Tag: thriller

Q&A: An American Cage by Ted Galdi

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I’m delighted to welcome today’s guest to What Cathy Read Next – Ted Galdi. Ted is the author of Elixir, a thrilling story featuring a 14-year-old with an IQ above 200 and a million dollars win on Jeopardy. Elixir has over 250 five star ratings on Goodreads.  To purchase Elixir click here.

Ted’s latest book, out in October, is a suspenseful thriller played out over the period of a day. And it’s this book – An American Cage – that he’s here to talk about today. To keep up to date with the latest news about An American Cage, sign up for Ted’s newsletter.

Book bloggers: An American Cage is available to read and review now via NetGalley.

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AnAmericanCageAbout the Book

Three inmates break out of a maximum-security prison in Texas, one of them Danny Marsh, a suburban kid in his twenties who landed in jail because of a crime he never intended to commit. An American Cage follows Danny and his two escape partners over a twenty-four-hour period as they struggle to cross Texas to freedom in Mexico.

On this dangerous journey, Danny has to evade the rabid Texas authorities, and even worse, the schemes of one of his closest allies, who isn’t who he seems.

Watch the book trailer:

Format: ebook Publisher: Pages: 297
Publication: 16th Oct 2017 Genre: Thriller

Find An American Cage on Goodreads

Interview: Ted Galdi, author of An American Cage

Without giving too much away, can you tell us a bit about An American Cage?

It’s a fast-paced thriller with a psychological element. Danny Marsh, the protagonist, is a suburban twenty-something who lands in jail due to bad luck. He escapes with two of his friends from prison. The story follows them over a twenty-four-hour period as they try to cross Texas to safety in Mexico. Along the way, things keep getting worse for Danny. He realizes a major ally hasn’t been completely truthful with him. Soon a lot more than his freedom is at stake. His life – and those of his family – are in danger.

How did you get the idea for the book?

As mentioned, it has a psychological element. Around the time I decided to write it, I was very interested in the philosophy of consciousness. The psychological element touches on this topic and plays a major role in the book’s theme. A prison-escape premise lent itself to this broader message. It was a great way to explore motifs like entrapment, social norms, rebellion, and good and evil, while also telling a suspenseful story with a lot of adrenaline.

Your previous book, Elixir, was aimed at the YA market. To what extent is An American Cage an attempt to appeal to a different audience?

Elixir features a teen protagonist, so very much has an appeal to the YA crowd. However, the pacing, theme and overall “feel” of Elixir is suited to the adult market as well. People of many ages have read it and dropped me emails, which is pretty cool. An American Cage is definitely an adult thriller, however I see mature YA readers liking it too. Much of Elixir’s audience I’d say falls in this group. Since the book goes into things like code breaking and corporate corruption, and has some darker parts, a typical eighteen-year-old would be more likely to pick it up than a typical thirteen-year-old. Older teens who enjoyed Elixir should enjoy An American Cage.

What is your favourite type of scene to write?

Like a mother, I have no favourites!

What was the biggest challenge you encountered when writing the book?

I grew up in a suburb of New York City so I’m very much a Yankee and have been living in California the last seven years. The entire book takes place in Texas, which is a place that has its own style. It’s so big and diverse that many of the regions have their own style too. I’ve visited Texas a few times and loved it, but never lived there. This lack of hands-on experience was a challenge.  The book wouldn’t feel authentic if I got the local nuances wrong. Needless to say, I spent a lot of time researching the parts of Texas where An American Cage takes place. It was a challenge, but it was fun.

If An American Cage was to be made into a film, who would you love to see play Danny, Monty and Phil?

I’ve been asked this before about Danny and said River Phoenix. Unfortunately that’s only a hypothetical but he’d have played the part great. As for Monty and Phil, Tyrese Gibson and Christoph Waltz. They’re a bit older than the characters in the book, but can definitely pull it off.

Do you have a special place to write or any writing rituals?

I’m pretty simple in that regard. I have a little desk by a window I write at. Like most writers, I love my coffee. I don’t drink it while I write though. I get it to go and have it on a walk. A long walk with some good coffee is the best way to clear your head. I get a lot of story ideas doing this.

