Book Review by T. Suzanne Eller

INTRO: Liz Michaels lost her sister in an identity mix up murder. Her life as a federal judge is on hold, and the man who is responsible for her safety used to be the best friend of her deceased husband. He sees her as a cold-hearted workaholic who failed his friend. While the danger escalates, so does the tension as her heart goes out to her protector. Fatal Judgment held my interest from page one until the last page, and I can’t wait to read another of Irene Hannon’s novels.

Today Irene joins us on She Reads:

Suzie Eller: I’m a huge fan of well-written suspense or crime dramas. What is the hardest aspect of writing in this genre?

Irene Hannon: Developing an intricate, credible plot and doing all the necessary research. (See below for more on the research issue). Also, so many of the suspense books on the shelves today border on horror. Not my thing. So I try very hard to write compelling stories without that kind of shock value. I don’t want depravity, profanity or explicit sex in my books. That philosophy is a tough sell in the general market these days, but thankfully I’ve built a following of people who seem to appreciate my work and recognize that you don’t have to include those elements to tell a gripping story.

SE: Liz is a powerful woman, but she’s also very real. You once worked in the corporate world. How much do you draw from that time in your life?

IH: For many years I held a high-level job in a Fortune 500 company. I saw countless colleagues become consumed with their jobs, to the detriment of their personal lives. A recurring theme in many of my books is finding balance in life. That’s an issue Liz struggles with, too. Being in the “inner circle” of a large company, I saw the power struggles, the jockeying, the corporate politics up close. That is definitely fodder for fiction!

SE: You’ve written 35 novels. Can you share a typical day in your writing life?

IH: How I wish there was one! Truly, every day is different, because unexpected things come up—like this interview!  Sometimes I have a talk to prepare for, or galleys arrive unexpectedly, or I have to write some marketing copy for one of my publishers. Even on a “writing” day, my schedule depends on what stage I’m in with a book. A plotting/research day at the beginning of the process is very different than a writing day when I’m fully immersed in the book. But let’s take a perfect writing day as an example. I’m usually at my computer by 8:30. I check e-mail and a writing loop I belong to. Then I begin the creative part of my day by editing and polishing whatever I wrote the day before, which gets me back into the story. That can take most of the morning, depending on how much I wrote the day before (and how much work it needs!). Then I start on new material. My goal is 10 good pages a day for my contemporary romances, and I often exceed that. For suspense, my goal is 5 pages because I stop so frequently to do research. But I try, even with suspense, to get to 10 pages. My day ends when I hit my page count. Sometimes (rarely!) that might be 3 or 4 o’clock. More often it’s 5 or 6. Sometimes it’s far later. I’m trying very hard these days not to still be at my computer at 10 p.m., but it does happen on occasion.

SE: How do you research your novels?

IH: Exhaustively! In fact, the research challenge is what kept me from diving into the suspense genre for so long. I had no background in law enforcement, and since I’m a stickler for accuracy, I knew I needed people in that field who could answer questions and vet my material to ensure my stories were factual. Book and online research only take you so far. So when I decided to take the plunge, I called on my one law enforcement contact—a police detective captain who sang in the church choir with me—which has led to many, many more contacts as I continue to write in this genre. And the research goes way beyond law enforcement. I’ve called on doctors, attorneys, a physics professor, a circuit judge, a hypothermia expert…the list goes on. I often have more than 100 single-spaced pages of research notes and website links when I finish a suspense book.

SE: U.S. Marshal Jake Taylor had faced a great deal of loss and that played out in a struggle to believe that God would actually hear his prayers. How do you approach each character’s view of faith?

IH: I try to get to know my characters, to think like they think, to know their backgrounds and the events that have shaped their personalities and their values. Then I ask myself how they would react to matters of faith—or to anything else. Their reaction has to come from within and be consistent with their persona.

SE: How can readers get in touch with you?

IH: I have a contact tab on my website, www.irenehannon.com. And I personally answer every e-mail. I’m also becoming active on Twitter (FINALLY!), so if someone wants quick updates on my writing news, they can become a follower. There’s a link on my website for people to do that, too.

T. Suzanne Eller, Proverbs 31 Ministries
http://tsuzanneeller.com
http://proverbs31.org
http://twitter.com/suzanneeller

About Marybeth Whalen

Marybeth Whalen is the co-founder of She Reads, mother of six, and life-long reader. She is also the author of two novels with a third out in July: The Mailbox, She Makes It Look Easy, and The Guest Book.

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