Bram Stoker Award-winning author Jeff Strand likes a good twist, and his new novel Veiled features one of his biggest.
Released June 6, Veiled is about an average guy named Nate who meets and starts dating Alice, a woman who harbors a shocking secret.
Strand explained his theory on what makes a good twist in an exclusive interview with lionelraygreen.com.
“The tone should be more ‘Surprise!!!’ than ‘Nyahh, nyahh, fooled you!’ It needs to be consistent with what the reader has already been told, and as an author, you don’t want to ‘cheat’ to conceal the twist,” Strand says. “I want the reader to be surprised, to agree that I played fair, and, obviously, to think it’s a pretty cool twist! Sometimes I’ll come up with a left turn as I’m writing, but if there’s a big twist, I usually know it ahead of time. Veiled, My Pretties, and Blister all had their major surprises worked out before I started writing the actual books.”
Speaking of twists, what’s the most recent one that’s surprised Strand?
“I won’t spoil anything, but the most recent season of You surprised me … in a bad way,”’ Strand says. “It was a great big jump-the-shark moment, and the rest of the season pretty much lost me after it. But I’ll be back for next season. I love that show!”
Veiled’s Alice is one of Strand’s most conflicted characters who’s difficult to like at times. Did Strand struggle to find the balance among the good, bad, and ugly sides of Alice?
“She was a tricky character to write, yes, and a lot of thought went into getting the balance right,” Strand explains. “The cover of the book says ‘What the Hell Is She Hiding?’ and the prologue makes it very clear that something is going on with her, so the reader should assume (correctly) that all will be explained. I expect that the question of ‘What would you do if you were her?’ will get very different answers from different readers. That said, as I was writing I wasn’t focusing on ‘What will the reader think of her?’ but ‘What does Nate think of her?’ Most of the book is from his perspective, and so the reaction to Alice is filtered through him.”
Veiled is the third novel by Strand released in 2023, following Demonic and Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. Tod Clark, a Top Contributor on the Unofficial Fans of Jeff Strand Facebook Group, ranked Veiled No. 4 on his list of favorite Strand novels. Where would Veiled rank on Strand’s personal list?
“Tod has read all 55 of my books, so I was thrilled to see him rank it at No. 4 behind My Pretties, Bring Her Back, and Pressure,” Strand says. “It’s impossible for me to say. I recently did a podcast where I was supposed to rank my top five choices of my own books, and I kept changing my mind even during the recording. Every single book I write falls short of the book I had in my head, so the best I can say at this point is ‘I’m really happy with the way it turned out.’ I’d say that Veiled was a little more difficult to write than my average novel. Demonic was packed with action and gore and comedy, and I knew my fans would love it. Veiled has a lot of humor, but it’s a psychological thriller, and I was always very focused on making it as compelling as possible, even when it’s just two characters having a conversation. And when you’re trying to keep your cards hidden, it’s a bit trickier than a more straightforward narrative. But it was a fun book to write!”
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