Lindsay Cameron Interview - Just One Look ~ JeanBookNerd

Photo Content from Lindsay Cameron

Lindsay Cameron worked as a corporate lawyer for many years in Vancouver and New York City before leaving the law behind to write books. Her first novel, Biglaw, was published in 2015. Just One Look is her suspense debut. She lives in New York City where she is currently at work on her next book.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ballantine Books (July 27, 2021)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0593159055
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593159057

Praise for JUST ONE LOOK

"I inhaled Just One Look. I was going to read one chapter, then one chapter became the whole thing. YUM." —Caroline Kepnes, New York Times bestselling author of the You series

“A brilliantly addictive exploration of modern loneliness and obsession, with hints of The Girl on the Train.” —Helen Monks Takar, author of Precious You

“Lindsay Cameron has penned a relentlessly gripping and cunning tale of the new Pandora’s box—the inbox. Just One Look had me promising myself just one more chapter, just one more page, just one, until—oops—I was done.” —Chandler Baker, New York Times bestselling author of Whisper Network

“Will leave you chilled to the bone.” —PopSugar

“You will be obsessed after the first paragraph. Lindsay Cameron has created an unforgettable character who beckons from the pages until you’ve devoured her every last word. Just One Look is a delicious and irresistible read!” —Liv Constantine, internationally bestselling author of The Last Mrs. Parrish

“Lindsay Cameron takes obsession to a whole new level and I am here for it! With each twist, Just One Look becomes more intriguing, more shocking, and more fascinating.” —Samantha Downing, bestselling author of My Lovely Wife

“Just One Look is addictive and compulsive, with a wicked sense of humor. Clear your diary, because once you start reading it, you won’t want to put it down.” —Emma Rous, author of The Au Pair

“Bitingly modern and totally addictive, Just One Look is a juicy entry into the unhinged-women canon. I loved it—it’s propulsive, surprising, and deeply creepy. With wry prose and deliciously wicked twists, Lindsay Cameron’s suspense debut is the freshest take on stalker fiction since You.” —Andrea Bartz, author of The Lost Night and The Herd

“Gripping, darkly funny, and razor-sharp . . . a brilliant suspense debut, with a multifaceted, sympathetic heroine to root for (no matter how devious she may seem), and a perfectly paced sinister plotline. I could not tear my eyes away for a second.” —Samantha M. Bailey, author of Woman on the Edge

“Fast paced and thrillingly tense, Just One Look is a terrifying tale of obsessive love that will have you changing all your passwords.”—Kimberly Belle, author of Stranger in the Lake

“A highly entertaining narrative that positively sparkles with wit and insight into the mind of a young woman with much promise, hobbled by self-doubt yet insanely pursuing an impossible dream. This is the author’s suspense debut, and it succeeds wildly. Highly recommended for all collections.” —Booklist (starred review)

“[An] entertaining, seamless story about obsession, stalking, and revenge . . . Cameron skillfully makes the unlikable Cassie sympathetic, even as her propensity for anger and violent fantasies grows. The twist-filled plot contains myriad surprises. Psychological thriller fans will be more than satisfied.” —Publishers Weekly

Why is storytelling so important for all of us?

I think storytelling is a powerful tool for gaining new perspectives and fostering empathy for all types of different people. There is no better way to walk in someone else’s shoes and see the world from another point of view. I read somewhere that people who read fiction are more empathetic and more in tune to social cues of others, so the world clearly needs more stories!

Tell us your most rewarding experience since being published.

Probably getting a starred review from Booklist which is the publication of the American Library Association. I spent a lot of time inside libraries growing up, so to receive such a high honor and read the words “highly recommend for all collections,” my heart was very full.

What are some of your current and future projects that you can share with us?

I’m fairly superstitious and don’t go into details about current projects, but it will be another suspense novel. More to come soon!

Can you tell us when you started JUST ONE LOOK, how that came about?

I started writing the book in 2018, but the idea had been percolating in the back of my mind for many years. The seed of the idea came when I was a lawyer at a law firm in New York. There was a group of temp attorneys who were reviewing achieved emails related to a large lawsuit and, as the result of a glitch, entire inboxes of multiple lawyers were mistakenly included in review folders. After the error was discovered, the rumor mill churned as to whose emails had been read, what was written, and what the fallout would be. The anxiety that filled the air of the hallways was thick and it struck me that the fear of someone accessing your inbox was probably up there with someone breaking into your home. Our inboxes can contain an entire blueprint of our lives. And, because I love a good thriller, I started to wonder what would happen if that blueprint fell into the wrong hands…

TEN FACTS ABOUT JUST ONE LOOK

1. It’s my suspense debut.
2. The original title for the book was “Discovery.” (but now I like Just One Look much better!)
3. It received a starred review from Booklist.
4. The idea for the book came to me over 10 years ago, but I didn’t start writing the book until much later.
5. I lost count of how many drafts I wrote.
6. The ending of the book is very different than what it was in the first draft.
7. I wrote a lot of this book while sitting in Starbucks, so a few of the character’s names are names that I heard being called out by baristas for drink orders. It’s actually a good place to be if you want to hear a lot of different names!
8. So many of my favorite authors read early copies and wrote amazing blurbs for the book.
9. Publishers Weekly said “the twist-filled plot contains myriad surprises.”
10. It will likely make you want to change all of your passwords!

What do you hope for readers to be thinking when they read your novel?

I love a book that’s hard to put down, so my goal was to make Just One Look a real page-turner. I hope readers are thinking that they want to read just one more chapter…just one more chapter…just one chapter…until they realize they’ve read the whole thing in one sitting. And they enjoyed every minute.

What part of Cassie did you enjoy writing the most?

Cassie can be a little snarky inside her head and I loved writing that side of her. It brought a little comic relief to balance out some of her darker thoughts.

A young woman's escalating obsession with a seemingly perfect man leads her down a dangerous path in this novel of suspense brimming with envy, desire, and deception.

Eyes aren't the windows to the soul. Emails are.

Cassie Woodson is adrift. After suffering an epic tumble down the corporate ladder, Cassie finds the only way she can pay her bills is to take a thankless temp job reviewing correspondence for a large-scale fraud suit. The daily drudgery amplifies all that her life is lacking--love, friends, stability--and leaves her with too much time on her hands, which she spends fixating on the mistakes that brought her to this point.

While sorting through a relentless deluge of emails, something catches her eye: the tender (and totally private) exchanges between a partner at the firm, Forest Watts, and his enchanting wife, Annabelle. Cassie knows she shouldn't read them. But it's just one look. And once that door opens, she finds she can't look away.

Every day, twenty floors below Forest's corner office, Cassie dissects their emails from her dingy workstation. A few clicks of her mouse and she can see every adoring word they write to each other. By peeking into their apparently perfect life, Cassie finds renewed purpose and happiness, reveling in their penchant for vintage wines, morning juice presses, and lavish dinner parties thrown in their stately Westchester home. There are no secrets from her. Or so she thinks.

Her admiration quickly escalates into all-out mimicry, because she wants this life more than anything. Maybe if she plays make-believe long enough, it will become real for her. But when Cassie orchestrates a "chance" meeting with Forest in the real world and sees something that throws the state of his marriage into question, the fantasy she's been carefully cultivating shatters. Suddenly, she doesn't simply admire Annabelle--she wants to take her place. And she's armed with the tools to make that happen.

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