Touchstone Books

Product Description

NOW A USA TODAY AND PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BESTSELLER!

??Every page is packed with both peril and exquisite writing?? and the novel reads like a wholly unique cross between Somewhere in Time and Memento. You won??t be able to put it down!?? (David Bell?? author of Since She Went Away)

From bestselling author A.J. Banner comes a dazzling new novel of psychological suspense in the vein of S.J. Watson??s Before I Go to Sleep and Mary"??s The Good Girl that questions just how much we can trust the people around us.

Thirty-four-year-old marine biologist Kyra Winthrop remembers nothing about the diving accident that left her with a complex form of memory loss. With only brief flashes of the last few years of her life?? her world has narrowed to a few close friendships on the island where she lives with her devoted husband?? Jacob.

But all is not what it seems. Kyra begins to have visions?or are they memories??of a rocky marriage?? broken promises?? and cryptic relationships with the island residents?? whom she believes to be her friends.

As Kyra races to uncover her past?? the truth becomes a terrifying nightmare. A twisty?? immersive thriller?? The Twilight Wife will keep readers enthralled through the final?? shocking twist.

Amazon.com Review

AJ Banner

Photo Credit: Carol Ann Morris

Victoria Helen Stone

Photo Credit: Victoria Dahl

VHS: I loved the Pacific Northwest setting of THE TWILIGHT WIFE. My next book HALF PAST is set in Big Sur a similarly lonely coast and a great place to isolate my characters with their struggles. Why did you set your book in the Pacific Northwest?

AB: Who could resist the dark forests of the San Juan Islands as the setting for novels of psychological suspense? Some of those isles are uninhabited while others are so small they disappear at high tide. The infamous Barefoot Bandit hid out on San Juan Island. And I thought who knows who else could be lurking in those woods?

I live in a house in the forest on the Olympic Peninsula so I know this misty mysterious landscape. I know the way the wind feels on my face when Im out on the deck of the ferry the quality of light the species of wildlife that visit our garden. My home office overlooks a fir forest. Every time I glance up from my laptop computer I see the setting of my novels!

VHS: What was the most difficult part about writing a character with amnesia? What kind of research did you have to do for the book?

AB: The most difficult part of writing from Kyras point of view was climbing into her head and trying to understand her thoughts. I gathered her emotions fear uncertainty worry hope and translated them onto the page as best I could. But I needed to make sure she didnt become shrill or irritating to the reader. She couldnt wallow in self-pity. She needed to keep trying to rebuild her life and her marriage to keep seeking the truth of her past.

For research I read books on memory and types of memory loss and I studied books on marine biology since Kyra is a marine biologist.

VHS: Issues of trust secrets and questions about what you really know about the people you love are at the heart of both our books. What do you think are some key ingredients that make a good psychological suspense novel? How does your book fit into that genre and does it play with any of those elements?

AB: Readers should care about what happens to the protagonist and the story should pose intriguing pressing questions that drive the narrative through unexpected twists and turns and are not answered until the end. For example?? in your wonderful book?? EVELYN?? AFTER?? we know from nearly the beginning that Evelyn has secrets?? about an accident?? about an affair?? but we don??t know why?? how?? when or what the outcome of rev