Five Questions with Author Kat Rosenfield

We talk twists, gothic novels, Stan Lee and more

In No One Will Miss Her, Kat Rosenfield pulled off one of the best twists I’ve read in a thriller since Gone Girl. I gasped out loud when I listened to it while walking the dog last year, so I was thrilled when she agreed to an interview.

I’ve been saving Kat’s second thriller You Must Remember This, about an old-money family snowed in on island, for a special occasion. (Probably fall? It sounds like the perfect fall book.)

In addition to writing thrillers, Kat is a freelance writer and podcaster. She’s also written two YA books and collaborated with Stan Lee on one of the Marvel creator’s last works. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

I’m not going to say what the twist in You Must Remember This is, but did you go into the writing process knowing you were going to make that reveal mid-way through?

I think of the construction of a book like creating a labyrinth with the reveal at the center. Sometimes, it’s more of a journey, where the big reveal is at the end and you get the denouement, but for You Must Remember This it comes halfway through, and there’s still story beyond that.

Knowing that I was going to be weaving my way through this maze, going to the center, revealing the monster that lurks inside the maze and then leading the reader and monster hand-in-hand back out, I thought the journey on the way in and out had to be compelling in their own way.

Everyone knows going in there’s going to be a twist, so I had to allow for the knowledge that something is happening and allow glimpses of it for people looking hard. It also had to be compelling in its own right, so people don’t just flip to the end to find out what happened.

And, then, the twist has to make sense. It has to be possible for people to go back and say ‘I see how this was layered under the surface.’ Readers do not like to feel cheated at the end.

What can you share about You Must Remember This?

You Must Remember This is my stab at a gothic mystery, with a little bit of a historical element to it. It takes place in two timelines. In 2014, a fractured family has gathered on the coast of Maine at an old crumbling estate. They are there to celebrate what they think will be their matriarch Miriam’s last Christmas. Her three children and granddaughter have converged to say their goodbyes and maybe to get in good for their inheritance. Because when Miriam dies, she's going to leave behind about $20 million, and everybody wants a piece of it. Then, on Christmas Eve, in the middle of the night, Miriam slips out of the house. She walks out onto the frozen beach, falls through the ice and dies.

In the present day, Miriam's granddaughter, Delphine, starts to ask questions about her grandmother's death. The story also goes back in time to show Miriam as a younger woman and the experience of her life unfolding. She had a romance with a local boy, even though she was from a wealthy family. Her choice to involve herself with this man ended up catalyzing a series of events that will end up haunting her until her death. [Editor’s note: Do you see why this sounds like the perfect fall book?]

Gothic lit is having a bit of a moment. Why do you think that is?

I think the pandemic has a lot to do with it. With Gothic literature, there's almost always a woman trapped in the house in some way. And during the pandemic, what were we if not all trapped inside our houses? These sort of domestic settings, where there's something sinister going on, captured the imaginations of a lot of writers during the pandemic. I don't think it's surprising that now we're seeing the fruits of all of that labor.

What was it like working with Stan Lee?

It was so exciting and extremely intimidating. It was when I first came on the scene, working with The Godfather of all superhero media, oh my goodness.

Stan was miraculously energetic for a man of 95. He had such an incredible grasp of story and of how to construct something that was exciting. He himself was very excited about not just doing a novel, which was the one form of storytelling he'd never engaged in somehow. He was very excited to do something that was set in the digital age. He was really interested in the internet and in its social and societal implications. He understood that in a way that was at once as a digital native, but also seeing it from a 30,000-foot vantage point. There were a lot of implications to what we had unleashed with this technology that we had not even yet begun to reckon with. It was one of the greatest honors of my life, so far.

Lastly, any books you want to recommend?

I just finished reading a book that's not out yet, but I highly recommend it. Here in Avalon by Tara Isabella Burton. It's a sort of New York City, magical realist mystery. She creates this amazing world. It’s such a portrait of New York and also, magical, and I almost want to say subterranean. But that's not the right word, maybe subcultural. I can't recommend it enough.

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Thanks to Kat for chatting. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram, check out her books and her podcast.

Quick reminder that the Books for Maui auction is open through tomorrow.

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