THE PERFECT HUSBAND
Warning: Please be advised that if you haven't read the book, you may want to stop here since there are spoilers in the question.
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What was the basis for THE PERFECT HUSBAND? |
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Ann Rule's THE STRANGER BESIDE ME, her biography of Ted Bundy, also inspired this book. I'm fascinated by the notion that Bundy had several "normal" relationships in his life, with women who looked shockingly close to his victim type. It just makes you wonder. What made him view some women as prey and other women as potential girlfriends? The level of mental compartmentalization he must have been able to do to lead both lives simultaneously-lover, killer-is unbelievable.
From that impetus, I developed Tess's story, a meek woman with an abusive past who appears to be the perfect wife for a cold, domineering killer. Except there's more to Tess than meets the eye. She's young, she's scared, but she's also motivated by her child to make something more out of her life, to be a better person. So she slowly but surely develops the backbone to challenge her husband…and sets in a motion a chain of events that could cost her her life. |
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J.T. Dillon is by far your darkest hero. What led you to create him? |
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J.T. created himself. I wanted someone with the physical prowess and emotional intensity to rival Jim Beckett, a serial killer who had preyed upon even the police. Then I started playing around with this notion of rage-that if killers are driven by rage, then someone capable of catching a killer would also need rage. Jim Beckett's anger was cold, however, whereas J.T.'s anger is red hot. In the novel, the heroine Tess recognizes the violence and menace inside J.T. She is comforted by it, however, because his anger seems real to her, whereas Jim Beckett's is eerie and unnatural.
J.T.'s anger stems from the fact that he does want a better life and better relationship with his sister. Jim Beckett's anger, on the other hand, simply exists as a vast, dark well of destruction. |
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This is an extremely violent book. Was that difficult? |
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Originally, the book wasn't very violent. My editor's first comment, however, was that for a serial killer, Jim Beckett wasn't scary enough. So things escalated from there. Serial killer books are very common, so if you're going to do one, you might as well go all the way. |
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You killed off J.T.'s sister, though. Was that really necessary? |
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Marion was always slated to die, unfortunately. In my opinion, she was too brittle to ever come to terms with what her father had done to her. And as long as she was alive, I thought J.T. would be unable to move forward-he would be too busy trying to make amends to her. So I felt that for there to be a truly happy ending in this novel, Marion had to go. Then J.T. could finally get on with his life.
Readers, on the other hand, have their own opinion on the subject. I've definitely received some hate mail. |
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If you were to write the book all over again, would you do it differently? |
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No. |
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Do you have a book discussion guide for THE PERFECT HUSBAND? |
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Yes. Click here to review the book discussion guide. |
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