What is your favourite and least favourite part of the writing process?

My favorite part is connecting with readers. I love getting emails from people telling me they got something out of what I wrote. I don’t have a least favorite part. A lot of writers make it seem like the whole thing is this big, pained labor. Not for me.

Which other writers do you admire, and why?

John Updike is my favorite author. His Rabbit series is terrific. Someone who can write about traditionally “dry” topics, like the foot traffic through a car-dealership showroom, but do it in such a way where it’s deeply engaging, is a true pro.  Cormac McCarthy is great as well. I love his cinematic style, where the story is played out visually from first page to last. He’s also able to create very powerful moods without explicitly drawing attention to what he’s doing. This is a very tricky thing for an author. For instance, in Blood Meridian or the Border Trilogy, even in scenes where there’s no actual violence, you can feel something sinister brewing between the words. I really admire David Foster Wallace too. His themes, even of his short stories, can be extremely complex and perfectly clear at the same time. He was very much a serious, intellectual writer but wasn’t afraid to be funny. I cringed, as was his intention, through a lot of Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, while also laughing out loud in places.

What are you working on next?

Another thriller. It’s too early to give you much more info than that. When it’s ready, I’d be happy to come back and chat.

Thank you, Ted, for sharing the inspiration behind An American Cage and your writing journey.

TedGaldiAbout the Author

Ted Galdi is the author of the bestselling novel Elixir. The book is a winner of a Reader Views Reviewers Choice Award and a Silver Medal in the Readers’ Favorite Book Awards. Ted is a graduate of Duke University and lives in Los Angeles. He has been featured by ABC and FOX television, iHeartRadio, Examiner, and many other media outlets. His second novel, An American Cage, is set for release Fall 2017.

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Blog Tour/Q&A: The Room by the Lake by Emma Dibdin

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I’m thrilled to be co-hosting the first stop on the blog tour for The Room by the Lake by Emma Dibdin, a dark, unsettling psychological thriller. I’m even more thrilled that Emma has agreed to answer some questions about the book, its inspiration and her approach to writing.

Do check out the post from my co-host, the fabulous Book Addict Rambles . You can also read my review of The Room by the Lake here.

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TheRoombytheLakeAbout the Book

When Caitlin moved from London to New York, she thought she had left her problems behind: her alcoholic father, her dead mother, the pressure to succeed. But now, down to her last dollar in a foreign city, she is desperately lonely.

Then she meets Jake. Handsome, smart, slightly damaged Jake. It looks like she has found the fresh start she longed for. But Caitlin realizes too late that she might become lost forever…

Format: Hardcover Publisher: Head of Zeus Pages: 368
Publication: 10th Aug 2017 Genre: Thriller    

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk ǀ Kobo
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find The Room by the Lake on Goodreads

Interview: Emma Dibdin, author of The Room by the Lake

Welcome, Emma! Without giving too much away, can you tell us a bit about The Room by the Lake?

The Room by the Lake is about a young English woman, Caitlin, who’s just out of university and on the verge of a breakdown. Desperate to escape after years of being a caretaker to unstable parents, she spontaneously books a flight to New York, which feels like a place she can become truly lost. Once there, she falls hard for Jake, a charming and slightly damaged former soldier who whisks her away to meet his family at their idyllic lakeside house upstate. But his family isn’t what it seems.

How did you get the idea for the book?

The idea to write about a cult came from a surreal encounter I had years ago in Seattle, with a man on the street who was protesting against then-president Barack Obama. The man was very young, about my age at the time (early twenties), and his argument was bizarre, illogical, as though he had learned it by rote or by brainwashing. He was polite, but dead-eyed, and the encounter really haunted me, particularly when I learned he was part of a far-right “political movement” which is essentially a cult. They prey on young people, I was told, often people cut off from their own families, and that got me thinking about what would make someone psychologically vulnerable enough to be sucked in.

The Room by the Lake is your first novel so can you tell us a bit about your writing journey?

