Interview with Britt Olsen, Heroine of She Will End This

SHE WILL END THIS

From USA Today bestselling author Colleen Coble and Rick Acker, the team behind I Think I Was Murdered. True crime writer Britt Olsen knows the minds of monsters. She never expected to share their DNA. Big Little Lies meets The Last Thing He Told Me.

A simple DNA test shatters everything Britt believes about her past. The father she loved was not her biological parent, and the mother she trusted has spent decades hiding her CIA past. Worse, Britt’s real father is a disgraced Mossad assassin known in the intelligence underworld as Abaddon.

Before Britt can process the truth, violence strikes.

Five-year-old Willow Hamilton–the president’s granddaughter–is kidnapped, and Abaddon becomes the prime suspect. Determined to help rescue the child, Britt joins forces with FBI Special Agent Stein Nordahl, a man who has spent years hunting the assassin responsible for his own father’s death. But trusting him may be as life-altering as learning the truth about her father.

As the search intensifies, Britt and Stein uncover a web of secrets that reaches deep into the intelligence world. Forced on the run through the unforgiving Pacific Northwest wilderness, they face deadly ambushes, corrupt agents, and betrayals from people they thought they could trust.

But time is running out for Willow.

To save the girl and stop Abaddon’s catastrophic plans, Britt must confront the darkest question of all–whether she is defined by the blood in her veins or the choices she makes.

Because the world’s most dangerous assassin has finally come looking for his daughter.

And in a battle shaped by secrets, betrayal, and faith, Britt must decide what kind of legacy she will claim.

She Will End This is a pulse-pounding romantic thriller from Colleen Coble and Rick Acker about family secrets, dangerous loyalties, and the choices that define us.

Interview with Britt Olsen, Heroine of She Will End This

Thanks for joining us, Britt. You’re a bestselling true-crime author who wound up in the middle of a true-crime story. How did that happen?

Britt Olsen: My part started with a simple genetic test, but that was just the latest chapter in a story that had been going on for decades. My parents carried terrible secrets that I knew nothing about. They buried the truth out of love, but truth has a way of coming unburied.

Your books tell the stories of real-life monsters—and you sometimes even get them to confess their crimes to you. How do you do it?

Britt: I’ve always had a gift for understanding how their minds work. Once I know enough about their crimes, I get a sense for what makes them tick. Do they hate women? Are they angry at men who remind them of their father? Do they plan their crimes for years or are they impulsive? Do they secretly want to brag about what they did? (Laughs) I love the braggarts of course—they’ll tell their whole story if you can get them talking.

Like the serial killer arsonist in your bestseller Footsteps in the Ashes.

Britt: Yes, exactly. He loved fire and whiskey, so I got him drinking whiskey and talking about fire. He was relaxed and sitting in his living room and he really wanted to tell someone how good he was at setting fires. By the time I walked out of his house, I had everything I needed for my book.

You were alone in a serial killer’s living room? You must have been terrified.

Britt: Actually, no. I can basically switch off my emotions in stressful situations. I call it going into my “cold place.” When I’m in that state, danger can be quite exhilarating.

That sounds like quite a talent. I’ll bet a lot of people wish they could turn off their emotions when things get stressful.

Britt: Well, there are downsides. I’ve struggled with relationships, and I think that might be related. My long-term boyfriend just left me, and the fact that I could just check out emotionally during fights may not have helped. Also, my “talent”—if you want to call it that—is fairly common among psychopaths, which gives me some sleepless nights.

Psychopaths—like your birth father, the assassin Abaddon?

Britt (nods): Learning about him was a huge shock. It explained a lot—and raised some new and really uncomfortable questions.

I’ll bet! How did your mother react when you confronted her?

Britt: It was a rough conversation, the first of several. She had wanted to protect me—and herself, I think. She didn’t know whose biological daughter I was and she didn’t want to know. And she definitely didn’t want Abaddon to know he had a daughter. She knew how he might react.

At least your mother had the training to help when Abaddon came for you. Did you know about her past in the CIA?

Britt: Not at all. She left that life completely after Abaddon attacked her. She moved across the country and settled in a little Norwegian town in the California redwoods. She got benefits from the federal government, but she said she had worked in the GSA buying paperclips for federal offices on the East Coast. It never occurred to me that she could be less boring than she seemed—but I guess that’s how most kids view their parents.

You really opened a can of worms when you innocently took that genetic test.

Britt: I did. But Dad—and that’s Lars Olsen, the only man I’ll ever consider my father—died of an awful genetic disease called Huntington’s, and I had to know whether I had it. The genetic testing company offered to upload my profile to a genealogy website, so I said sure, why not?

And the next thing you knew, you were in the back of a hijacked robotaxi.

Britt: Yes. The FBI had a standing search for any DNA matches with Abaddon, so they were notified when my profile showed I was a first-degree relative of his—but they weren’t the only ones who found out.

Is that how you met Special Agent Stein Nordahl, who has his own tragic connection to Abaddon?

Britt: Abaddon shattered Stein’s family. The surviving Nordahls never completely recovered. Stein hides it well, but he carries deep scars. I’m thankful that Stein’s pursuit of Abaddon brought him into my life, but I’m grieved by the wounds he suffered at the hands of my birth father. I wonder if Stein will ever recover enough to want a family of his own.

Your birth father hurt a lot of people, and now he has kidnapped a little girl who’s very important—and also very sick.

Britt: And very brave. Willow Hamilton is the President’s granddaughter, and Abaddon views her as nothing more than a valuable bargaining chip. I don’t know what he hopes to trade her for, but it’s bad—and I doubt he’ll care much whether she survives. I’m praying Stein and I can rescue her before it’s too late.

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Colleen Coble is the USA Today and Publishers Weekly bestselling author of more than eighty-five books and is best known for her coastal romantic suspense novels. Connect with her online at colleencoble.com; Instagram: @colleencoble; Facebook: @colleencoblebooks; X: @colleencoble.

Rick Acker writes during breaks from his “real job” as a Supervising Deputy Attorney General in the California Department of Justice. He is the author of over a dozen acclaimed suspense novels. He is also a contributing author on two legal treatises published by the American Bar Association. Connect with him online at rickacker.com; Instagram: @rick_acker; X: @authorrickacker

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Category: Interviews, On Writing