Interview with Mary Kubica

1. In Just the Nicest Couple a surgeon goes missing, and a friend of his wife holds a secret about the disappearance. What idea inspired the book, and why did the story of two couples (one happy, one not) resonate with you? 

As with most of my books, it starts with a tiny seed of an idea that grows during the writing process. With Just the Nicest Couple, I was first drawn to the concept of writing about a missing man, because we hear so often on the news and in the media about women who go missing. I wanted to flip the script and see what would happen if the roles were reversed. My books are always domestic in nature, which was the draw for having two couples involved in this book. Not only was I diving into the lives of one couple, but the lives of friends and co-workers as well, asking that all important question: How well do we really know the people closest to us? 

2. You began writing as a young girl, but what led you to the suspense genre? Why do you like it so much, and what authors influenced you?

My debut novel, The Good Girl, was the first manuscript I wrote that was in the suspense genre, though as a child, mysteries and suspense (such as books by Christopher Pike and Nancy Drew) were my favorites to read. Before The Good Girl, I wrote women’s fiction, though my manuscripts were only ever works-in-progress because I would get partway into the manuscript and then lose interest. With The Good Girl, I started adding suspense elements by accident and soon discovered how much I enjoyed writing in the genre. I knew I’d found my niche. I love watching a mystery develop over time and including things like unreliable narrators and red herrings. One of my favorite parts about the genre is slipping subtle clues into the text once I’ve discovered my twist. There are many talented authors in this genre, but a few who have set the bar incredibly high are Ruth Ware, Alice Feeney and Stacy Willingham.     

3. I’ve heard you don’t work from an outline, but prefer to be surprised by character interactions. What are the best and worst parts about working this way?

Yes, I am definitely a panster, or the type of writer who prefers to fly by the seat of her pants, than a plotter. The best part for me is the spontaneity of it and not knowing on any given day when I sit down to write what will happen in the lives of my characters. I always learn something new about them and am just as surprised by the twist as I hope my readers will be. The worst part is that there are many times I write myself into a dead end and discover that an idea I was excited about simply doesn’t have legs and I have to delete pages. That can be frustrating, but it’s still an important part of my process!

4. Of the two narrators in Just the Nicest Couple, which do you identify with, and why?

In Just the Nicest Couple, we hear from Christian, a man whose wife was the last to see Jake Hayes before he went missing, and Nina, Jake’s wife. Though Nina and I have quite a bit in common (she is a woman, like me, and is a teacher; I was a high school teacher before I turned to writing full time), I identified more with Christian. He’s a man deeply devoted to his wife and unborn child, who will do anything to protect his family. I appreciated that about him and found it easy to understand his motivations even when his actions were sometimes questionable. 

 

5. What is the most suspenseful thing that has happened to you? 

For someone who writes suspense novels, very few suspenseful things have happened to me, which is a good thing because I’m actually a scaredy cat in real life! That said, I’m always on the lookout for strange things that can work their way into my novels, like the time I stayed in a hotel, only to discover that mine was one of two rooms with the same room number, or when I stayed at a bed and breakfast with a crawl space door in the corner of the room, and spent the entire night wondering where it led and who might be on the other side of the door.