Tuesday, June 6, 2023

The Revenge List

Title:  The Revenge List
Publication Information:  MIRA Books. 2023. 368 pages.
ISBN:  0778333469 / 978-0778333463

Book Source:  I received this book through NetGalley and a publisher's blog tour free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "The sharp sound of a high-pitched scream filled the air."

Favorite Quote:  "Forgiveness is a process... It takes time and commitment. It's hard and can be painful. However, if you're willing to put in the work, it might be the best decision you make."

***** BLOG TOUR *****

Review

Frankie Morgan has anger issues - serious, sometimes violent, often uncontrollable anger issues. "Truth is, we all carry some degree of anger inside, every single one of us, and anyone who insists on the contrary is a goddamn liar. Some ignore it; many stuff the sentiments into a little box and keep it closed... Others, like me... didn't far as well. We could explode in a nanosecond if the wrong button got pushed."

Frankie's  anger has had serious consequences for her, her family, and her workplace. As a reader, you know that there are reasons for that anger - reasons embedded in the past. You know that as the story progresses, the reasons will be revealed. In that sense, the story both moves forward and travels back.

The book begins in between. At her father's behest, Frankie attends an anger management group counseling session. The key to that group session is the counselor's request that all attendees write a list. The list is intended to identify those Frankie wants to forgive. Somewhere between the session and home, Frankie loses a list.

That does not seem to be an issue until one by one, people on that list start to get hurt. One, two, three... Other names on the list include people Frankie loves and also herself. The mystery of the book is who is turning Frankie's forgiveness list into a revenge list.

The story is told as a first person narrative through Frankie's eyes. Since the names on the list are from Frankie's lives, piece by piece, through those connections, a picture of Frankie's life emerges and with it, the reasons for her anger and all the other emotions that underlie that anger. It is a sad story in so many ways. Frankie's story leaves the reader with a stated lesson. "I'd been so fixated on and angry with my past, I hadn't paid attention to or tried to repair my present."

What works for me in the book is the first person narrative. It allows that vision into Frankie and allows the reader to walk her path. What doesn't work in the book is also the first person narrative. The person responsible for turning forgiveness into revenge is revealed through Frankie's eyes. That leaves a distance from that person and hence from the ending of the book. The ending makes sense but leaves me wanting to know more about this individual and life from their perspective that leads them down this road.

The ending does hint at the fact that the story may not be done yet. It'll be interesting to see if a sequel is to come.

About the Book

As a therapy exercise, a woman writes a list of people she wants to forgive, and thinks nothing of it when she loses it in an Uber…until one by one the people on the list become victims of freak accidents. Set in Portland, Maine, Hannah Mary McKinnon’s breakout suspense novel THE REVENGE LIST will appeal to fans of Lisa Unger, Joshilyn Jackson, and Tarryn Fisher.

Following an epic run-in with a client who threatened to pull out of a contract at her father’s company if she doesn’t suffer some consequences, Frankie Morgan agrees to go to anger management. With the business struggling with cash-flow and her brother needing help with the medical bills for his sick daughter, she can’t risk harming the business further. But that doesn’t mean she’ll be happy about attending.During the first session, the group is asked to spend some quiet time exploring their pasts and sitting with the emotions that generates, before making a start on a Forgiveness List—a list of people with whom they’re angry and might work on forgiving. She begrudgingly goes along with it and doesn’t worry too much when she forgets the list in an Uber on her way home. It shouldn’t matter—it was just a therapy exercise—except a few days later the first person on that list is injured in a freak accident. When the second person gets hurt, she hopes it’s coincidence. After the third is targeted, she knows it’s a pattern. And she’s in trouble. Because the next name on that list is…hers.

About the Author

Hannah Mary McKinnon was born in the UK, grew up in Switzerland and moved to Canada in 2010. After a successful career in recruitment, she quit the corporate world in favor of writing. She now lives in Oakville, Ontario, with her husband and three sons, and is delighted by her twenty-second commute. Connect with her on Facebook, on Twitter @HannahMMcKinnon, and on Instagram @HannahMaryMcKinnon. For more, visit her website, www.hannahmarymckinnon.com.

