Michigan Family Travel

Many months ago, I came across a Facebook group dedicated to psychological thriller readers. As an avid thriller fan, this group offers various recommendations for great reads from one of my favorite genres. With each post, readers share their thoughts and more often than not, another book is added to my TBR. I’m clearly not alone in this as the group has grown to an impressive 1.8 million members. One February evening, while scrolling online, I came across a post in the group from local Michigan author Jessica Gomez. She shared that she had placed signed copies of her debut novel, Pieces of You, in several Little Free Libraries around the area. Shortly after seeing this post, I set off, with my family along for the ride, to my neighborhood book box and discovered one of her signed copies tucked inside!

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Behind the Book

As we step into Summerween this Augtober, I had the chance to sit down with Jessica and talk about Pieces of You, her writing journey, and the inspiration behind her debut.

Pieces of You is a haunting thriller that follows Nora Aberdeen’s emotional investigation into suspicious female deaths. It blends psychological tension with a heartfelt exploration of grief and relationships while keeping readers on edge until the final page.

What inspired you to write this particular thriller? Was there a moment or idea that sparked the story?

I watch a lot of true crime, and I was watching these documentaries and recognized a common theme about the killers having some sort of issue with their mother. It’s either the absence of a mother, their mother was violent towards them, or they witnessed domestic violence in their home. There was always some sort of tie into that maternal figure. All of this was swirling in my head and I wanted to write something that was more of a dive into why the killer is doing something rather than what he’s doing.

Why psychological thrillers?

I’ve been into spooky basically since I was a little kid, so it was just natural based on this genre I enjoy.

Your protagonist is complex and psychologically layered in her dealing with grief and her relationship with her now deceased mother—how did you develop Nora?

Nora has to find herself and figure out how to be a strong woman on her own for the first time. 

I really liked writing her character because she’s sort of a little bit of a mess in the beginning, and then she finds this purpose and through that, begins to get a little bit stronger. By the end, the grief has not gone away, but she is a little bit better equipped to handle it.

I think a lot about why people do things they do. If this happened to this person, how would they react? How is that going to affect other things in their life?

I appreciate you saying that she was complex because I wanted to write her that way. She is not a perfect person and I didn’t want her to be a perfect person because there is no perfect person. She doesn’t always make the choices that she technically should be making, but that’s life.

Are any characters inspired by real people (even loosely)?

There are bits and pieces of my life in there that are a tiny bit true, but they’re more of an inspiration than based on a direct event that happened. I personally went through bouts of depression and anxiety, so I certainly could speak to that for Nora in some ways.

How early in the writing process did you know the ending? 

When I first started writing in very early days, I didn’t know who the killer was. The person that ends up being the killer, I was not always going to make them the antagonist.

But… no spoilers.

It’s funny because many people are interested in the twist. For me, I’m not as interested in the twist as I am in the story, the backstory, and the actual psychological part. 

What was the most difficult scene to write—and why? Do you have a favorite scene?

The most difficult scene to write was when Nora is thinking back on her time right after her parents died, and she’s frozen in her grief and in this space of not necessarily wanting to die, but in a state of I don’t really care. As that scene played out, I wanted to get it right and I wanted to make sure it was true to how someone like that would be feeling in that moment. I wouldn’t say it was difficult to write, but it was a scene I revisited a lot because I wanted it to be very emotional and telling about the kind of feeling she was having. I wanted you to really understand how dark of a place she was in without being disrespectful about it. That scene had the most editing and rewrites along the way.

There’s a few chapters that are from the perspective of the killer and those really were my favorite to write and came the easiest to me. It happens late in the book and I thought… Oh, finally, I get to write this part! I am tapped into what the person is thinking and their disregard for other people and how they justify that.  

Are there other psychological thrillers—books, films, or shows—that influenced your writing style?

The movie Kiss the Girls from the 90s starring Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman which is based on the Alex Cross series of books. I can remember watching the film in high school and I really liked the setting, the twists, and how creepy it was. I liked that the characters were strong people.

What’s next for you? Another book?

It’s funny you ask since people will read the book in just a couple days then ask when the next book is coming out. It took me a really long time to write Pieces of You.

So, nothing quite yet.

You know, some people can knock them out. I can’t.

But, I’ve got a couple works in progress. I don’t have a full fledged synopsis of anything yet. I’m writing one based in Greenwich, Connecticut, and I visited there to just drive around town for a couple days and understand the scenery, and what it’s like there, and sit down in the coffee shop and listen to conversations. Writers do that.

I am also working on a story that I’m going to set in Wells, Maine, which is a place that I’ve gone several times with family over the years.

Anything else you’d like to share with our readers about yourself or Pieces of You?

If you’re a reader that is into something with emotional backstory, Pieces of You is for you. Some people are interested in more commercial things where it’s about what happened and the twist. This is more about understanding the complexity of the characters and the relationships to each other and why they do the things they do. While it is creepy, it is also emotional.

This article is part of a series called Booked in the Mitten by Andrea Melaragni. If you love books as much as we do, simply type “Booked in the Mitten” or “Andrea Melaragni” in the search bar. Have an idea for her next article- a favorite bookstore? an awesome Michigan writer? a must-see bookish landmark?- comment below.

Readers can find Pieces of You by Jessica Gomez online (available for kindle, in paperback and hardcover formats).

It is also in select independent bookstores such as Road Less Traveled in Farmington, Eras Bookstore in Oxford, Nacho Mama’s Bookstore in Hamilton, Flourish Books & Plants in New Buffalo, and Elephant Ear Books in Plymouth. Stop in and support your local bookstore. 

Upcoming Events

September 13th: Author’s Alley Multi-Author Signing Event in Downtown Brighton, hosted by 2 Dandelions Bookshop

September 30th: Zoom with the author, hosted by Sisterhood of the Traveling Bookclub 

October 25th: Adult Book Fair ticketed event with Things to Do Metro Detroit

Follow Jessica Gomez

FB: Writer Jessica Gomez 

Insta: @WriterJessicaGomez

TikTok: @WriterJessicaGomez

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Written by

Andrea Melaragni