Release Day for It's One of Us! 💚

February 21, 2023 J.T. Ellison

The germs of this story have been floating around in my brain for over a decade, sparked by one of those tragic-comedic life moments: my husband and I were in the middle of some rather grueling fertility treatments. One fateful day, he was locked alone in a room in the clinic with a magazine and Sweet Home Alabama blasting out of the speakers (not his first choice). That evening, as we laughed at the absurdity of our situation, he told me this had the makings of a novel... but I’m a thriller writer, and fertility is more of a women’s fiction story. I didn’t know how to marry the two until recently. Enter the complicated forensics of sibling DNA, the moral ambiguity of the sperm donation industry, and a killer on the loose, and poof, the story came together.

My protagonist, Olivia Bender, was such a dream character to write. She came to my mind fully formed one day: a sad, lonely woman with sable hair in a cream cable knit sweater and rolled-up chinos, walking barefoot down a chilly beach, having just suffered a miscarriage. I had to know who she was. It turns out, she’s a dynamic architectural designer who owns her own firm, shares her gifts with the community, and is struggling with the same fertility issues my husband and I went through.

And then... twist. That’s what I do, I take the story and turn it into a pretzel.

Olivia is placed in an absolutely untenable position by the circumstances of the novel, and all I could think was: What would I do in this situation? How would I react? I think this book has a great philosophical core of uncertainty that I hope many, many readers will connect with. What would YOU do? How would YOU react? What would be YOUR path forward? Do you agree with how Olivia handles the situation, especially as it spins out of control? And what about the rest of the characters? We hear from all the people affected: The Husband. The Mother. The Daughter. The Brother. The Cops. The Murderer. I love books that force you to examine your own motivations and morality, while exploring the same in the characters, and this one will, for sure.

This story is certainly identifiable as one of mine, from the creepy opening to the high-stakes life and death struggle, the push and pull of a police investigation against the domestic backdrop, characters you want to root for, and characters you’ll love to hate. And of course, the Nashville setting. But I think this story has a different kind of nuance and tackles questions that are much closer to our realities than the more fantastical world of some of my other psychological thrillers. I think readers will see themselves reflected more in these characters than anything I’ve done previously. It’s not a scary, leave the lights on kind of thriller. It’s scary in a different kind of way. It’s quiet and insidious and morally complicated. And, if I’ve done my job correctly, completely addictive.

And there’s no denying this is, at its heart, a story of loss, specifically, the kind of loss that comes from infertility and miscarriage. When you’re in the throes of trying, and not succeeding, to have children, it feels like the world is caving in around your ears. I couldn’t write a book about what it’s like to have children, but I can write with some authenticity about what it’s like to lose them. And even more importantly, to survive those losses. Survive, and thrive. I am hoping to normalize the conversation around infertility and send a clear message that there is life on the other side of these tragedies. A joyful, wonderful, complete life.

I hope you love IT’S ONE OF US! It’s available now wherever you like to buy books, and the audio is read magnificently by the one and only Julia Whelan.

eBook

KINDLE | NOOK | APPLE BOOKS | GOOGLE PLAY | KOBO

Hardcover

Audiobook

AUDIBLE | LIBRO.FM | HARLEQUIN AUDIO | KOBO

If you’d like a personalized copy, please check in with Parnassus books, where there are goodies to go along with your order!

And please come see me on tour!