Q&A with the Author

Describe THE REVENGE LIST in four words?
Twisted, surprising, gut-wrenching, original.

How would you describe your latest book in a few sentences?
When Frankie Morgan loses her “forgiveness list” – the names of people who have wronged her in the past, and whom she could work to forgive – she thinks nothing of it. But as the people on Frankie’s list have increasingly serious accidents, Frankie’s in trouble. She wrote her own name on the list because her past self is the one person she’ll never forgive. If she doesn’t find out who’s behind the attacks, she might be next.

What’s “the story behind the story.” Tell us about the inspiration for THE REVENGE LIST?
I can usually pinpoint exactly where the inspiration for my novels came from. Typically, it’s a news article (You Will Remember Me and Her Secret Son) or a radio segment (Sister Dear), maybe some daydreaming (The Neighbors) or a specific character (Never Coming Home).

With The Revenge List, it was after batting various plot ideas around with my agent Carolyn, and former editor Emily that a random idea popped into my head: “What if an anger management group therapy exercise went terribly wrong?” That was it—we all needed to know what the rest of the story was.

What did you have the most fun with, character or plot?
Both, because they’re intrinsically linked. I loved building Frankie’s history to figure out who had wronged her in the past, how it had shaped her life and was still influencing her in the present. Frankie’s a firecracker, and it was incredibly interesting to write from the perspective of a woman who struggles with anger and doesn’t always handle it in a way that’s expected.

Did any of the characters appear fully formed?
No, they never do, but Frankie’s character came together quite quickly once I’d decided on a rough premise. I knew she’d have a certain amount of anger caused by her past, that she might be construed as an “angry woman” and I wondered what it would be like to write from that character’s perspective – without her being angry all the time, of course, because that would be exhausting. I also deliberately placed her in a male-dominated industry, which I have a lot of experience working in.

Did the story end the way you’d initially thought?
Yes, it did. I had the ending in mind when I started outlining and it barely changed. It still gives me the shivers.

Five facts readers don’t know about THE REVENGE LIST
  1. The fictional coffee shop, Jake’s Cakes, originally appears in Sister Dear. It was fun to revive it as a little easter egg for anyone who reads both books.
  2. I put Frankie in construction because it’s such a male dominated industry, but also because, I often went to construction sites when I was a kid as my dad worked as an architect. I still find them fascinating.
  3. Like Frankie, I had a job at a grocery store when I was in school but thankfully nothing bad ever happened there.
  4. I set the book in Portland, Maine because I’ve been there and loved it.
  5. I modeled reporter Danika Danforth’s personality on my good friend Hank Phillippi Ryan. One reader told me “reporters aren’t that nice” and I replied, “Hank is!”
Do you have a favorite chapter or scene?
I adored writing the scenes with Frankie and Rico because I loved the brother/sister relationship and dynamic. I don’t have a brother, but if I did, I hope it would be someone like Rico as he was such a wonderful, caring man who clearly adored his sibling but wouldn’t put up with her nonsense, either.

Do you have a favorite character?
It’s got to be Frankie. I loved writing from her perspective – I found her so interesting and complex, including the fact that, even given her history, she’s still an optimist at heart. She became a great (fictional) friend.

What do you hope readers will take away from THE REVENGE LIST?
I always say I hope to surprise readers, and that they keep thinking about the book long after they’ve finished the final page. My ultimate goal hasn’t changed: it’s to entertain, to provide people with a form of escape and to leave them satisfied thinking, “I enjoyed that. It was time well spent! What else has Hannah Mary written?”

At what point in your life did you realize that you were called to be a writer?
It wasn’t until my 40s when we came to Canada and my start-up HR company failed. I had a decision to make – keep working corporate or try something else. I plumped for the latter and I’m beyond thrilled I did. I love my second career so much and can’t imagine doing anything else.

