Meg Gardiner Interviews Caitlin Hendrix, heroine of Shadowheart and the UNSUB series
Thriller superstars Stephen King and Janet Evanovich are among the many to praise the UNSUB series by Meg Gardiner. With Stephen King claiming, “Meg Gardiner is the next suspense superstar.” Critics agree, recognizing Meg as an Edgar Award winner and finalist for NPR’s 100 Best Thrillers Ever.
We are delighted to feature this character interview by Meg!
SHADOWHEART
“Meg Gardiner is the next suspense superstar.” STEPHEN KING
What happens when two serial killers begin to compete with each other?
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Meg Gardiner comes a new high-octane thriller in the acclaimed UNSUB series.
FBI Special Agent Caitlin Hendrix faces a case from nightmares.
In a Tennessee prison, Efrem Judah Goode draws haunting portraits of women he claims he has killed. Around the country, desperate families of the missing seek answers in his eerie drawings. And on darkened back roads and New York City streets, a new killer poses duct-taped bodies at the sites of Goode’s murders.
Two serial killers are locked in a twisted rivalry. To stop the brutal slayings, FBI profiler Caitlin Hendrix must unravel the connection between Goode and the Broken Heart Killer. Their warped competition destroys anyone in their path. Caught between a manipulative psychopath and a ruthless UNSUB, Caitlin has to dive into not one, but two dark and twisted minds. She will risk everything, plunging into the depths of their depraved clash to hunt down an unstoppable killer.
Meg Gardiner Interviews Caitlin Hendrix, heroine of Shadowheart and the UNSUB series
On I-80 near San Francisco Bay, whitecaps fleck the sparkling water. FBI Special Agent Caitlin Hendrix flies along the fast lane in her Toyota Highlander, her auburn hair whipping in the breeze.
Meg Gardiner: So, Caitlin, where are you going?
Caitlin Hendrix: Into my past. I grew up in the East Bay. I’d still live here if the FBI hadn’t sent me to Quantico to hunt serial predators. My mom’s place is beyond that hill, near Rock Ridge. So’s the cemetery.
MG: I loved your dad.
Caitlin nods tightly. Her smile is brief and melancholy.
Caitlin: I’ll be home in Virginia with Sean and Sadie tonight. You’ve got an hour to grill me.
MG: I’m not here to excavate your life.
Caitlin: Sure, babe. Thought we’d get tacos.
MG: I’m down. But—are you undercover? Flannel shirt, jeans, and Doc Martens… you ditched the FBI power suit.
CH: We’re getting tacos in Berkeley.
MG: Good point.
CH: Besides, I’m off the clock, and I have a hard rule: the job stays at the office.
MG: How’s that working out for you?
CH: You know very well. This case. Got one killer in prison, who’s drawing eerie portraits of women he claims he murdered. Got a copycat dropping bodies from North Carolina to New York City. They’re competing. It’s a frickin’ rivalry. And I got this Brooklyn teenager, gutsy kid, going balls-to-the-wall to find out if her birth mom is a victim. I can’t ease off. Downtime gives these killers an edge, and I can’t let them get that.
MG: You’ve been this way since you were a kid.
CH: You saying my childhood was wracked with anxiety?
MG: Wasn’t it?
CH: Dad was a cop. Anxiety was baked in. Yours?
MG: My childhood was carefree. Sunny. We played outside until the streetlights came on.
CH: Girl. You grew up in California with the Zodiac, political assassinations, the Symbionese Liberation Army kidnapping Patty Hearst…
MG: I felt safe. My parents saw to that.
CH: A serial killer was preying on your neighborhood and you didn’t know it.
MG [pausing]: Accurate.
CH: [gives side-eye]
MG: Yeah. Within walking distance of our house, there was a home invasion, then two double murders. It took decades before law enforcement connected the dots. It was the Golden State Killer.
CH: Brutal.
MG: This guy stalked the streets where I rode bikes. The creek where we caught tadpoles was his escape route. My family lived within sight of one crime scene. Realizing that he had almost certainly fled past my parents’ home after killing a couple nearby—it rocked me.
CH: But they caught him.
MG: Thank God—and dogged investigative work, and genetic genealogy. Joseph DeAngelo is locked in prison for life. And the sun feels brighter in my old neighborhood.
CH: Effin’ right.
MG: You don’t have to censor yourself in front of me. You can cuss.
CH: Heh. Yeah—genetic genealogy gives us a powerful tool to go along with behavioral analysis, forensics, interviewing witnesses and talking to freakazoid killers, flipping over the rocks in their psyches to expose the snakes in their heads…
MG: The job stresses you out.
CH: It challenges me.
MG: It gives you an adrenaline rush.
CH: I think people should love their jobs. And you turn your fears into stories, don’t you? That’s your rush.
MG: You’re profiling me.
CH: You catch on quick.
MG: Writing’s a healthy way of dealing with your fears. Put what scares you on the page instead of stewing in it. Write a story that grabs readers by the throat and pulls them along for the ride.
CH: Yeah, the ride. Where are you going?
MG: You mean, where are we going next? You think I’m going to tell you?
CH: I always try to get ahead of the game.
MG: No spoilers. Keeping people in suspense is my job.
CH: Fair. Let’s drive.
MG: Turn up the stereo.
Caitlin pumps up the volume on “Don’t Owe You a Thang” by Gary Clark Jr. and puts the pedal down.
Shadowheart is published June 18.
BUY SHADOWHEART HERE
Meg Gardiner is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of a number of critically acclaimed novels. Her thrillers have won the Edgar Award and been summer reading picks by the Today show and O, the Oprah Magazine. In August 2022 her novel, Heat 2, coauthored with Michael Mann, debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. A former lawyer and three-time Jeopardy! champion, Gardiner lives in Austin, Texas.
Category: On Writing
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