Q&A med Catherine Ryan Howard

Bare 12 år gammel er Eve Black den eneste overlevende i sin familie efter et overfald begået af den berygtede voldsmand “Intetmanden”. Nu er hun voksen og besat af at finde den mand, der ødelagde hendes liv. 

Sådan starter bagsideteksten på Catherine Ryan Howards krimisucces “Intet”, som udkommer på Forlaget Zara d. 15. oktober. Bogen er tidligere udkommet på engelsk med titlen “The Nothing Man”. Vi har spurgt forfatteren, hvad danske læsere kan forvente med bogen.

Krimimessen: The Nothing Man is now being published in Denmark. What kind of Crime Novel is it, I mean what can the danish readers expect?

Catherine Ryan Howard: “The simplest way to describe it is to say that it’s half a (fictitious) true-crime memoir and half the killer’s reaction to it as he reads, nearly two decades after he committed his last shocking crime. Now he’s semi-retired, leading a dull, unassuming life as an ageing man, but reading the book about him – written by one of his victims – awakens the old darkness and brings it back to the fore”.

Krimimessen: I understand that the book is inspired by or based on true events. How did you research for this book and is it hard to dose the amount of fiction and real-life crime facts?

Catherine Ryan Howard: “The Nothing Man isn’t based on true events – there was, luckily, no serial killer terrorizing my home town at the turn of the millennium! – but I did get the idea to write it from reading about a real case. I read the late Michelle McNamara’s I’ll Be Gone in the Dark just a week after its subject, the Golden State Killer, was finally identified and arrested. The book had been a no. 1 New York Times bestseller and got lots of publicity; he must have been aware of it. So I started wondering: did he read it? And if so, how did he react?”. 

Krimimessen: Who and what inspired you to write Crime Fiction in the first place?

Catherine Ryan Howard: “The best writing advice I ever got was write the book you want to read but can’t find on the shelf and crime fiction is what I love to read. I’ve been a fan since I discovered Patricia Cornwell aged 12. No other genre offers what it does. I love it!” 

Catherine Ryan Howard

Catherine Ryan Howard er en internatinal bestseller krimiforfatter fra Cork, Ireland.

Hun har været indstillet og shortlistet til flere priser og skriver i øjeblikket på sin femte bog.

Catherine Ryan Howard er udgivet i 18 lande og på 11 sprog.