course, a mystery is about solving a crime, while a thriller is about preventing one. The threat of something awful happening—like someone going missing or being kidnapped—is something we writers use in our writing. The threat must be real to the reader.

For instance, I’m afraid of spiders. I was once sitting in my office and a huge spider appeared on the wall. It was nearly as large as my hand. I tried to kill it with a rolled-up newspaper. But this creature was so huge, it laughed off my feeble attempt and disappeared. So, I was left with this massive spider lurking somewhere in my office. And then, I suddenly felt something tickle my leg. I jumped and screamed. I think thrillers must have something like that spider at their core. So, I’m always looking for that spider.

You mentioned writing from some well of personal knowledge. You’re neither an attorney nor a physician. Yet, Say Nothing involves easily understandable and vivid descriptions of the federal court system and certain aspects of medicine. Tell us a bit about your research for this novel.

As a newspaper reporter, I was no stranger to courtrooms. The law has always fascinated me. For this book, I shadowed a federal judge for a while and learned a great deal about the federal system and the law. I could never have written about Scott Sampson without that access.

The dialogue in Say Nothing is very realistic and highly believable. Tell us about your process for writing dialogue.

It helps that I was a newspaper reporter. I spent years listening to people talk. I learned to listen carefully and to distill the essence of what people were saying. I always looked for quotable moments. When writing, I read my dialogue out loud. I ask myself, is this how someone would talk? It it doesn’t sound realistic to me, I re-do it.

What has surprised you about the writing life?

What’s surprised is that I’ve learned that some of my greatest enjoyment comes from being read by other people. I love getting reader emails such as, you wrote this character…do you know my Aunt Betty? That kind of feedback tells me the reader has internalized my story and fleshed out the character even beyond my own imagination. That shared experience is wonderful and I enjoy that kind of magic.

You’re having a dinner party and can invite any five people, living or dead, real or fictional, from any walk of life. Who would they be?

I’d invite Harper Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Mark Twain, and we might as well have Jesus at dinner. He might have some answers to questions we all have. [Laughter] Then, to balance it out, I’d invite Mohammed.

What would you all be talking about.

I think we’d find universal themes to talk about. We’d realize issues that drove people in Jesus’s time were the same things Mark Twain wrote about and Thomas Jefferson wrestled with when he wrote the Bill of Rights. And those same things still drive us today. So I think the conversation would be about timeless issues of the human condition.

What’s coming next from Brad Parks?

Another standalone for which I don’t yet have a title. It concerns family again. [Laughter] It’s about a woman whose child is taken from her by Social Services. Someone is framing her as a criminal in order to take away her child.

Congratulations on writing Say Nothing, a propulsive, harrowing, and deeply moving novel that kept me turning pages because I had to find out what would happen to this extraordinary family.

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Filed Under: About Books, crime, Huffington Post Column, Interviews Tagged With: dialogue, domestic thrillers, kidnapping, legal thrillers, mysteries

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