It started with an idea
This book started with an idea before it had a single character in it. I kept thinking about how much harm people can do without ever doing anything that looks terrible. A phone call you don't return. A rumor you let stand. A friend you quietly stop sticking up for. Each one is small enough to explain away. Put enough of them together, and somebody ends up gone, and nobody ever has to answer for it.
I wanted the book to work as a warning about where those small choices can lead.
I've also loved psychological thrillers for a long time. Gillian Flynn's books and shows like His & Hers are the kind of stories I can't put down: people who look normal from the street, and what's really going on inside the house. I wanted to write one of my own.
Claire, Tom, and Quinn came after the idea, and they didn't always stay where I put them. More than once, one of them made a choice I hadn't planned, and the book was better for it.
Wisteria Court
The street is named for my mom, Kelley. Her favorite color was purple.
She was an English teacher, and she loved to read. A lot of my love for books came from her. I wish she were here to hold this one. I think she'd have been proud of it.
That's why there's purple everywhere you look, from the wisteria on the cover to the bookmarks I hand out at signings. The dedication in the front of the book says it best:
Her favorite color was purple,
so I gave her the whole street.
The title and the cover
People ask about the title. Sarah is the obvious answer, but she isn't the only woman it's about. I'll let you find the rest.
The cover went through a few versions. At one point I tried putting the light in the kitchen window, and I went right back to the upstairs window. It just felt right. On Wisteria Court, somebody is always watching, and the secrets are kept upstairs, in the rooms nobody else gets to see.
Writing a first novel
From the first idea to holding a printed copy took about a year. I have a full-time job, so the writing happened early in the morning before work, on weekends and days off, and in bits wherever I could find them.
Claire was the hardest to get right. She tells her own chapters, so I had to spend a lot of time inside the head of someone that cold and that controlling, and she doesn't see herself as the villain. The ending was hard too. I didn't want to tie everything up in a bow. I wanted it to feel honest to these people.
Then came revising, going through the whole book line by line and letting go of parts I liked that weren't helping the story.
What surprised me most was finishing. There were days I wasn't sure I'd ever get to the last page. The other surprise has been the response. My first box of books was gone almost as soon as it came in the mail, and hearing from people who've read it has meant more than I expected.
Thank you for reading it.
Barry