Scathed by Sue Coletta

On a picturesque fall morning in Grafton County, New Hampshire, a brutal murder rocks the small town of Alexandria. In the backyard of a weekend getaway cabin a dead woman is posed in red satin with two full-bloomed roses in place of eyes and a mysterious envelope addressed to Sheriff Niko Quintano.

Inside, Paradox vows to kill again if his riddle isn’t solved within 24 hours.

With so little time and not enough manpower, Niko asks his wife for help. But Crime Writer Sage Quintano is dealing with her own private nightmare. Not only did she find massive amounts of blood on the mountain where she and her family reside, but a phone call from the past threatens her future—the creepy mechanical voice of John Doe, the serial killer who murdered her twin sister.

Can Niko and Sage solve the riddle in time to save the next victim? Or will the killer, or killers, win this deadly game of survival?

Award-winning author Sue Coletta spent some time with The Big Thrill discussing her latest thriller, SCATHED:

What do you hope readers will take away from this book?

No matter what life throws at us, strong family bonds have the ability to heal our wounds. Conversely, secrets can tear a family apart.

How does this book make a contribution to the genre?

Do you mind if I use blurbs here to answer this question?

“For someone not named Patterson, Harris or Lindsay, Sue Coletta has reinvented the serial killer genre without stepping over the tropes for which we flock to it.”
~Larry Brooks, USA Today Bestselling Author

“Sue Coletta doesn’t just write thrillers. She lives them. And she has the talent to draw readers inside the cruel, depraved world with her. She crawls inside the reader’s head and allows the reader to crawl inside her head and witness the mystery, feel the fear and suspense right along with her.”
~International Bestselling Author Caleb Pirtle III

What authors or books have influenced your career as a writer, and why?

The most notable influence is Thomas Harris. Silence of the Lambs opened a doorway for me that could never be closed. Harris’ study of psychology and how he used real-world serial killers’ psychopathy in fiction was nothing short of brilliant. My innate fascination with the same subject matter drives me to uncover what lurks inside those who kill. He also taught me how to craft believable villains, who are not all evil. Even the most vicious serial killer has a few relatable or empathetic traits. It’s our responsibility as storytellers to show readers a complete picture rather than mere fragments of it.

*****

Member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and International Thriller Writers, Sue Coletta is an award-winning, bestselling, multi-published author in numerous anthologies and her forensics articles have appeared in InSinC Quarterly.

In 2017 Feedspot honored Sue’s Murder Blog with the Top 50 Crime Blogs On the Net Award. Sue’s also the communications manager for the Serial Killer Project and Forensic Science and founder of #ACrimeChat on Twitter. In October 2017, Sue became a member of the Kill Zone, a top award-winning writing blog. She posts every other Monday.

To learn more about Sue, please visit her website.