1–What is the title of your latest release?
SOMEONE YOU TRUST
2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Amy goes to work as a nanny for a wealthy family in rural Ireland. She’s pretending to be the perfect employee. They’re pretending to be the perfect employers. Everyone’s got something to hide. Who will get caught out first?
3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
SOMEONE YOU TRUST is set largely in West Cork, a remote, beautiful, rural part of Ireland. There are also flashbacks to Amy’s former life in Dublin. Like Amy, I’m from Dublin, a city girl born and raised, and when I went on holiday to West Cork in my mid-twenties, I thought it was the most beautiful place I’d ever been in my life. Wild, windy, green, rugged, atmospheric. I knew that one day I would write a thriller with that dramatic landscape as the backdrop.
4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Yes, I would. I think Amy was dealt a very difficult hand in life, and hasn’t had much opportunity to overcome some of her hardships. I’d love to see the person she would have become if she’d had an easier time. She’s tough. She makes some brave, difficult decisions, at times in her life when she’s very alone and very young. If I met her, I’d want to give her a huge hug.
5–What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Tenacious, resilient, loving.
6–What’s something you learned while writing this book?
This is my second novel, and I wrote much of it during the worst of the Covid days. Writing a second novel is famously tricky, and the pandemic was a difficult time for all of us. I doubted myself a lot during that process. I began to believe that my first novel was a fluke, and that I’d never write another. It was an uphill struggle – but now the book is done, it’s out, it’s been well-received and I’m proud of it. The whole process, and the result, gave me insight into how we have to be careful not to limit ourselves with negative self-talk, and how important it is not to let your anxieties hold you back. I kept trying and I got myself over the mountain. I think most novelists can relate to that feeling. You learn a lot about yourself during the creative process.
7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I draft first, edit later. Sometimes this makes things difficult. But if I think too much during the drafting process, I’m lost. The drafting process is instinctual to me. That’s when I let my subconscious connect to my fingertips, without letting the frontal cortex get in the way too much. I just type. The stories come from deep inside. But because I write thrillers, with complicated plots, this means there’s A LOT of editing later on. The editing process takes me much longer than the drafting process. Maybe there’s an easier way to do it, but I haven’t figured it out yet! I do have a strong sense of the plot when I start writing – I don’t plot every chapter, but I always know the big twists ahead of time, and how the story is going to end.
8–What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Any kind of warm chocolate dessert that melts in the middle. I have a sweet tooth.
9–Describe your writing space/office!
For a while last year I rented a desk in Block T, a creative studio in Dublin city centre. That was fun because I was surrounded by other artists and self-employed people: painters, glass blowers, entrepreneurs. I also like to take my laptop to cafes, or libraries. Working in different spaces is really important to me. A space can begin to feel stale and then I need to move.
10–Who is an author you admire?
God, there are so many! When I was writing SOMEONE YOU TRUST, I read and re-read Erin Kelly’s He Said/She Said, and Lisa Jewell’s The Family Upstairs. I drew a lot of inspiration from those novels. He Said/She Said is a masterclass in misdirection, and it really helped me as I grappled with the complicated plot of SOMEONE YOU TRUST. There’s a big twist in the middle, and I wanted to make absolutely sure the reader wouldn’t see it coming. The Family Upstairs also does interesting things with plot and with a complicated timeline. And it’s a dark, quirky, Gothic book, and re-reading it reassured me that my dark, quirky, Gothic novel would find its readership.
11–Is there a book that changed your life?
Probably How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff. It’s a dystopian YA novel, stunningly written, and I read it when I was fifteen. It had a profound effect on me, and I think it’s had a big influence on my writing style.
12–Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be
published)
I was in the kitchen at work, back when I worked as a nanny. I remember exactly where I was standing – in this big, beautiful, high-ceilinged kitchen in a gorgeous house in South Dublin, just struggling to wrap my head around the news. It felt completely surreal. It was a long time before I accepted that this was my new reality, that this was my full-time job. I didn’t completely quit nannying until almost a year later, when I decided a different nannying job would be my last. I now write full-time and teach writing classes. But it was more of a gradual shift.
13–What’s your favorite genre to read?
I lean towards lit fic, and thrillers. Those are the two genres I read most voraciously. I write thrillers because I’ve always loved reading them. I love the compulsive nature of reading thrillers, the feeling of getting sucked in by the first chapter and not being able to put the book down til the last. It’s pure escapism. But I read in all genres. I recently read and really enjoyed Sophie White’s My Hot Friend, which I think would be categorized as chick lit. And I’ve been working my way through all Robin Hobb’s novels over the past two years. They’re pure fantasy, with magic and dragons and people who can speak to animals – a million miles away from the kind of books I write – and an absolute pleasure to read.
