No one believes him. Will it be too late?
Unable to escape his past, Matt Stone heads North leaving behind the memory of his dead wife and son. His journey takes a turn when he comes across his late son's doppelgänger; Trevor Reed. Blinded by the resemblance, Matt becomes obsessed and begins stalking him. Little does Trevor know, he becomes wrapped up in Matt’s delusions. Concerned, Trevor's mom, Jesse, enlists the help of the local authorities to keep him safe. Despite the involvement of police and eventually the inclusion of the FBI and an enthusiastic reporter, Trevor disappears. The Reeds will do anything to get their son back which results in a chase starting in the suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts to an Island on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. Will their efforts be enough? Will they find Matt and Trevor? Or will they be too late?
Wild Women Authors is pleased to welcome debut author S. Hilbre Thomson as she celebrates the release of her first novel, Trevor, a current release out of the Wild Rose Press. With author Thomson is investigative reporter Karen Copeland who will go first.
Good morning, Karen, tell us a bit about Trevor.
It is a story about a young boy who
is being stalked by a man named Matthew Stone. Stone believes Trevor to be his
son, Tommy who died at the age of five. While he knows the boy isn’t his son,
he can’t help slipping in and out of the fantasy that he found his boy again. As
a reporter for a local paper in North Carolina, I follow Matt Stone to
Massachusetts and then New Hampshire. Matt wanted to start over after losing
his wife in a brutal home invasion and then later his son in an accidental
shooting. When he gets to Massachusetts, he spots who he believes to be his son
riding on a school bus. He follows the bus to the boy’s house and starts spying
on him. Trevor’s family and friends enlist the help of family friend and local
cop, Joe, to protect Trevor. Karen follows the story and gets entwined with
Joe, Trevor and Matt, as law enforcement tries to catch the man and keep the
young boy safe.
What made you choose reporting for a profession? I always loved to write and had an interest in telling
true stories. I know that often the story gets told to sensationalize, often at
the expense of the truth. I want to tell the real story, and highlight how we
can perhaps stop some of the bad things that are happening from happening in
the first place.
Knowing what you know now, if you had it to do over
again, would you stick with being a reporter or do something different? I
can’t think of anything other than writing or maybe being a private
investigator, that I would want to do. In theory, I would have loved to be able
to skip some of the more mundane stories I had to write, but they helped me
learn my craft and gain patience, which I never really had.
What is your biggest fear? My biggest fear would be getting the story wrong, or
someone being hurt by something I wrote.
Who is your favorite fictional character and why? I think most of my friends and I grew up reading Nancy
Drew stories and that is where I caught the investigative bug. As I grew up, I
found other fictional detectives like Lindsey Boxer from the Women’s Murder
Club from James Patterson and Kinsey Millhone from Sue Grafton. They all defy
traditional female roles and go get what they want. They also are all trying to
set things right and hold people accountable for their actions.
What is the best piece of advice you ever received? My twin brother, Teddy, has never sugar coated
anything. He has always told me to stop making excuses and just go do it,
whatever it was! I am a master excuse maker, and he doesn’t abide by that.
Thanks for spending time with
us, Karen. Now we’d like to chat with your creator, S. Hilbre Thomson.
Which writer or
character[s], from either books or movies, have had a major impact on your
writing? I have been an avid reader since
middle school. Over the years I have gone from Dean Koontz and Stephen King
where the scarier the better, to thriller, murder mystery with authors like
James Patterson, John Grisham, Patricia Cornwell and Sue Grafton.
With regard to research, where did you start for this
novel? Did that lead you down different paths, thereby changing the original
concept? I started with the hope of
making a character that was the protagonist being flawed in very humanizing
ways. I wanted my readers to like him and want him to be ok, at the same time
be angry and want him caught. As I came up with the idea of him stalking a
child I needed to make him likable. He needed to have experienced significant
trauma himself. Watching your own wife and child die would certainly mess a
person up. Then the other characters needed to be realistic as well, having
their own challenges that make them flawed as well. While I wasn’t exactly sure
how I was going to tell the story, I wanted to include scenes on Lake
Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. I have been going there for almost thirty years
and love the lake and the small towns that surround it as a backdrop for a
thriller.
Tell us a bit about your publisher. How did you hear
about them; what influenced you to submit to them? I am published through The Wild Rose Press. I found
that group through a friend who also published her first books with them,
Katheryn Knight. She introduced me to Alicia Dean who became my editor.
How was the submission process; what is the
turn-around time from date of query to date of release? Their process and turn around was almost a year to the
date of me signing with them, which was what they had stated would likely be
the timeline. I worked with Alicia on
several drafts where her direct constructive criticism helped Trevor become a
much better version than the one I started with. I was lucky that the first
group I submitted to picked up the book!
What are you reading right now? I don’t have as much time during the school year to
read for pleasure, for I teach six grade. I have found many books and authors
that I love while previewing for my students. Jennifer Neilson and Mary Amato
have become favorites with my students and myself. Over the summer I tend to read James
Patterson, John Grisham, and other books in that genre.
What's next for you? I am working on my next book which will feature Karen
Copeland as she returns south to try to unravel the mystery of who killed
Matthew Stone’s wife, which is what started the poor man on his downward
spiral. She will have to dredge up new evidence from this cold case which will
lead her down some very dark paths. Joe, the cop from Trevor will play a
part as well- they started a romance in the first book, and we are going to see
where that goes!
The halls were noisy and
there was enough confusion in the school to allow Matt to slip into the hall to
look for Tommy’s room. Unexpectedly, Matt saw him being escorted by a short woman
to the boy’s bathroom. Matt stood and pulled the fire alarm down as quickly as
he could. Startled looks from students and teachers alike. He even heard a
teacher say, “What a horrible time for a drill!”
Teachers
called to students to get in their lines. The elfin woman opened the boy’s room
door to clear it out as Trevor appeared wide-eyed. Not knowing the full
situation surrounding the boy, she sent him next door to his class. “Go with
them, I will tell your parents to meet you outside.” She pushed him along and
hurried back to the office.
Trevor was the last one in
line and followed his class out, keeping his eyes on his teacher. He didn’t see the man walking up beside him.
As they reached the double doors and stepped outside, the man took the boy’s
hand. Trevor looked up and pulled away, eyes full of recognition and fear.
“Come with me, Tommy, you will be okay.”
“Leave me alone!” He
started running even though he knew there was no running during a fire drill,
no talking either, but he yelled anyway. “Mrs. Johnson! Mrs. Johnson! Help!”
www.shilbrethomson.com
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Amazon link
Barnes and Noble link
Instagram @shilbre
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