an interlude of thrilling proportions

Posted by Suzy Vitello Soulé on March 16th, 2011 at 08:12 AM | | Tweet

Today I’m typing out my post whilst listening to Chelsea Cain on OPB’s Think Out Loud show. She’s discussing her Gretchen Lowell series with Emily Harris.

Cain claims that it was the nuances of intimacy that psychopaths feel with their victim during moments of extreme violence that drew her to write the series. Cain is not haunted by “scary stuff,” apparently, and posits that most thriller writers aren’t as affected by gore and viscera as is the population at large.

In her recently released (and best-selling), The Night Season, the gore takes a back seat to history and intrigue, and the moodiness of the Pacific Northwest, particularly during the rainy season (which, by the way, we’re in the thick of as I type). The scenic centerpiece of the book is a flood, which parallels the epic Vanport Flood of 1948. Amid the growing waters a body is found, and poisonous octopuses plague the pages, and the off-stage psychopath, Gretchen Lowell, lurks in the offing, temporarily imprisoned and gearing up for book five of the series.

It’s a great book, and today’s OPB interview is a great show, have a listen (it’s being re-broadcast at 9:00 pm PST, or listen to the podcast)! You’ll be entertained, I promise. Plus, you’ll hear inside scoop about our Portland writing group!

(Picture below: Chelsea signing her book at her recent Powell’s reading with daughter and junior media escort, Eliza, looking on.)