I realized the other day that I didn’t blog at all in 2024. Apparently that’s what kind of year it was. Meanwhile 2025 is definitely standing at the edge of a cliff with a homemade parachute, saying, “Hold my beer.” These are wild times for everybody, and I find myself wondering what it means to be a writer in an era of upheaval and uncertainty. While I’ve always believed that all art is inherently political, I’ve never thought of myself as a writer with big ideas. I’m just out here writing stories that interest me, but they always reflect my personal politics of freedom and kindness. It’s been six years since my last book, The Reckless Oath We Made, was published, and in those years, I’ve written a few books that never saw the light of day. (One, ironically, for what I can only describe as political reasons.)
In October 2022, I had a random idea for a story. I thought I’d make a few notes and then see if I couldn’t use NaNoWriMo to push myself to get a chunk of the story written. Taking notes turned into just straight-up writing the book, whose first rough draft I finished before November even rolled around. The book went on sub in 2023, but didn’t sell until 2024. (The same year NaNoWriMo made me an enemy with their shitty stance on generative AI in the arts.)
That book is coming September 2025, and it feels weird to be prepping to promote a book in the current environment, when the Authors Guild had to make a statement about an Oklahoma legislator presenting a bill to ban pornography. Here I am, though.
The book is called Nobody Knows You’re Here and it has this amazing cover, designed by Elizabeth Yaffe. It’s my first foray into the thriller genre, and it’s coming September 16, 2025.
A desperate woman fights to escape captivity in this gripping thriller from the New York Times–bestselling author of All the Ugly and Wonderful Things.
Beatrice is about to lose everything when a kind stranger offers her a cup of coffee and a job. It seems like a promise of a better life . . . until she wakes up under lock and key in an isolated mansion in the woods.
On orders from a shadowy criminal organization, armed jailers make the rules for their captives, enforcing them with unflinching violence. Beatrice has always been a “nice girl,” but that won’t save her now. Nobody helped her when she lost her job, her car, and her home, and nobody’s coming to give back her freedom. The only person she can rely on is herself. And now, several child hostages are relying on her too.
When the situation gets more dire―and deadly―Beatrice has to become the hero she and her fellow prisoners need. To escape she’ll have to outsmart her captors and do terrible things that would horrify her former self. If she succeeds, there’s no telling who she’ll be when the ordeal comes to an end.