Can you tell us about your challenges in getting your first book published (or this book?)
I made a lot of mistakes before my first novel was published, including rushing to submit the manuscript to an agent before it was truly ready. After editing it for two years, taking creative writing courses, and reading a lot, I managed to secure representation. If I’d taken those classes and learned about the industry earlier, it may not have taken as long…but the rejections kept my feet firmly on the ground and made me more determined. In a FitBit meditation with Ceasar F. Barajas, I recently heard we could “think of rejection as redirection.” It really resonated with me.

How did publishing your first book change your process of writing, if at all?
I’ve learned to trust my writing process. If I can get the bones of the story on paper, I’ll add layers and complexity as I go over the novel again and again in preparation for my editor’s eyes. I accept the finer details will come as I work. I’ll figure out plot-holes if I allow myself time to work through them. Just like most people who draw, paint, or write music or books, the first draft will never be my best work. Rome wasn’t built in a day and all that. I’m glad I’ve accepted this because it stops me from being overly self-critical when I start a project. I also set myself deadlines and work hard to beat them.

What's your favorite part about writing/being an author? What do you find challenging?
The camaraderie of the writing community is like nothing I’ve experienced elsewhere. Authors, agents, publishers, readers, reviewers—we all love books and it’s wonderful. In terms of writing, I adore the anticipation of starting a new novel where everything is open, and the only limit is my imagination. I also love when I get to the editing part and think, “Yeah, there’s something here” — it’s always such a rush. What’s challenging? Pushing through the first draft and the edit thereof. I need cookies for both!

How has your writing process changed since your first book published in 2016?
I’ve become a lot more streamlined because of deadlines. Also, I’ve figured out what works for me (plotting and structure) and what doesn’t (winging it), all of which goes a long way. Having written seven published and two upcoming novels means I have a good few years of experience in the industry, and I’ve learned to trust my instincts. When I find myself thinking, “Gah, this is terrible!” I remind myself I’ve said that about every previous books. That’s a lie. My husband reminds me of it each time and he’s right.

All your books are filled with many plot twists and turns. How much of the stories have you mapped out in advance, or does your writing style, take, well, twists and turns as you go along?
I love twists and turns, and the more books I write, the more I plot them. While detailed outlines make me more productive and efficient because I know where I’m headed, it doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll end up at the destination I mapped out. Things change as I write. I plot, but I’m flexible and still need my manuscript to surprise me as it evolves. In The Neighbors, for example, the ending changed quite dramatically as I got closer to finishing my first draft. In Her Secret Son, the final chapters were different because I wasn’t happy with whom I’d planned to kill. Sister Dear and You Will Remember Me’s endings are close to how I’d imagined but more sinister. Never Coming Home and The Revenge List barely changed at all. With all my books, more twists and turns appeared as I wrote. That’s another fun part of writing, discovering what your characters will do when you let them loose. I can’t possibly know everything from the beginning, nor would I want to.

What is your writing process like?
Extremely structured with plots, deadlines, and word-count targets. For The Revenge List, the “what if” idea came first, then Frankie’s character, followed by the storyline. I noodled the thoughts around as the main characters took shape. The next step was to write an outline. I started by jotting down the big picture plot points, which I used as stepping-stones to build and write the rest of the outline. I filled out personality questionnaires for my main characters to understand them better, and searched for photos on the internet to build a gallery. I also put a map of Portland together to work out who lived and worked where. I wrote the basic manuscript that was a little over two-thirds of the final word count, then layered and developed until I was happy calling it a first draft, and sent it to my editor. She loved it (phew!).

What kind of research did you do, and how long did you spend researching before beginning the book?
One of the characters in The Revenge List has appendicitis, which our eldest son had when he was ten, so I drew on that experience, which thankfully was far easier than my fictional scenario. I called in the experts for more in-depth medical advice, police, and court procedures, and how adoption in Maine works, which was all fascinating. Research is one of my favorite parts of writing a book—not only because it’s interesting to learn new things, but mainly because I get to speak with such brilliant and knowledgeable people. I don’t do a lot of research before I write but tend to put placeholders for areas that need fleshing out and go back to them after I’ve finished my first draft. That way I’m not spending hours on facts that don’t make the cut, or getting sidetracked by facts which are interesting, but potentially irrelevant to the story.

