Article and Interview by Elise Cooper
The Son’s Secret by Daryl Wood Gerber is not the type of story her readers are used to. Instead of gardens, tea shops, and fairies flying around, she has ventured into suspense and mystery. This story explores the complex mother-adult son dynamic. Parents will relate to the main character understanding the fine line between being hovering to being supportive and caring. Plus, the anxiety that every parent goes through when their children do not answer their texts.
This story has Maggie Larson, now the Dean of a college, trying to notify her son, Aiden, that his father has been shot and is in the hospital. When Aiden does not respond she begins to panic. Since they were close, she finds it difficult to believe he would ghost her, disappearing and disregarding her texts.
She eventually gets her ex-husband, Josh, to believe her and together they investigate what could have happened to their son. As they pursue the disappearance, evidence and then threats pile up, convincing them that something seriously has happened.
This story can be considered a domestic and psychological thriller. Readers will be put on a roller coaster ride. There is tension and intrigue that will have people taking the journey with Maggie.
Elise Cooper: Why this genre?
Daryl Wood Gerber: When I first became a writer, I wrote suspense, but they did not get published. Finally with the cozy mystery genre I found my voice. Yet, I still wanted to write suspense. So, I took a couple of the suspense I first had written and re-wrote them. I wrote outside the norm of the cozy. I had an English publisher put this story out.
EC: Idea for this book?
DWG: This story had been sticking in my head for a long time. It came to me when my son was clerking for a judge in New Orleans. I thought ‘what would happen if he disappeared, and I could not get a hold of him.’ This is a mother’s worse nightmare.
EC: Do you think part of the key to this story is the non-response of adult children?
DWG: Yes! The adult children do not answer their phones, and many times do not answer their texts. It drives me crazy, and I put it in the story. I would write to my son asking if he had seen my three previous texts and to please respond. He answered, ‘sorry mom I got busy, and I thought I did.’ Really, he could see if he did. My first fear is that something was wrong because he was not responding. I do not think I overreact.
EC: How would you describe Maggie?
DWG: A nurturer, hovers, caring, sometimes smothering. She wonders if she is a helicopter mom. When her friend and daughter-in-law tells her she is too much she wonders if she is over-reacting to her son not responding or is she right to worry. She is a complex character because this is a contradiction to her being a dean of a college, and previously an investigative reporter. After her brother committed suicide, her mother checked out. Maggie promised herself she was not going to be that type of mother and would be dialed in. Her attitude comes from myself who is a mom who does not want to hover but wants to guide because I am older and wiser.
EC: How would you describe her son Aiden?
DWG: He is artistic, creative, and at times emotionally overwhelmed. He is sometimes very tough on himself. After he lost his fiancé, he has become emotionally ripped open for two years. Now a woman comes into his life who he falls in love with. He can be temperamental.
EC: What is the role of Maggie’s divorce?
DWG: Her ex-husband is an investigative reporter. After he had a couple of affairs they got divorced. I had him shot and in the hospital to show that Aiden does not respond to the dad also, never reaches out, even though they are close. Maggie must repair the bridge with her ex so they can work together to find Aiden. He helps to keep her grounded. They become a wonderful team if the emotional baggage is taken away.
EC: What about the role of suicide?
DWG: Maggie had to deal with it twice in her life. Once, when her brother committed suicide, and when she had a student commit suicide. Now she worries if Aiden has committed suicide. This drives the story.
EC: Next book?
DWG: It comes out in October, the first in a new series, The Literary Dining Mysteries. It is titled Murder on the Page. It is a cozy mystery involving food and books. A caterer lives in North Carolina in the Blue Ridge mountains who was close to the local bookstore owner. After she was killed, she is determined to find out who did it. Each book in the series will focus on some classic novel. This one will have Pride and Prejudice. The community will have book clubs with food, reading, and dress up.
EC: THANK YOU!!
