The girl is the daughter of Olivias ex-fiance from 20 years ago, writer Jack Harris.
But as the case gets stranger and new evidence springs up, Olivias firm convictions are tested.
And after the Q&A, check out an exclusive excerpt fromThe Ex.
Deborah Copaken Kogan
KARIN SLAUGHTER: A more typical revenge fantasy is a woman framing her ex.
Youve turned that trope on its head inThe Ex.
Shouldnt she just frame him for murder or anonymously FB his girlfriends that he has herpes?
Deborah Copaken Kogan
Thats like saying everyones above average.
If someone got burned, that makes the other person the burner.
You are happily married to a charming and handsome man.
Alison Rosa
Is there an ex you based this story on, and how does your husband feel about that?
I not only bailed, but did so in a pretty childish way.
Does that make me a bad person?
Anyway, enough of the therapy session.
That idea grew into the character of Olivia Randall.
As for how my husband feels, I dont know.
Let me ask him.
How do you feel about me talking about an ex right now?
Does that bug you?
[Husband shakes head and says no like he doesnt understand the question.]
See: further proof hes the one for me.
How different do you think this story would be if the gender roles were reversed?
Thats a great thought experiment.
He gets to be hero.
She has to need him.
But then wouldnt a different cliche kick in?
Youre absolutely right, and that was one of the most enjoyable parts of the book.
Youre a law professor.
You were a prosecutor.
Are you writing what you know or what you want other people to know about the law?
Oh, thats a good question.
A lot of people hate lawyers.
Is it hard making them heroes, or do you just assume the haters are wrong?
Even though they are mostly right?
Hey now, its easy to hate lawyers until you need one.
Did you watchMaking a Murderer?
You know I watched it!
Of course you did.
Not just questions of their competence and skill, but their ethics.
I mean, look at Ethan Couch.
You are a law professor.
How do you deal with that?
In a very mature way: By yelling at the television.
Shes a crappy person, but she happens to be an extremely skilled lawyer.
A previous, fictionalized mass shooting is a central part ofThe Ex.
What would you say to people who believe its too controversial a topic to write about?
The Extakes place three years after Jacks wife was killed in a fictional mass shooting in Penn Station.
Like Im tempting fate.
Crime fiction is fiction, but it shouldnt be cartoonish.
But I also chose a mass shooting because theyre undeniably part of our current reality.
But what would have been the point?
What town could I have chosen with confidence that the next shooting wouldnt be there?
All we can do as writers is make the decisions we think are responsible.
If youre worried too much about offending people, the work wont be your best.
I think the flack comes because I am a woman writing about violence against women.
You know that I agree with you that we should not shy away from talking about difficult things.
Homicide is one of the leading causes of death for women aged 18-44.
We need to talk about this stuff.
I think thats hubris if we convince ourselves were changing the world.
Well, dont sell yourself short.
Though Robert Durst might not agree.
Readers who want to see those layers will find them.
I think you add an important voice to the conversation because you have a very unique perspective.
This is why I love your essays as much as your books.
YourCNN opinion pieceadvocates for some jot down of gun control to limit the damage done by mass shooters.
Were you afraid that your social media outlets would be bombarded by people who disagree with you?
I actually did not advocate any form of gun control.
I just dont think we should keep shrugging our shoulders and pretending this is normal.
We should treat mass shootings as we would any other public health crisis and at least study the causes.
Gaps in mental health coverage?
The way guns are bought, sold, and stored?
In my view, it should all be on the table, at least as a matter of study.
If people want to bombard me for saying thats stupid, so be it.
But you have to know that putting those things on the table is actually considered advocating gun control.
We both grew up with guns.
I know lots of people who own lots of guns.
Isnt that the truth about so many policy issues today?
Writing is a great way to exorcise our demons and figure out things that are bothering us.
What did you learn from writingThe Ex?
I think I accidentally wrote a treatise on monogamy!
I think its safe to say that Olivia Randall is deliberately not as likable as your previous protagonists.
Do characters have to be likable?
The same way we cant all be above average, not everyone is likable.
I happen to enjoy writing and reading books about likable people.
Theyre easy to cheer for.
Its much more of a challenge to get readers to care about a person whos seriously flawed.
It also allows more potential for the characters personal journey.
Although now Im intrigued by the idea about a woman who starts out eminently likable and becomes increasingly bitter.
Hopefully that wont be my memoir.
She is also the coauthor of the New York Times bestselling Under Suspicion series with Mary Higgins Clark.
A former prosecutor, she is now a professor of criminal law and lives in Manhattan.
There are more than 35 million copies of her books in print around the world.
The federal building in Oklahoma.
The marathon in Boston.
A bell tower in Texas.
Riots in Los Angeles.
A club fire in Rhode Island.
For New York City, the most recent of those searing, scarring events was the Penn Station massacre.
But then a mass shooting broke out in the heart of the city during peak commuting hours.
What seemed unimaginable suddenly felt inevitable.
Roughly one shot every 2 seconds for 108 seconds was the gruesome estimate later bandied about by the media.
These werent the only shocking details to come out in the aftermath.
He was a local.
And he wasnt even a man yet.
Just a boy, fifteen years old, all of five feet seven and 127 pounds.
His name was Todd.
After another twenty-four-hour news cycle, we began to have an answer to that question.
Todds mother, still clinically depressed despite three hospitalizations, killed herself when he was just eight years old.
Todds older brother was nearly out of college at the time.
Lots of hours at the shooting range near their country home in Connecticut.
But no explanation was really needed.
Mental illness, social isolation, guns: all the ingredients in a familiar and deadly recipe.
And then in the next news cycle, the photographs of the victims started to emerge.
A twenty-one-year-old Korean exchange student.
A sixty-six-year-old Vietnam vet whod survived Agent Orange.
A ten-year-old Alabama boy visiting New York City for the first time.
My gaze had circled back to the photograph of the teacher.
I froze at the immediate recognition but checked the name anyway.
Molly Harris, 40, New York City, substitute teacher, the text beneath the photograph read.
I scoured the Internet, rereading the media coverage with a new focus.
Todd froze as the woman fell to the ground.
Some witnesses his hand.
And then the pause was over, and he began shooting.
ADaily Newsarticle identified the woman in the blue dress as a mother and teacher.
I reexamined theNew York Timestribute.
Molly had been the only teacher.
Instead of running or ducking, Jacks wife had died trying to save complete strangers.
Within weeks, it wasnt just the faces of the slain on news pages and television stations.
Family members came forward to speak of their loved ones.
And, once again, this time, not everyone had made it out alive.
Only three dead, according to Detective Boyle, not thirteen.
But for immediate purposes, what mattered most was the identity of one of the three: Malcolm Neeley.
He was the kind of rich that made celebrities look poor.
Hed made it through the wrongful death lawsuit only to be killed this morning.
