I've been mulling over what it is I'm writing. I understand that it's not the most essential thing in the world of writing to worry about now. I know that I'm writing a thriller. That much is clear to me. When I look at the story from the main character's perspective, it's clearly character-driven. My protagonist is a trans woman who has PTSD. Though she has a degree in criminal psychology, studied at the police academy, working toward a career as a criminal profiler, she abandoned her dream after a traumatic incident. She becomes a novelist, living in the countryside of Quebec, far from triggering situations, or so she believes.
After many years of relative success as an author and chosen isolation, all hell breaks loose. She is pulled into what will become a race to stop a serial killer who is murdering LGBTQ+ people to get her attention before coming for her.
There’s a big body count, twists and turns as we follow the heroine’s efforts to not only deal with PTSD and its effects on her but also apply, until then, unused abilities as a profiler to figure out who the killer is and stop them before it’s too late. There's a strong psychological component to the story, a straightforward trans and queer narrative, all in a rural setting that promises peace and calm.
I’ve been mulling over my writing since this was my debut novel. I knew without hesitation that it was a thriller, that it had elements of a crime thriller, even, but it is my sense that it has all the elements of a psychological thriller. Welcome to the world of Mary Dubois.