The face is an organic mask. It can’t hold falsehood forever. Eventually there is an unguarded moment when the muscles relax. And you see the true face of the person.”
–Lisa Book, sister of Isabel Raine in Die for Me, by Lisa Unger
Isabel Raine, the protagonist in Unger’s latest suspense thriller, Die for You, experiences the dark or shadow side of life when her husband, Marcus Raine, leaves for work one morning, and never returns.
The major focus of the suspense, thriller, crime novel, Die for You, centers on Isabel’s search to not only locate her husband, but also learn how he disappeared, and Marcus’ role in his own disappearance.
Throughout the work, Unger provides glimpses and substantive forays into the lives of the supporting characters. One such unfolding occurs with Isabel’s sister, Linda Book.
A photographer, Linda is a working artist like her sister, Isabel, an author.
Isabel and her sister, Linda, like all artists and colleagues of their chosen media, approach the world through the lens of their craft that assists with bringing their work to form.
“For the photographer everything [in the story] exists within the universe of the picture,” says Lisa Unger, adding that, “For the writer [me], everything [in the story] lies behind the picture.”
The picture and story behind Lisa Unger’s novels require patience and trust as she works to bring form to the ideas they stimulate within her to pursue.
“Often I don’t know what my book will be about. I literally sit down to write with only a voice in my head, or just a single line of poetry, or something I saw on the news. It could be anything. I have no idea what is going to happen day-to-day, who’s going to show up, what they’re going to do, how things are going to unfold. …I don’t know what the book is about until I’m half way through writing it. And I certainly can’t tell how it’s going to end.”
This evidences Unger’s belief that she has achieved writing success through the mixture of her “…crazy imagination, a willingness to go with the flow, faith, and a deep respect for craft.”
What’s stimulates you to write?
What aspects of life do the lenses of your stories, and novels magnify?
When do you gain a sense of what your story or novel entails? Is it during the process, before, or after several revisions?