Sandra A. Block graduated from college at Harvard, then returned to her native land of Buffalo, New York for medical training and never left. She is a practicing neurologist and proud Sabres fan, and lives at home with her husband, two children, and impetuous yellow lab Delilah. She has been published in both medical and poetry journals. Her debut of the Zoe Goldman series, “Little Black Lies” was nominated for an International Thriller award. “The Girl Without a Name” is her second and “The Secret Room” the final in the series. Her newest stand-alone thriller called “What Happened That Night” comes out on June 5th, 2018!

 

 

*If you could trade places with any author who would it be?

JK Rowling. Because one, she’s a terrific writer. Two, she delivers some serious burns on Twitter. And three, who wouldn’t want a theme park created for them?

 

 

 

 

 

*Which top three writing awards do you covet?

I would love an Edgar, an International Thriller award, and/or an Anthony. Preferably all at once. And of course, the Pulitzer 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Where are you now in your writing journey?

That’s an interesting question. As I writer, I feel more comfortable with my voice, and I’m more confident in my ability to write. However, I’m less optimistic and more realistic about publishing in general.

 

 

 

 

 

 

*How do you recharge yourself so you’re fresh creatively?

I recharge myself with vacation. There’s nothing like a romp on the beach to get my neurons firing again.

 

 

 

 

 

*Can you tell us a little about your new book coming out?

My book coming out in June is called What Happened That Night, about a woman who is attacked in college with limited memory of the event. When a video emerges of the assault a few years later, she now knows every single person involved. And she decides to get justice. I think of it as a revenge-love story.

 

 

 

Amazon | Goodreads

 

One moment Dahlia is a successful Harvard student. The next, she wakes up from a party, the victim of a brutal assault. Her life veers into a tailspin, and what’s worse, her memory of the attack has been ripped away, leaving a cold rage in its wake.

Now, years later, Dahlia is a tattooed paralegal suffering from PTSD, still haunted by that night. Until one day, a video surfaces online, and Dahlia sees her attack for the first time. Now she knows what happened to her. And she knows who to blame. Her rage is no longer cold, but burning, red hot.

And she is about to make everyone pay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Do you approach each book the same, or differently?

For the Zoe Goldman series, I had a similar approach for each book. I made a detailed outline and followed it, with the ending clearly in mind. In What Happened That Night, I actually did not know how it would end until I was almost finished with it. And strangely, the ending turned out to be perfect!

 

 

*What are the best books you’ve read this year?

Best psychological suspense was The Darkest Secret by Alex Marwood. The ending completely threw me. It’s the kind of book where you think you hit the final twist, and realize on the last page that you were wrong. I think it takes a special kind of skill to pull that off. I also greatly enjoyed THE BLACKBIRD SEASON by Katie Moretti. Well-written with a spooky, rural, small-town setting.

 

 

 

Amazon | Goodreads

 

The latest gripping psychological thriller from Edgar Award winner Alex Marwood

When a child goes missing at an opulent house party, it makes international news. But what really happened behind those closed doors?

Twelve years ago, Mila Jackson’s three-year-old half-sister Coco disappeared during their father’s fiftieth birthday celebration, leaving behind her identical twin Ruby as the only witness. The girls’ father, Sean, was wealthy and influential, as were the friends gathered at their seaside vacation home for the weekend’s debauchery. The case ignited a media frenzy and forever changed the lives of everyone involved.

Now, Sean Jackson is dead, and the people who were present that terrible night must gather once more for a funeral that will reveal that the secrets of the past can never stay hidden. Perfectly paced all the way through its devastating conclusion, The Darkest Secret is one that fans of Gillian Flynn and Liane Moriarty won’t be able to put down.

 

 

 

 

Amazon | Goodreads

 

In a quiet Pennsylvania town, a thousand dead starlings fall onto a high school baseball field, unleashing a horrifying and unexpected chain of events that will rock the close-knit community.

Beloved baseball coach and teacher Nate Winters and his wife, Alecia, are well respected throughout town. That is, until one of the many reporters investigating the bizarre bird phenomenon catches Nate embracing a wayward student, Lucia Hamm, in front of a sleazy motel. Lucia soon buoys the scandal by claiming that she and Nate are engaged in an affair, throwing the town into an uproar…and leaving Alecia to wonder if her husband has a second life.

And when Lucia suddenly disappears, the police only to have one suspect: Nate.

Nate’s coworker and sole supporter, Bridget Harris, Lucia’s creative writing teacher, is determined to prove his innocence. She has Lucia’s class journal, and while some of the entries appear particularly damning to Nate’s case, others just don’t add up. Bridget knows the key to Nate’s exoneration and the truth of Lucia’s disappearance lie within the walls of the school and in the pages of that journal.

Told from the alternating points of view of Alecia, Nate, Lucia, and Bridget, The Blackbird Season is a haunting, psychologically nuanced suspense, filled with Kate Moretti’s signature “chillingly satisfying” (Publishers Weekly) twists and turns.

 

 

 

*Which books are you anticipating reading in 2018?

I can’t wait for IN HER BONES by Katie Moretti and I KNOW YOU KNOW by Heather Gudenkauf.

 

 

 

 

 

Amazon | Goodreads

 

Fifteen years ago, Lilith Wade was arrested for the brutal murder of six women. After a death row conviction, media frenzy, and the release of an unauthorized biography, her thirty-year-old daughter Edie Beckett is just trying to survive out of the spotlight. She’s a recovering alcoholic with a dead-end city job and an unhealthy codependent relationship with her brother.

Edie also has a disturbing secret: a growing obsession with the families of Lilith’s victims. She’s desperate to see how they’ve managed—or failed—to move on. While her escalating fixation is a problem, she’s careful to keep her distance. That is, until she crosses a line and a man is found murdered.

Edie quickly becomes the prime suspect—and while she can’t remember everything that happened the night of the murder, she’d surely remember killing someone. With the detective who arrested her mother hot on her trail, Edie goes into hiding. She’s must get to the truth of what happened that night before the police—or the real killer—find her.

Unless, of course, she has more in common with her mother than she’s willing to admit…

Perfect for fans of Ruth Ware, In Her Bones features Moretti’s “riveting and insightful” (Megan Miranda, New York Times bestselling author) prose and “chillingly satisfying” (Publishers Weekly) twists, and will leave you questioning the nature of guilt, obsession, and the toxicity of familial ties.

 

 

 

 

Goodreads | Amazon | Website | Twitter