Alison Gaylin

Alison Gaylin is the author of And She Was, the Edgar®-nominated thriller Hide Your Eyes, as well as its sequel, You Kill Me, and two stand-alone novels, Trashed and Heartless.

Her new novel is Into the Dark.

Recently I asked the author about what she was reading.  Gaylin's reply:

Ever since Fifth Grade, when I picked up Helter Skelter thinking it was a book about The Beatles, I’ve been a huge fan of true crime – and I just finished reading one that ranks among my favorites. People Who Eat Darkness, by Richard Lloyd Parry, is a harrowing, fascinating account of Lucie Blackman, the young British girl who traveled to Japan to work as a hostess – and wound up brutally murdered. In extraordinary detail, Parry takes the reader into the shadowy world of the foreign hostess circuit in Japan – something I was utterly unfamiliar with before reading the book, but now feel as though I know completely. He also tells the story in an almost Rashamon-like way, repeating the story from Lucie’s point of view, then her family members, then the police, Lucie’s friends and even the suspect, each point of view bringing us closer to the truth. It’s a fantastic structure with which to tell this labyrinthine, sometimes terrifying tale. And Parry is not only a great journalist, he’s a wonderful, empathetic writer.

Visit Alison Gaylin's website.

The Page 69 Test: Into the Dark.

--Marshal Zeringue