Meet Best-selling
Author JT Ellison
1. What first inspired you to write thrillers?
Before I started writing, I used to gobble down the early Patricia Cornwell, James
Patterson, Tami Hoag and Catherine Coulter novels like they were gumdrops. Brilliant
characterizations, pacing, and storylines, lots of harrowing situations and cutting edge
science. But it wasn’t until I started reading John Connolly and John Sandford that my
voice came alive. I was three books into the PREY series when I knew this was what I
wanted to do.
2. Out of all of your published novels to date, which one would you say was your
most favorite to write?
The Immortals. It was the only book I didn’t have horrible nightmares whilst writing. And
the research was a lot of fun.
3. Your latest best-selling thriller, What Lies Behind, is an incredible masterpiece.
Dr. Samantha Owens is a main character in this highly anticipated novel. What lead
you to create such believable character that readers can easily connect with on
every level?
Thank you for that kind compliment! Samantha is every woman. She’s highly intelligent
and has great natural investigative instincts, but she could easily be your girlfriend, the
one you confide in, who you turn to in dark times for support. She played that role for
Taylor Jackson in the earlier series, and now that she’s out on her own, she’s very
appealing. And she’s far from perfect, which I think it makes her very relatable. She makes
mistakes, gets edgy and impatient, maybe has one to many Scotches. She’s fun, and
strong, and independent, but warm and open.
4. Going through all of your stories, which characters of yours were easier to write
and which were the hardest?
Sam’s been the hardest, for sure. Because she’s so open and vulnerable, because she’s
had and lost children, because she’s a woman who was at the top of her game and had
her legs cut out from under her, and has been struggling to find herself. Taylor is the
embodiment of my hero complex. Sam is the embodiment of my nightmares, of what could
happen if everything in my life was stripped away.