I’ve always written fiction, for as long as I can remember – my mum loves to talk about how I used to write my own Animals of Farthing Wood stories when I was really young! Being an author was what I always wanted to do, but I went into journalism because it seemed like the best way of making an actual living from writing, and continued writing fiction in my spare time. I wrote The Room by the Lake during evenings and weekends, over the course of about two years, and I think the best thing about writing with limited time is that you can’t afford to be too precious – there’s no such thing as waiting for “the muse” to come.

In the book, Caitlin sees her move to New York as a form of escape.  Where in the world would be your dream place to escape to?

Well, funnily enough I really did move from London to New York two years ago, although not to escape! I think my dream place to escape to is anywhere my family and friends are. I’ve been craving a trip to Italy a lot lately – my parents lived there for years and we spent a lot of time there in my childhood, so I think my answer right now is Tuscany.

In The Room by the Lake, Caitlin comes across as a troubled, fragile, rather socially awkward young woman.  Do you think it’s necessary for readers to like the main character in a book in order to engage with them?

No, I don’t think so – I prefer characters that lean more towards anti-hero than straight hero, and any protagonist who’s not at least slightly troubled is a non-starter. Caitlin’s not necessarily somebody I’d want to be friends with, at least not at this point in her life, but I think her fears and insecurities make her fairly relatable. Female coming-of-age stories often get boxed into just being about sexual awakening, and while that’s definitely an element in Caitlin’s journey, I wanted her struggle to be psychological, and about the burden of mental illness in families.

How did you hope the setting of the book – the vast forest, the silent lake – would contribute to its atmosphere?  

The isolation of that setting is really key to Caitlin’s unravelling. Getting away from hectic city life and escaping to a peaceful forest sounds dreamy, but that experience can really turn on a dime if you’re feeling fragile. There’s such a weird duality to New York specifically: people always think of the city, which is one of the most densely populated in the world, but there’s also this vast expanse of very, very remote farmland upstate. I wanted to really draw out the contrast between those frenetic early chapters in Manhattan – where Caitlin’s shaky but at least engaged in the world – and this slow-paced retreat upstate, where she’s seemingly getting better.

Have you tried any of the dishes mentioned in the book – the sweet potato brownies, the cauliflower rice, or even the Apfelwein?

I’ve tried pretty much all of them! Cauliflower rice is great – I won’t pretend it tastes like the real thing, because it does not, but it’s a pretty good light alternative. I would never want to be fully paleo (in the immortal words of Oprah, I love bread https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2sx8Bc4mAw) but I do enjoy experimenting with ways to make slightly healthier versions of things, although there’s no substitute for a real brownie.

What was the biggest challenge you encountered when writing the book?

The third act was probably my biggest challenge, just working out how things should finally unravel. The first half of the book was always incredibly clear to me, Caitlin walking around New York in this alienated haze and becoming wilfully lost, but the climactic chapters at the cult went through a lot of different iterations. There’s a twist that comes towards the end of the book which wasn’t in my original draft, but came to me suddenly one day last December – and once I’d figured out that turn, everything else fell into place.

Which other writers do you admire?

Margaret Atwood, George Elliot, Elena Ferrante, Cormac McCarthy and Gillian Flynn are a few of my all-time favourites. I just read Robin Wasserman’s Girls On Fire, which was really vivid and intoxicating. I also love to read plays – I saw Angels in America while I was back in London over the summer, and just bought the text so that I can really dig into the language.

What are you working on next?

I’ve just started my second novel, a thriller that takes place in modern Hollywood, following a young journalist who becomes drawn into the life of a very famous actor she’s assigned to interview. Unlike The Room by the Lake, this book draws a bit from my own experiences (I’ve been in entertainment journalism for years) but with the drama cranked up several notches. I’m also working on a short story commissioned by Audible.

Thank you, Emma, for those fascinating answers…and the inside track on your next book.  

EmmaDibdinAbout the Author

Emma: ‘I’m a lifelong writer and pop culture nerd, and feel endlessly grateful to have a job that combines both. Since moving to New York from London two years ago, I’ve spent a lot of time brewing coffee, writing fiction, and covering the ever-broadening selection of Peak TV – all while fighting a one-woman war against the culinary tyranny of cilantro. My first novel, The Room By The Lake, will be published in the UK on 10th August 2017.

Connect with Emma

Website ǀ Twitter ǀ Goodreads