What was the most unique research you had to do for a book?
Bet you I’m flagged by more than one government agency with my search history. For 2022’s book, Never Coming Home, one element was figuring out what Drano does to a corpse (spoiler: it’s not pretty), the generalities of hiring a hitman on the dark web, as well as technical aspects of spyware on cell phones. Like I said: flagged!

You often set your novels in Maine. Can you tell us why?
I prefer writing about places I’ve been as there’s only so much you can do online to visualize a town (which is why I make them up in certain novels, too). We have family in New Brunswick, and when we visit, we sometimes drive from Toronto via the United States, which takes us through Maine. It’s beautiful and I loved Portland in particular. I hope to return soon.

What's the one element of a thriller novel that is a MUST?
Plot twists and secrets. I want to be surprised when I’m reading a thriller, although that can be said for any genre, so I guess you need to throw in a dead body or three somewhere as well.

Do you find it easier to write character and dialogue for the opposite sex because you are the opposite sex? (A woman writing a man’s part and dialogue for example).
I enjoy both equally although I do find when I write a man’s point-of-view I’m more direct. Nevertheless, one of my first questions is, “Whose story is this?” After that, to be honest, I try not to overthink whether I’m writing a man or a woman. The important thing is to give them a voice, develop their character and backstory, and make them seem as human to the reader as they are to me.

Do you come up with the plot or the characters first, and how do you develop them?
It depends on the book. Generally, it’s an idea for a plot first. A “what if” scenario prompted by a radio segment, as was the case for Sister Dear, or a news story, like with You Will Remember Me. With The Revenge List it was the “what if an anger management therapy exercise went wrong” question that was the genesis for the story. It’s quite fascinating how an entire fictional world can be built from nine words. Gosh, I love my job.

How long did it take to write the book, and how many drafts do you usually write before publication?
The Revenge List took about two weeks to plot, plus four months to write and edit to the point where it was ready to send to my editor. Structural edits thereafter were quite minimal – maybe two weeks of work. I fully expect my next ten novels to kick me in the crotch because of this! In terms of drafts, there’s the basic puke draft/edit, then I’ll go over it probably 7-10 times before it’s ready for my editor. After that we’ll do another number of passes to restructure if necessary, and smooth out the rough bits. I love working with my editor!

Do you read other fiction while you’re working on a book, or do you find it distracting? Do you listen to music while you write?
I’m always with a book in hand (or headphones in my ears taking my audiobooks for a walk) and it would be awful for me to not read when I’m writing. To me, books aren’t distracting at all, but music is. I need silence when I work. My preferred writing spot, at least to draft my initial manuscripts, is our spare bedroom with its dodgy Wi-Fi connection and a laptop. I leave my phone downstairs, so I’m not tempted to check emails, the news, or go on social media. My productivity at least doubles.

Do you have a go-to first reader after you feel your manuscript is ready?
Fellow crime author A.F. Brady and bookstagrammer Sonica Soares have read quite a few of my recent novels before anybody else. They’re extremely insightful and give brilliant, candid feedback, which is exactly what I need.

What is your writing Kryptonite?
Cookies! But seriously, it’s the first pass after the puke draft. It takes forever and it’s my least favorite part.

Finish this: “I can’t write without…”
A tidy desk! For me, a cluttered space = a cluttered mind. It makes me jumpy. I also need a huge jug of water.

Buy Links

Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-revenge-list-hannah-mary-mckinnon/18745472
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-revenge-list-hannah-mary-mckinnon/1142010420
IndieBound: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-revenge-list-hannah-mary-mckinnon/18745472?ean=9780778333463&ref=&source=IndieBound&title=The+Revenge+List
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Revenge-List-Hannah-Mary-McKinnon/dp/0778333469Books A Million: https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Revenge-List/Hannah-Mary-McKinnon/9780778333463
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