Kathleen O'Donnell Talks The Invisible Heiress

What did you learn from writing of The Invisible Heiress?

Where do I start? Oh, yes. I learned the more I write the harder it is, the more I care about the finished product. I’ve been lucky to work with exceptional teachers, writers and editors. So I can’t fool myself anymore.

I know what’s good and what sucks. I learned every sentence matters. I learned a lot about what I believe, what my definition of family is, and the strength of the mother/child bond.

I believe it was Joan Didion who said she writes to find out what she thinks. That was definitely true for me with this novel. Everything I believe is there, on the page.

What is your favorite part of The Invisible Heiress and why?

Two favorites. First, I’d have to say the humor. It’s definitely irreverent and even inappropriate but it makes the story more unique. Some of the events are tragic yet the humor makes them more bearable, more relatable.

The second is the rage. It was a lot of fun to write a character who is so enraged. Preston has no filter. She says what she wants, when she wants, to whomever she wants. She spares no one her wrath. It was freeing to give Preston life, an angry, spoiled, often hilarious one.

It was also fun to write someone as manipulative and focused as Isabel. She does whatever it takes to get her way. No extreme is too extreme. I loved her even though she’s villainous.

The Invisible Heiress by Kathleen O’Donnell
Genre: Psychological Thriller

Synopsis

Dark, disturbing, deliciously inappropriate.” – Leslie Wolfe, best-selling author of The Watson Girl.

From two-time Book of the Year finalist Kathleen O’Donnell comes a gripping psychological thriller filled with unexpected twists.

A psychiatric patient with a dark secret

Preston Blair, a blogger with a dark sense of humor, is committed to a private psychiatric hospital, accused of a shocking crime. Her father Todd’s influence as a D.A. has kept her from prison, but her sanity remains on a knife-edge.

A therapist with an agenda

Preston’s therapist, Isabel, is too preoccupied working her latest con on a rich, married, sadomasochistic secret lover, to care about Preston’s problems, even when Preston tells her that her socialite mother, Harrison Blair, had committed an unthinkable crime herself years before—one that might help explain Preston’s own misdeeds.

A shocking secret that begs to be told

When Preston’s absent husband, Brendan, suddenly turns up and tries to prove her innocence, tragedy strikes. Preston’s convinced her parents were involved, but it turns out to be much more complicated. As Preston delves deeper into the mystery, her head clears and a devastating event that she had long erased from her muddled mind comes rushing back.

A killer that cannot be stopped

Stumbling onto video evidence, which exposes a killer’s greed and lust for power, Preston finds her own life is in danger from a surprising and once trusted source. She discovers that the truth hurts. It just might be the death of her.

Fans of Gillian Flynn and Jessica Knoll will love Kathleen O’Donnell.

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About Kathleen O’Donnell

Kathleen O’Donnell is a wife, mom, grandmother and a recovering blogger. She currently lives in Nevada with her husband. She is a two-time Book of the Year finalist for her debut novel The Last Day for Rob Rhino. You can find short stories and blog posts on her website.