AFTER THAT NIGHT marks the return of some of Karin Slaughter’s most beloved characters, including Will Trent, Sara Linton, and Faith Mitchell. Karin was kind enough to answer some questions for us about this book and more!
This is a Will Trent book, but Sara Linton takes center stage. Was there something in particular that prompted you to put Sara in the spotlight?
Karin: I tend to think of stories in context of characters and how they will personally respond to the bad thing that’s happening. In the past, I’ve started books with Faith or Amanda, and this one felt solidly in Sara territory. The opening gave me the opportunity to talk about her from a different perspective, and I think it offers long-time readers a new side of her that they’ll find interesting.
There are certain locations in the book that play a pivotal role in the story. We know that Grady Hospital is very real, but are the other key locations (bars, tennis clubs, etc.) based on real places in Atlanta?
Karin: I loosely based some of the locations on real life places, but it’s more of an amalgamation. We’ve got some storied country clubs in the Atlanta area, and I’ve been invited to a few of them, so what Will sees when he’s standing in the lobby reflects some of my impressions. Other locations are more a vibe for that part of the city. To any Atlantan, if I say “a bar in Buckhead” they will automatically conjure a certain type of person with a certain type of drink. One of the fun things about living in a city that has such vibrant, disparate sections is that there are lots of fun places to write about.
AFTER THAT NIGHT explores the complex relationships between women from multiple perspectives and with a clarity and honesty rarely seen in fiction (or nonfiction, for that matter). Do you think crime fiction is particularly suited to this aspect of your storytelling?
Karin: I think crime fiction is the best place to tell women’s stories, particularly because a lot of the crimes that happen in our genre have women as victims. I find it refreshing as a reader to find like-minded voices. I also think it’s important in my work to write as realistically as possible. I suppose that’s where honesty comes into play. I want to write characters who speak like real people, and the conversations in the book reflect my own experiences.
So many of us longtime-reader fans were nervous about the WILL TRENT TV series, and then thrilled because it’s really good. Did the series being in production (I’m assuming it was while you were writing AFTER THAT NIGHT) affect your writing process at all?
Karin: One of the great gifts of this experience is that the show is the show and the books are the books. While I think Ramon Rodriguez is doing a terrific job as Will, and he absolutely captures the heart of Will’s character, it’s a gift to me that he doesn’t physically resemble the Will in the books. That’s gone such a long way toward helping me keep my characters in my head when I’m writing. I love everything the showrunners and writers are doing with the series because they really get who the characters are and what I’ve been trying to do with them. That being said, people should understand that it’s an interpretation of my work. If what you go into it with that understanding, I think you’ll love it. And also, there’s Betty, who is perfect in every way.
The accuracy with while you describe medical stuff in your books is stunning. (I’ve told more people than I can count that you are the only author who gets T1 diabetes right.) Do you have a secret medical degree?
Karin: I have a not-so-secret doctor, David Harper, who is an amazing person (and friend) who patiently answers all of my crazy questions. In his career, David has done a bit of everything from emergency medicine to teaching to life flights to—you name it. I think I’m his favorite student because I can’t kill any real-life patients. I’m constantly throwing out impossible problems for him to solve. The thing that makes him so invaluable is that he gets that I’m writing fiction. So, he might send me ten pages of explanations and drawings and photos of a procedure, but then I have to condense it into a few paragraphs so that it works. He understands that I’ve got to keep the story moving, but also that I need to understand the rules before I can break them.
