Samantha Adair - Fast-Paced Thrillers With Twists and Turns

Samantha was a finalist in The Wishing Shelf Book Award for 2021 for her debut novel, Blood Orphan, book 1 in The Tom Grant Series. She enjoys writing fast-paced thrillers with characters you can relate to. She takes inspiration from events she has been involved in or witnessed and uses her own emotional connections and feelings to color her characters and tell stories that twist and turn.  As our Author of the Day, she tells us about her book, Lost Property.

Please give us a short introduction to what Lost Property is about.

This book is a continuation of Tom’s story. At the end of the last book, he quit the agency after some major trust issues arose between himself and Martha. An unfinished job involving missing, trafficked girls won’t go away and the only person that can help is Tom. He gets dragged, unwillingly, back into the world he wanted to leave behind.

What inspired you to write this story? Was there anything in particular that made you want to tackle this?

I love exploring the things that are important to Tom. And sometimes that’s by showing the situation others are on and what makes him want to help them. As much as he is gruff and doesn’t want to be involved in things, he always seems to find that he can't say no when vulnerable people need him. He relates to their vulnerability a lot – even though he won't admit it.

Why did you pick London as the backdrop for your story?

The entire series is set in the UK and Europe. Being in Australia myself, its hard to write books where my characters can go country-hopping quickly given we are so far away from everything here!

Human trafficking is a central theme in this book. Why did you take this approach?

It's such an important issue to highlight,m but also I wanted to put faces and stories to girls that have been kidnapped (fictional of course) but every person that is trafficked has their own story.

Besides writing, what other secret skills do you have?

I like to cook – not sure I'd call it a skill!

Tell us more about Tom Grant. What makes him tick?

As I touched on above, he can't say no to people that need his help – even if he tries to at first. He also battles with his own demons and past – and a lot of his decisions are based on not wanting to make the same mistakes twice. At times you could say he has a hero complex but at the same time he wants to be left alone.

This is book 6 in the Tom Grant series. Can it be read as a standalone? How do the other books in the series tie in with this one?

It is a story within itself – but it would be helpful to have read the series from the beginning as the characters develop and their relationships with each other would make more sense. I've been told by readers that it is like watching a Netflix series – waiting for the next book to drop and “binge-reading” it.

What did you have the most fun with when writing Lost Property?

I love making Tom do things he doesn’t want to do! Also… being able to travel to some of the places in the book for research purposes wasn’t all bad.

Why did you title this book "Lost Property"?

The lost girls have been looked at as property for a long time – and as Tom tries to find them and return them to family or a safe place, he’s almost ‘recovering’ them and giving them back the lives that were stolen from them.

You are known for your fast-paced stories. What is your secret?

Hmmm. I guess as I’m writing the stories I watch it unfold in my head. I tend to see it as though I'm watching a movie – and that’s how I put the words onto the paper. It does take a lot of editing mind you!

When starting on a new book, what is the first thing you do?

Buy lots of chocolate and have a coffee allowance ready.

Do you have any interesting writing habits? What is an average writing day like for you?

I tend to act out conversations with my characters. I sit and talk to myself from both sides of the dialogue. I find it helps to write genuine dialogue that sounds natural.

Where can our readers discover more of your work or interact with you?

You can find me on Instagram Samantha_adair_author and Facebook plus I have a website – samanthaadairauthor.com.au. I also love to hear from readers so don’t be shy!

What are you working on right now?

Book 7!