Good morning! Today we’re catching up with thriller author Jason Stokes and his debut novel, Watcher.
“Riveting Psychological Thriller that kept me guessing until the end. All of the characters in the book were well-developed and the plot kept me on the edge of my seat. I can’t wait to read more of this author’s work.”
— Dawn Hosmer, Author of Bits & Pieces
Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you write.
Hi, I am an author and artist from western North Carolina. I write in a number of genres but my first published work is a mystery/suspense novel set in the Asheville, NC region.
Tell us about your latest book.
Watcher is about a young woman who has MS. Alone, secluded from society she’s learned to watch the world through her computer screen. When her activities cause her to stumble across a vicious crime, she finds herself in the middle of a tangled web of corruption that involves the city’s most powerful citizens, it’s politicians and the police force. Forced to choose between her own safety and a woman she’s never met, time is running out to clear her name and catch a killer.
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Rear Window meets The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
Teri is a watcher. Robbed of her strength and mobility, she has become a silent witness to the lives of others. When she stumbles across a crime so vicious that it forces her to choose between herself and a woman she’s never met, Teri has to untangle a web of corruption in an insulated mountain town before she’s the next to disappear. Read more > |
What sparked the idea for Watcher?
I actually wrote the original synopsis for a contest to work with James Patterson. Luckily I lost. When I took a second look at it I decided this was a really good story but the protagonist was all wrong. I’ve been married to a wonderful woman with MS for five years and I wanted someone she could relate to, someone people that struggle with her symptoms and ones like them could relate to and see themselves for who they are, real people capable of extraordinary things. I rewrote the whole premise and it fell together from there. It was so powerful I decided this had to be the one to get published first.
Your main character suffers from MS. Will you tell us about how this affects her life and the extraordinary resilience she displays through the story?
MS is a disease that can come in many varieties and no two people are affected the same. Teri, for instance struggles with leg strength, fatigue and depression. She needs a cane to get around most days, she requires medication to make it through an entire day and her nervous system is unreliable. In an action-packed role, this seems like a nonstarter but she is also resilient, determined and clever. I think her actions highlight how people with disabilities can struggle in one department but will often find ways to become extraordinary in others to compensate. You can never count her out and she’s not afraid to take a risk when the stakes are high.
What is the strangest activity you’ve done to help you understand and connect with an element of your characters’ lives?
I spent an inordinate amount of time understanding how to hack webcams to get a feel for the process and watching cams (not hacked). I also visited every scene in the novel at some point, running through the scenes to make sure they flow properly. We took a trip to a fictional housing development to measure out land plots and make sure the mini-mansions would fit, test the water for temperature and check the local foliage. Strange or not I guess it counts more as perfectionism.
Are there any literary pilgrimages you took to draw inspiration for this story? Or any which impacted this story?
This is the only novel I didn’t have to travel for actually. Since the setting is in my backyard. However, since the seed was planted while I was still living in Phoenix, AZ you could say I moved two thousand miles to find the right location.
Did you hide any secrets in your book intended for close friends and family to find?
Close friends and family were heavily involved in the early stages. It felt good to give back by placing many of them in the story. One of the nicest and genuine people I’ve ever known got to be the secondary villain – I think he feels genuinely sorry that his character is so awful to Teri. A few locations were based on homes friends live in. In general there’s a running gag where catch phrases often used by a specific friend are sprinkled throughout.
Are there any deleted scenes or short stories from Teri’s world where readers might get a taste of what’s to come?
Maybe….you’ll have to read on to find out.
Can readers expect a sequel?
I’ve been asked that a lot. Watcher was intended as a standalone but I won’t rule it out.
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Jason Stokes is an author and artist living in the mountains of western North Carolina. When he’s not at work in the studio he’s raising a pair of indomitable Cornish Rex cats and travelling the world with his wife and best friend, Anna.
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