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Lisa Unger is the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of twenty-two novels, including Close Your Eyes and Count to 10. With books published in thirty-three languages and millions of copies sold worldwide, she is regarded as a master of suspense.
Unger's critically acclaimed novels have been featured on "Best Book" lists from the Today Show, Good Morning America, Entertainment Weekly, People, Amazon, Goodreads, L.A. Times, The Boston Globe, Sun Sentinel, Tampa Bay Times and many others. She has been nominated for, or won, numerous awards including the Strand Critics, Audie, Hammett, Macavity, ITW Thriller, and Goodreads Choice. In 2019, she received two Edgar Award nominations in the same year, an honor held by only a few authors including Agatha Christie. Her short fiction has been anthologized in The Best American Mystery and Suspense, and her non-fiction has appeared in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Daily Telegraph, NPR, and Travel+Leisure. Lisa is the current co-President of the International Thriller Writers organization. She lives on the west coast of Florida with her family.
Lisa Unger's website
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What elements of the story
come from your own experience living in New York City?
For me and for most fiction writers, I think, it is true to say that
everything and nothing in my work is autobiographical. As much as the plot, the
events, and the characters are purely from my imagination, of course all of
these things are an amalgamation of my experiences, relationships, observations,
literary influences, etc.
In the case of Beautiful Lies, however, much of the setting has
been mined from my own history. The apartment where Ridley lives is an exact
recall of my first New York City apartment in the East Village. She stands where
I stood many a morning trying to hail a cab when she first spots Justin Wheeler.
Places like Five Roses and Veniero's are real places in that neighborhood and
places that I have loved. The streets she walks, the subways and taxis are all
from my direct experience. I have had a love affair with the city most of my
life. But it wasn't until after I'd left there, that all the beauty of it came
back to me. I know that place better than I know any other. For me it lives and
breathes; I can hear it and smell it and feel its rhythm when I write about it.
Is Ridley like you (or...
Julie Clark is the New York Times bestselling author of The Last Flight. It has earned starred reviews from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and Library Journal, and the New York Times has called it "thoroughly absorbing". It's ... (more)
If you enjoyed:
Beautiful Lies
Try:
The Last Flight
by Julie Clark
Harlan Coben was born and raised in New Jersey. After graduating from Amherst College as political science major, he worked in the travel industry. He now lives in New Jersey with his wife, Anne Armstrong-Coben MD, a... (more)
If you enjoyed:
Beautiful Lies
Try:
The Innocent
by Harlan Coben
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