Killer Thriller Book Launch Event

Q&A with Consuelo Roland
Author of Lady Limbo

TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT YOURSELF YOU’VE NEVER TOLD ANYONE:

I once kissed a total stranger on an empty night train making its way out of Frankfurt. He asked me to go to Paris with him for the weekend and I refused.  I’ve always wondered what would have happened if I’d said yes.

WHO’S ON THE COVER AND WHY IS SHE IN SUCH TROUBLE?

The perfect life… Or a beautiful lie? Forced to hunt down Lady Limbo, the ghost of a youthful love affair that ended in betrayal, Paola Dante risks everything and learns to trust no one in a race to find her missing husband. Lady Limbo leads her into dark territory she never knew existed, where she must question all she knows. What if the great love of your life committed the perfect crime?

GIVE US THE 140-CHARACTER STORY PITCH:

Here today, gone tomorrow. Paola Dante’s husband has disappeared. All she has is the Limbo files.  7 women 7 files. Which one is Lady Limbo?

YOUR CHARACTER, PAOLA DANTE, HAS TO COVER SEVERAL DIFFERENT ANGLES; FROM CAREER WOMAN TO COOL SEDUCTRESS TO RELUCTANT CHILD PROTECTOR. YOU’RE ITALIAN AND YOU’VE WORKED IN THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY BUSINESS. IS SHE MODELED ON YOURSELF?

Not at all. Paola knows how to stay one step ahead in the combat zone of corporate meetings; she treats bullying shark tactics with the disdain they deserve. On a personal level she is sassy, witty and smart  – this frightening mix of self-control and social maturity  is totally unlike me. But of course there’s a very human side to her. Sometimes it makes sense to work with background knowledge you already have. I could just let her develop organically without too much over-thought.

IT’S AN UNUSUAL PREMISE FOR A PLOT; AN ORGANIZATION THAT HIRES MEN OUT FOR COPULATION? DOES SUCH AN ORGANIZATION EXIST? WHO IS YOUR SOURCE?

My  source is a ground hostess who told my mother a very sexy naughty story one long night at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. Her name is forever lost in the torrential downpour of that stormy night. Real Man International (aka RMI) is an invented name, but the organization exists; it’s details reside in a ground hostess’s little black book. It was fun to turn things around and evoke a world where men are  paid ridiculous stud fees to be at the beck and call of willful women who can afford to be extravagant. Occasionally a perfectly ordinary independently-minded woman – such as  a ground hostess – will use their services.

ISN’T THE WHOLE IDEA OF A VIRGIN AUCTION ON THE INTERNET A BIT IMPROBABLE? IT’S A COMPELLING AND ORIGINAL STORY IDEA BUT DO SUCH THINGS ACTUALLY HAPPEN IN REAL LIFE?

A good thriller chills our blood, readying us for a mesmerizing journey through the glowing portals of hell. Lady Limbo transports us into a parallel reality where humanity’s worst instincts are at play. The “dark web” (an invisible black hole of untraceable activity) is estimated to be an incredible 15 times larger than the web we know, with more than 900 billion pages. It is a world where the illegal is openly available, providing a hidden shop window for criminal gangs and sexual predators. On the dark web innocence is traded like any other commodity.

WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT LADY LIMBO?

I love that it’s a thoroughly twenty-first century story full of enigmatic twists and turns. Just when you think the story is going one way then it suddenly gets even more interesting and ups the ante. The shocks and surprises keep on coming at the character like she’s in a shooting arcade, dodging a hidden shooter in a world of seduction and darkness. Paola has to think on her feet all the time, or the truth will find her before she finds the truth.