Hunger Moon(The Huntress/FBI Thrillers, #5)
by Alexandra Sokoloff
Publication date: October 24th, 2017
Genres: Adult, Mystery, Thriller
Revenge has no limits.
Special Agent Matthew Roarke has abandoned his rogue search for serial killer Cara Lindstrom. He’s returned to the FBI to head a task force with one mission: to rid society of its worst predators. But as the skeletal symbols of Santa Muerte, “Lady Death,” mysteriously appear at universities nationwide, threatening death to rapists, Roarke’s team is pressured to investigate. When a frat boy goes missing in Santa Barbara, Roarke realizes a bloodbath is coming—desperate teenagers are about to mete out personal, cold-blooded justice.
Hiding from the law, avenging angel Cara Lindstrom is on her own ruthless quest. She plans to stay as far away from Roarke as possible—until an old enemy comes after both her and the FBI, forcing her back into Roarke’s orbit. This time, the huntress has become the hunted...
~AUTHOR INTERVIEW with Alexandra Sokoloff~
1) What gave you the inspiration for the storyline?
Many, many years ago I was gripped by the real-life case of a little girl in California who survived an encounter with a serial killer. She was just nine years old and had spent the night at the house of a friend of hers, the same age. No one knew that this friend was being stalked by a serial rapist, who broke into the house that night, cut the throat of the visiting girl, and then raped and murdered her friend while the wounded girl lay dying.
But – she didn’t die.
I have always thought that the little girl who survived was in a room with pure evil. Add to that the fact that she was literally dying, probably having an out of body experience. So it haunts me. What did she see? How did she experience that? Can you ever be the same again after witnessing something so horrific? Or would you maybe always be able to recognize evil when you see it?
And once I had the seed of that character, who takes her own path to fight evil by any means necessary, I wanted to create her other half: a male law enforcement agent who is committed to fighting evil within the bounds of the law. What would a hero like that look like? How might they even start working together, while never being able to BE together? So that became Special Agent Matthew Roarke.
2) Are there any hidden themes in the book that you hope readers will discover?
The whole series is based on the premise it is our human duty to fight evil - atrocities like rape, child abuse and human trafficking - and that it takes ALL of us, male and female, binary, non-binary, everyone - working together to change laws, social systems, and the entire culture.
Now is the time.
Readers are also very drawn to the idea in the series that we all have the instinctual capacity to recognize evil and threat in other human beings and situations, if we let ourselves develop this awareness.
3) Are any of the characters based on real people you know?
I base all the crimes, predators, social and legal failings in the book on real-life crimes, real-life predators (such as serial killers we’ve all heard of) and real-life laws and failings of the legal and social services systems.
The character who is most closely based on someone I knew is Special Agent Epps, who was inspired by a gang kid I knew when I was teaching in the Los Angeles County prison system. And then I imagined him grown up and as being played by Idris Elba. J
4) Who has influenced you most as a writer?
I would have to say the great horror writer Shirley Jackson, who used real-life psychology to explore the eerie and inexplicable with a particularly feminine slant.
5) If you could have any three literary characters over to your place for game night, who would you invite, what would you play, what would you serve, and why?
Well, I’d have to hire someone to do any menu or serving, because I’m hopeless at anything to do with food. Top choice always for a literary character would be Hamlet, because that character is the best character ever created by the best writer who ever lived. Then maybe Sherlock Holmes as played by Benedict Cumberbatch. Which is a bit like having a second Hamlet. And then I might actually wish to have my own mass killer Cara Lindstrom there, because she’s so freaking hard to write that I could never pass up the opportunity to have her live, in front of me, to really figure out what makes her tick and what she’s going to do next.
What would we play? That crowd would be wasted on parlor games. I think we’d have to murder someone who needed murdering.
Author Bio:"Some of the most original and freshly unnerving work in the genre." - The New York Times
ALEXANDRA SOKOLOFF is the Thriller Award-winning and Bram Stoker, Anthony, and Black Quill Award-nominated author of the Amazon bestselling Huntress/FBI series (HUNTRESS MOON, BLOOD MOON, COLD MOON, BITTER MOON, HUNGER MOON - now in active development as a TV series), and the supernatural HAUNTED thrillers (THE HARROWING, THE PRICE, THE UNSEEN, BOOK OF SHADOWS, THE SHIFTERS, THE SPACE BETWEEN). The New York Times Book Review called her a "daughter of Mary Shelley," and her books "Some of the most original and freshly unnerving work in the genre."
As a screenwriter she has sold original horror and thriller scripts and adapted novels for numerous Hollywood studios. She has also written three non-fiction workbooks: SCREENWRITING TRICKS FOR AUTHORS, STEALING HOLLYWOOD, and WRITING LOVE, based on her internationally acclaimed workshops and blog (www.ScreenwritingTricks.com), and has served on the Board of Directors of the WGA West and the Board of the Mystery Writers of America.
Alex is a California native and a graduate of U.C. Berkeley, where she majored in theater and minored in everything Berkeley has a reputation for. In her spare time (!) she performs with The Slice Girls and Heather Graham's all-author Slush Pile Players, and dances like a fiend. She is also very active on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. But not an addict. Seriously, it's under control.
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ReplyDeleteHey Jen - thanks so much for the interview - those were some of the best questions I've ever gotten!
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