A Conversation with Dervla McTiernana

There is nothing quite like the thrill of a gripping crime novel, especially when the dark and stormy setting is right here in our own backyard of Melbourne. We recently had the absolute pleasure of sitting down with international bestselling author Dervla McTiernan to discuss her highly anticipated new thriller, Three Reasons for Revenge. Known for her masterful pacing and deeply flawed, compelling characters, Dervla gave us a fascinating glimpse into her writing process, the heavy toll of seeking personal revenge when the justice system fails, and why the moody, grey skies of Victoria's capital made the perfect backdrop for her latest mystery. Settle in for a brilliant behind-the-scenes chat with one of our favourite thriller writers.

·        Can you describe your new book 'Three Reasons for Revenge' (your elevator pitch)?

[DM] It's a book about what happens when the system lets you down and you decide to take a very personal revenge.

It opens with three gift-wrapped parcels being delivered to three very different homes across Melbourne — to a respected psychologist, a wealthy socialite and a struggling single dad. Inside each package is tailored, targeted destruction. There's no obvious connection between the three recipients, and once the destruction starts there seems to be no way to stop it. My central character, Judith Lee, is a detective in her forties, tough and deeply experienced, and she lands in the middle of all of this and has to work out what is going on before it's too late.

· Revenge is such a powerful and visceral motivator for a story. What initially drew you to explore it so deeply in this novel?

[DM] I practised as a lawyer in Ireland for years, and I came away from that with great respect for the ideals of the justice system and absolutely no illusions about the gap between those ideals and what actually happens in practice. The system is inherently human. It's designed by people and run by people and so it fails in human ways. Most of the people working inside it are doing their best with too little time and too little money. But when the system does fail someone, that person doesn't experience the failure as an unfortunate statistic. It’s deeply personal.

I think revenge rushes in to fill the space where justice should have been. What interested me was the cost of revenge. What does it do to a person when they stay angry for too long and when take terrible action against others.

 · Your books are known for their incredible pacing and tension. When plotting a thriller like this, do you map out every twist beforehand, or do the characters ever surprise you and change the story?

[DM] It’s a little bit of both.

Everything starts with a hardback notebook and my pen. I spend anywhere from days to weeks writing stream of consciousness stuff, figuring out what my book’s about, who the characters are and how they relate to each other, what scenes I’m excited to write etc. Then I write an outline. This can be pretty rough. It might just be a list of scenes with some brief descriptions of what happens in them. And I work out an ending that could work for the book (the ending almost never stays the same but I feel better knowing that I have somewhere to land the plane). After that I move to Scrivener and I write the first draft. And when that’s done, I can sit back and look at the shape of the story and that’s when the work really begins.

Most of the twists and surprises come about organically through the writing. I keep an eye out for opportunities as I get to know the characters but I can’t really plan twists in advance, or at least, I can, but they rarely survive the first draft. Pre-planned twists often feel wrong to me. A bit too considered.

By the second pass I usually know where most of the twists are. But I only know that because the story has already surprised me once.

 · The characters in the book are all amazingly flawed, but which one is your favourite?

[DM] Judith, I think, though I have a soft spot for Cam. Judith is just uncompromising in a way I like. She’s at an interesting stage of her life. She feels like she knows who she is, she’s comfortable with her choices in life and she’s very good at her job. I like the way the book really challenges her, really digs into her vulnerable spots and forces her to question if she should be quite so cool with herself. And I like how she responds to that challenge.

 · What got you to base the book in Melbourne and not somewhere in WA?

[DM] I'd been wanting to write a novel set in Australia for a long time. It's been my home for fifteen years now, I've raised my children here, and I've slowly fallen in love with the place. But you can't force these things. You have to wait for the right story, for that gut-punch of an idea that tells you you're onto something real, because that personal response is what gives a book its point of view and I don't think you can fake it.

And when the idea finally arrived, it arrived as an image: a motorbike courier moving through Melbourne in the very early morning, before the city has properly woken up, the light still grey, delivering three parcels to three very different homes. And it felt like Melbourne. I think, honestly (and this sounds wildly stupid!) that it was about the weather. I’m used to writing crime novels where the rain and the low hanging cloud and the shadow is almost omnipresent, is part of the story. Perth is just too sunny!

 · If you could invite any fictional detective or real-life true-crime figure to dinner, who would it be and why?

[DM] If I had that kind of magic I would wish to invite some of the true-crime victims, the young women whose lives were taken away from them so brutally. I wish I could undo what was done to them and give them back their futures.

 · If your book got adapted into a movie or a series, what actress would you like to play Judy and Ruth?

[DM] Ah, the game of fantasy casting! Love it! Funnily enough, I’ve got an answer for Cormac Reilly (the central character of four of my novels) but not a clue right now for Jude or Ruth. They’d have to be formidable women, for sure.

· What’s your favourite drink/snack while reading and writing?

[DM] Tea, specifically Barry’s Tea (an Irish brand now available in my local Coles!) And the odd chocolate digestive :  )

· What's your favourite recent read?

[DM] I’ve really enjoyed Louise Milligan’s Shellybanks. It’s set in Ireland, about a journalist who returns to Ireland and helps her aunt seek justice against a religious cult the aunt had encountered when she was a teenager. It’s very well written and such a compelling story.

A huge thank you to Dervla for sharing her time and such thoughtful insights with us. Three Reasons for Revenge is an absolute must-read that will keep you guessing until the very last page. Because Booxies is all about pairing the perfect book with premium local treats, we wholeheartedly agree with Dervla, there really is no better companion for a tense thriller than a proper cup of tea and a good chocolate biscuit! If you're ready to dive into Judith Lee's investigation, be sure to grab your copy and prepare your own perfect reading setup.