Karen Slaughter on her new novel 'The Secrets We Hide'
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The Pat Kenny Show. With Timber Living Log Cabins. Saturday and Sunday from 10am on Newstalk. Conversation that counts. My next guest novels have sold over 40 million copies in 120 languages. Her work is familiar to TV viewers as well with The Good Daughter on Sky at the moment, while Will Trent is a Disney Plus staple. Her new novel is called The Secrets We Hide. It's featuring the town of North Falls and it's just out. Karen Slaughter, good morning and welcome to the program.
Good morning. Thank you.
First of all, how typical is North Falls of small town America?
How typical is North Falls of small-town America?
Well, you know, it's pretty typical to the small town I grew up in and the one where I write. But most people don't realize fewer than 20 percent of Americans live in rural areas now. We're mostly sucked into suburbs and ex-burbs and things like that. So this small town American life is like everywhere, quickly disappearing. But I love writing about it because it's such a familiar place to me.
And when it's a small town, everybody knows everybody. If a stranger comes into town, they're immediately spotted as a stranger. But of course, there are secrets even in a small town. And some are open secrets where everyone knows the secrets but doesn't talk about them. And others are actually secrets. And that's at the heart of things.
Exactly. You know, and there's a line in the book has that, you know, everybody loves gossip unless it's about themselves. So people do know the histories. And, you know, the thing I love playing with in small towns is you think you know everybody. And of course, you don't, because there are. Things that are hidden out in the open, such as what's happening to Alison Dickery in her house. Everybody knows about it, but doesn't talk about it. And then there are greater mysteries, like the fact that Emmy's sister, Jude, disappeared for four years and they were told that she was dead and she came back. But because of the family she's with, no one questions that.
Now, the prologue of the book actually reveals the who and the why is yet to be resolved. The who is the victim, that's Alison, but the why and what was happening in her life, it unfolds as the novel proceeds.
Yeah, you know, it's the sort of mystery I love telling because it's layered with a lot of... Character development so you know I always it's always a Real balance when you're writing a thriller to make sure the pacing and the plotting and all that are still there But you know I really wanted to explore the emotional depths of this character and what she's been going through and how that affects Emmy and the book opens with a murder sure, but it also opens with a funeral so you have a real Like a closed-in part of Emmy's life and intersecting in a way that she wouldn't particularly enjoy.
Now, when you mention Emmy, you're talking about your main protagonist. That's the sheriff of North Falls, Emmy Clifton, who took on that role after the killing of her father. And people who read the first book in the North Falls series, We Are All Guilty Here, would know what happened there. And Emmy is at the end of her tether, and she's also facing an election to keep her job.
Yeah, you know, the sheriff's position in the United States is an elected position. So it's one of the few positions in law enforcement that has an immediate, has immediate contact with the voters. So, you know, the citizens can decide pretty quickly. easily if they don't want the sheriff to have that job anymore. It's a little harder to get rid of a police chief. So it's a job that she is trying to win, but she's very conflicted about whether or not she actually wants to do it. And the course of the book, we learn, you know, why she isn't so crazy about that. And of course, how that election turns out.
Now, one of the things that perplexes us on this side of the Atlantic is the extent to which many offices are filled by election, maybe a judge, maybe a prosecutor filled by election. And I'm wondering, does that system, democratic as it may seem, does it serve the people?
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