Behind The Book With J.T. Ellison 

A year or two ago, I did a Q&A with J.T. Ellison under her Joss Walker name, and now we are reunited to discuss her upcoming release, Last Seen, which will be available on August 1st! If you enjoy mysteries like I do, I recommend going to Amazon or wherever you get your books and start preordering! 😉 

 Q: I’m so glad you’re back for another interview for Book Notions! Would you give a brief description of Last Seen? Where did the idea for the book come from? 

 A: Thrilled to be back! Last Seen is the story of Halley James, a forensic scientist having the worst day of her life. She’s just been fired, her separation from her beloved husband is going through, and her father has fallen and needs surgery. She leaps at the excuse to go home…only to stumble onto a long-held family secret in her father’s private papers. She’s always been told her mother and sister died in a car accident — but her mother was murdered…and her sister did it. 

Q: Which were your favorite scenes to create for the book? I especially enjoyed reading Halley’s point of view and Cat’s point of view & the descriptions of the woods and everything else in the novel were very atmospheric. It made you feel as though you were there. 

A: I really enjoyed everything in Brockville, the biophilic community where Cat, Halley’s sister, went missing fifteen years earlier. It’s such a lovely but sinister place, tucked into a valley in the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was easy to imagine. I grew up in a forest, so I understand innately the claustrophobia that comes from isolated settings. And of course, the writer’s retreat felt very familiar. I’ve been in those critique sessions, and they are brutal! 

My stories play out like movies in my mind, so I’m glad to hear that translated to the page. 

Q: How long did it take you to write Last Seen? Are there any messages & emotions you want readers to take away after reading the novel? 

 A: It took about a year. I had a very sick cat, Jameson, who was nearing the end of her life, and the night I wrote the synopsis was her last. I will forever believe she gave me this story. So, I came at it from a place of complete bereavement, and it mimics Halley’s grief at discovering her mother’s death wasn’t what she always believed. She must grieve all over again, in a different way, trying to comprehend both the truth and the lies her father has been telling her. She’s lost faith in him, her best friend and the most important figure in her life. Her grief makes her reckless and sends her on the path to discover the truth, which lies in the isolated, biophilic community of Brockville. And of course, the path leads to great danger.

It’s also an examination of what isolation does to the psyche. How does it warp and shift your moral structures? Trust me when I say that seclusion and isolation breed a particular kind of creativity, for better or for worse. 

This story has depth and gravitas, and I want the readers to put themselves in Halley’s shoes and decide what, if anything, they’d do differently if faced with a mountain of personal destruction.

Q: With how the book ended, the book leaves enough open for a sequel. What would you hope would happen in a sequel in the future? 

A: That’s hard to discuss without giving a lot away, but Halley would undoubtedly be on a new path, with a new job, and righting some serious wrongs along the way. There are some unanswered questions, for sure. I like to leave the door open in my standalones, just in case.

Q: If Last Seen were to become a TV series or a movie, who would be your dream cast to play the characters? I think for Halley, I would want either Anna Kendrick or Megan Fahy from White Lotus. 

A: I have such a hard time with this question because there are so many astoundingly talented actors out there, all of whom would bring different strengths to the story. Both of your choices would be fun…I could also see Alexandra Daddario in the lead. She has that intensity and tenacity in her eyes; you can just tell she wouldn’t give up until she had the truth. 

J.T. Ellison is the Nashville-based New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than 30 psychological thrillers, and the Emmy® award-winning co-host of A Word on Words on Nashville PBS. She created the Taylor Jackson and Dr. Samantha Owens series, co-wrote the Brit in the FBI series with Catherine Coulter, and has penned multiple standalone hits like A Very Bad Thing, It’s One of Us, and Lie to Me. With millions of books sold across 30 countries, her work has earned the ITW Thriller Award, Indie Next picks, Amazon Editor’s Pick, Book of the Month, among other honors. Last Seen is her most recent thriller.

 Follow her @thrillerchick and read about the process of writing Last Seen at The Creative Edge Substack. (https://jtellison.substack.com)