Authors Interviewing Characters: Eve Smith and Off Target

An unthinkable decision

A deadly mistake

When a one-night stand leads to a long-desired pregnancy, Susan will do anything to ensure her husband won’t find out … including the unthinkable. But when something horrendous is unleashed around the globe, her secret isn’t the only thing that is no longer safe…

In an all-too-possible near future, when genetic engineering has become the norm for humans, not just crops, parents are prepared to take incalculable risks to ensure their babies are perfect … altering genes that may cause illness, and more…

Susan has been trying for a baby for years, and when an impulsive one-night stand makes her dream come true, she’ll do anything to keep her daughter and ensure that her husband doesn’t find out … including the unthinkable.
She believes her secret is safe. For now.

But as governments embark on a perilous genetic arms race and children around the globe start experiencing a host of distressing symptoms – even taking their own lives – something truly horrendous is unleashed.

Because those children have only one thing in common, and people are starting to ask questions…

Bestselling author of The Waiting Rooms, Eve Smith returns with an authentic, startlingly thought-provoking, nail-biting blockbuster of a thriller that provides a chilling glimpse of a future that’s just one edit away…

Author Eve Smith interviews Susan, the protagonist from her latest speculative thriller, Off Target.

Hello, Susan! Thanks so much for joining me today, I know this must be a stressful time for you.

Susan: [pushes back hair and swallows] Yeah… You could say that.

Now, we’ve obviously heard a lot in the press about your … situation. Not to mention all that vitriolic outpouring on social media. It must have been pretty horrendous… Some people truly believe you’re some kind of monster… 

Susan: [bites lip] It’s not been easy…

No, I can only imagine. That’s why, when your friend Carmel got in touch, and suggested this interview, I said to myself: you know what? Carmel’s right. It’s about time our readers heard your side of the story.

Susan: [clasps hands together and nods] Thank you.

So… Can you tell us, in your own words…? What exactly led you to this point?

Susan: [takes a deep breath] Well, my husband and I… We’d been trying, for a long time, to have a baby. Over four years… We’d been back and forth to the doctor, and, well, it just wasn’t happening. [looks down] 
“Unexplained infertility”. That’s what they called it. No medical reason why we couldn’t conceive… But, despite following all the advice, taking endless supplements: we just couldn’t make it work… It was soul-destroying… [sighs] Like having some … undiagnosed, terminal disease…

I’m sorry. That must have been very difficult. So, did you … get help…? Try different treatments? 

Susan: [shakes her head] No. Steve wouldn’t—

Steve’s your husband…?

Susan: [hesitates] Yeah…

Why wouldn’t he get help?

Susan: It’s complicated… He’d been through it all before: the whole IVF marathon. In his previous marriage. And, well, it didn’t work. It broke them. He didn’t want to risk that happening again.

I see. Is that when you started having your affair?

Susan: I never had an affair! Don’t believe everything you read.

Oh, I thought—

Susan: It was a one-night stand, OK? I never meant for it to happen. It was just before Mother’s Day, I was in a real state… I’d had too much to drink, and it just … happened…

Right. Just a one-off, then, nothing more?

Susan: Absolutely.

And no one else knew? 

Susan: No. I tried to put it behind me, forget all about it… Then I found out I was pregnant… 

What did you do?

Susan: [exhales] At first, I was elated… When I saw that pink tick, I had this rush of sheer joy: I couldn’t believe it! After years of disappointment: month after month, the same grinding cycle of hope and dread.
[frowns] But then … when I saw the due date, I realised… That this baby, my baby … might not, actually… 

…be your husband’s…?

Susan: [sighs and nods] So I had a test, early on, and that confirmed it. The baby wasn’t Steve’s. If I went ahead with the pregnancy, Steve would find out, and that would be the end of my marriage. He’d never forgive me. 

Can I just stop you there, as not all our readers may be aware of the genetic screening they do now, for newborns. A sample of blood is taken just after birth, to test for potential genetic conditions. But the baby’s genetic profile not only shows the risk of different diseases, it clearly shows who the birth parents are, right?

Susan: That’s correct, yes. 

Which means there’s nowhere to hide in modern parenting, when it comes to illegitimacy… Not like in our mothers’ day, when women could pass off another man’s child relatively easily…

Susan: [looks down and swallows] 

So, Susan… Was that when you first contacted the clinic?

Susan: No: Carmel did that. [sits forward] You have to understand, I knew nothing about all this genetic tinkering. Nothing at all. I had no idea that parents were doing these kinds of things! Carmel, she was the one who first mentioned it. And initially, I thought she was crazy, but then… When I met him…

Sorry, who?

Susan: Dr Stakhovsky. My consultant. He made it all sound so … possible… So real.

Is he the same Stakhovsky that heads up a prestigious chain of fertility clinics?

Susan: Yes… I mean, he didn’t, back then, but… [twists fingers] He’s done very well for himself.

Some might say too well… But not all his clients have fared as well, have they? Or should I say his clients’ children?

Susan: [inhales sharply] Look: if I knew then, what I know now… About the dangers…

You’re saying he didn’t warn you?

Susan: He mentioned some things… But he brushed them away, told me not to worry. He assured me he knew how to fix it… 

And you believed him?

Susan: [nods slowly] Yes… I did. I suppose, looking back, I wanted to believe him…

And that was when you agreed. To go ahead with it.  

Susan: [jaw trembles] All I wanted was a family. I felt I didn’t have a choice…

I could keep my baby, and destroy my marriage. Or I could get rid of the baby, and never tell. [shakes head]
Stakhovsky offered me a third way… [eyes lift] And so I took it.

BUY OFF TARGET HERE

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Eve Smith writes speculative fiction, mainly about the things that scare her. She attributes her love of all things dark and dystopian to a childhood watching Tales of the Unexpected and Edgar Allen Poe double bills. She believes storytelling is more important than ever to engage people in real life issues. 

Longlisted for the Not the Booker Prize and described by Waterstones as “an exciting new voice in crime fiction”, Eve’s debut novel The Waiting Rooms, set in the aftermath of an antibiotic resistance crisis, was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize First Novel Award and was selected as a Book of the Month by Eric Brown in The Guardian. 

Her latest thriller, Off Target, explores the disturbing ethics and allure of a world where genetic engineering of humans has become routine.

Eve’s previous job as COO of an environmental charity took her to research projects across Asia, Africa and the Americas, and she has an ongoing passion for wild creatures, wild science and far-flung places. When she’s not writing she’s racing across fields after her dog, trying to organise herself and her family, or off exploring somewhere new.

Follow Eve on Twitter @evecsmith & www.evesmithauthor.com
Instagram: evesmithauthor Facebook: EveSmithAuthor

 

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Category: Contemporary Women Writers, Interviews, On Writing