1--What is the title of your latest release?
IN A DARK MIRROR
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Lana and Maddie form a friendship with Sage, a new girl in their neighborhood, but Sage has no idea that they intend to lure her into the woods as a sacrifice to Him. Ten years later, after being released from a psychiatric institution, Maddie tries to piece her life back together but finds herself at risk of falling back into delusion when she joins an online community for fans of her crime.
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
The plot of the book was inspired by a real-life crime, so I knew I wanted to change the setting as a clear signal to readers that this is a work of fiction. I decided to set it in the Maryland suburbs where I grew up because I felt I could write about that setting in an authentic way that drew from my own experiences.
4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Probably not. In real life, I think I would be scared of Maddie.
5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?
needy, jealous, self-centered
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I learned that when I write from a character’s perspective, it’s hard not to sympathize with her, even when she does something truly awful. I’m not sure if this is good or bad; it’s probably both.
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I usually read over previous pages before I start writing and I do some editing as I go, but I also aim to write a full first draft in a mostly chronological way, then go back to make larger changes.
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Coffee
9--Describe your writing space/office!
We live in a condo, and my office is the enclosed former patio. It’s tiny, with a built-in desk and bookshelf. It’s perfect because there is really nothing else to do there except write.
10--Who is an author you admire?
Lydia Millet. She regularly turns out these amazing short novels and you never know what she is going to write next.
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
When I was nine or ten, I checked a book by Lois Lowry out of the library. It was called Autumn Street and is one of her lesser-known novels. It’s about a girl whose father is away fighting in World War II who forms a friendship with the grandson of the family’s Black cook. It has a devastating ending, and I think it was maybe the first time I had read a book intended for young people that didn’t have some forced happy conclusion, that actually tried to reckon with the fact that life can be brutal and unfair. I think it expanded my understanding of what books could do at a time when I was still very receptive to that.
12--Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
I was with my young daughter, and I answered the call because I saw it was my agent. She had to give me the good news with my daughter screaming at me in the background to get off the phone.
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
I read a lot of so-called literary fiction. Lately, that has meant a lot of autofiction by women where they think a lot about their lives and not much actually happens.
14--What’s your favorite movie?
Tokyo Story
15--What is your favorite season?
Fall. I love the leaves and I have an October birthday.
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Usually, I just have a nice meal with my family and eat cake.
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
Although I don’t read a lot of crime fiction, I do watch a lot of TV. For a similar vibe to my book, I’d recommend The Staircase mini-series with Toni Collette and Colin Firth. I had watched the original documentary and didn’t see the point of doing a fictional movie, but I ended up being impressed by the way they handled this difficult subject matter, providing a lot of possible answers and a sense of closure without ever telling us exactly what happened.
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Indian food
19--What do you do when you have free time?
Read a book or watch TV.
20--What can readers expect from you next?
I’m working on another novel.
A decade-old crime unites its devoted fans in a haunting novel about delusions in the dark and the dangerous games children play.
Twelve-year-old Maddie Thompson and her friend Lana share a love of horror stories and wild imaginings. But Lana insists they are too old for pretending. It’s time for a different game: serving Him, a figure she sees lurking in the dark, mysterious and demanding. According to Lana, she and Maddie must obey Him or else suffer the consequences. Maddie doesn’t want to lose her most important friendship, even if it means luring an innocent girl into the woods—as a sacrifice for Him.
Ten years later, Maddie is released from an institution and must reintegrate into society for the first time as an adult. While finding her first job and forming new friendships, Maddie struggles to determine what it means to forgive—or to trust—herself. Particularly when she discovers an online community that is not only eerily obsessed with her but committed to the cult of Him.
This is Maddie’s chance at absolution—to convince them not to follow in her violent footsteps. But the loyal devotees have a pull. And Maddie knows that these games often have deadly consequences.
Thriller Psychological | Horror [Thomas & Mercer, On Sale: June 1, 2024, Trade Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781662518638 / ]
Kat Davis has an MFA in fiction from Washington University in Saint Louis and currently resides in the Boston area. Her fiction has been published in Wigleaf, Juked, Cosmonauts Avenue, New Orleans Review, and Monkeybicycle. Her work has also appeared on the longlist for Wigleaf’s Top 50, and her essays and literary criticism have been featured in the Chicago Review of Books and on the Ploughshares blog. Kat’s most recent piece of flash fiction, “The Babysitter,” was selected as a finalist for the Mythic Picnic Prize for Fiction and appears in The Best Small Fictions 2022.
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