14–What’s your favorite movie?
I tend to lean towards gritty, realistic movies. I love films that try to capture real life as accurately as possible. My all-time favorite movie is probably Blue Is The Warmest Color, which makes me cry every time I watch it. My family think the movies I like are boring and depressing, and I’ve been banned from choosing movies during family movie nights.
15–What is your favorite season?
Autumn. 100%. I loved the fallen leaves, the cool crisp air, the sound of fireworks as Halloween approaches. It’s such an atmospheric time of year. As a child, Halloween was always my favorite holiday. I loved carving pumpkins, toffee apples, trick-or-treating. I loved the scary stories my mother would tell us. It’s funny to look back at all that now I’ve ended up writing scary stories for a living.
16–How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
I like to go out for a meal in a nice restaurant with a small group of people I really love. I do that every year. It always makes me feel very lucky and appreciative of the people I have around me.
17–What’s a recent movie you highly recommend?
I think the last movie I watched that I really loved was Uncut Gems. As I said, I enjoy gritty, realistic movies, with dialogue that sounds as close to people actually talking as possible. I thought Uncut Gems was excellent – the main character is going through a very stressful time, and I really felt his emotion. I felt incredibly stressed out for the whole film.
18–What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Too difficult to choose just one! I love Italian – pizza, pasta, garlic bread. But I’m also obsessed with Thai food, and Indian food, and sushi. Food is one of life’s greatest pleasures, and sometimes I just feel so fortunate to live in an era when we can enjoy such an array of different cuisines.
19–What do you do when you have free time?
I love to travel. After finishing SOMEONE YOU TRUST, I went on a solo trip around Asia, which was incredible. I always recommend solo traveling to anyone who’s considering it. It’s a special kind of experience, and you learn a lot about yourself. I love reading, of course, and spend a lot of my spare time with my nose stuck in a book. I have a deep love of the outdoors – hiking and camping are two of my favorite things in the world. I’m passionate about music, especially live music, and am always completely happy at a gig. I love music festivals, which combine my love of live music with my love and my love of camping. And I really enjoy the theatre, although I don’t go enough.
20–What can readers expect from you next?
Another twisty, dark thriller, very much in the same vein as my first two novels. I don’t plan to stop writing thrillers any time soon!
SOMEONE YOU TRUST by Rachel Ryan
The author of the “suspenseful, chilling, unsettling, and creepy” (Mystery and Suspense Magazine) The Woman Outside My Door returns with another spine-tingling domestic thriller about a nanny whose new job working for the perfect family is not everything it seems.
Amy jumps at the opportunity when she’s offered a nannying job in picturesque West Cork. The assignment is for the friendly and welcoming Carroll family, whose stunning house is situated on a stretch of remote and rugged coastline overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. It’s the perfect chance for Amy to escape the suffocating city and the man who made her life hell.
With two adorable children to oversee, a pair of generous employers, and more freedom than she’s enjoyed in years, everything seems wonderful. So why can’t Amy shake a creeping sense of unease? Perhaps it’s the husband’s erratic behavior. Or the fact that she was never told about the reclusive teenage son whose bedroom is next to hers. Or maybe it’s the strange messages that somebody has been painting around the local village.
Quickly, it becomes clear that all is not well in the Carroll marriage, nor in their idyllic rural community. Whispered secrets and strange occurrences fill the breathtaking scenery with menace and, as the days pass, Amy learns that the refuge she has sought just might be the most dangerous place of all.
For fans of The Turn of the Key and The Safe Place, and from “a bright new voice in psychological thrillers” (Erin Kelly, USA TODAY bestselling author), this unpredictable page-turner will pull you in and won’t let go.
Thriller Domestic | Women’s Fiction Psychological [Gallery Books, On Sale: August 1, 2023, Hardcover, ISBN: 9781668012574 / ]
Buy SOMEONE YOU TRUST: Amazon.com | BN.com | Powell’s Books | Books-A-Million | Indie BookShops | Ripped Bodice | Love’s Sweet Arrow | Walmart.com | Target.com |
About Rachel Ryan
Rachel Ryan was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland. She can usually be found writing in coffee shops, hanging around libraries, or walking the streets of Dublin, making up stories.
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