Custom byline text:
Soul searching Karin Slaughter susan swarbrick
I busted my chin open trying to be Evel Knievel on my bike. When it happened you could see straight through to the bone, I thought my dad was going to pass out. It left a scar that I still have now. Not that it put me off – I kept trying to attempt stunts on my bike afterwards. I'm not athletic but I get an A for effort.
The first time heart was broken ...
I was 10 and my dog died. I loved him.
The wisest thing my grandmother told me ...
That only toddlers and whores wear red shoes.
The biggest adversity I have overcome ...
Being shy. It's hard because people often don't recognise shyness, they think it's just someone being rude. I have had to work to overcome that, especially if I'm meeting my readers at author events because I don't want them to think I'm snooty or rude.
My motto for life ...
If you wear them outside, they stop being pyjamas. I wear mine to the mail box, which is right in front of my house – that's my limit. Anything else is wrong.
My soul mate is ...
My partner of 20 years.
Not many people know that ...
If I wasn't a writer I would probably be a watchmaker. I like putting puzzles together and that is what a watch is, figuring out how all the gears and everything else works together. I'm patient and good at focusing on a single task.
The most inspiring book I've read was ...
Flannery O'Connor's short story collection. It had never occurred to me before then that women could write about that kind of stuff and get away with it. It's not considered very ladylike where I come from in Georgia to write about violence or that sort of dark topic. It was eye-opening for me because it made me think maybe I could do it too.
What I look for in a friend is ...
That our moral compass points in the same direction. I could never be friends with someone who littered or didn't put back their grocery cart after they left the store.
The first person I ring when I'm upset is ...
My dad. He has always given me good advice. If I have ever got myself into a bad situation, rather than tell me what to do he says what he would do. Which is probably the smart way to do it, as he knows I hate being told what to do.
I believe the secret to a strong relationship is ...
Let the person who is doing the chore decide how to do it.
Something I wish I'd done earlier ...
Skydiving. I don't have the balls to do it now. I wish I had given it a go when I was younger. I'm too cautious now and have lost my nerve. I worry about dying or if I break my leg that it won't heal in two days like it would have done when I was 20.
My all-time favourite YouTube clip ...
Marcel the Shell. It's this silly little shell like you would find on the seashore, but with eyeballs and shoes. There are two or three clips, including one where the shell is hiding from a ball of cat fur. It is the stupidest thing you have ever seen.
My childhood hero was ...
My dad. He always believed that no matter what my sisters and I wanted to do, we should do it. He would never say things like: "Oh, girls don't need to know how to change a tyre". If we asked him something he would show us how to do it – and if he didn't know how, he would find out. He fostered that sense of curiosity in me.
The place I most like to call home ...
Wherever my cats are. I have two: Grace and Maggie.
Criminal by Karin Slaughter is published by Century priced, £18.99
Contextual targeting label:
