Black Rose Cocoon follows a sinister serial killer who preys on the community’s children, gripping four individuals in a terrifying struggle to stop her as the city reels from the deep, personal pain inflicted on those closest to the victims. What inspired the creation of the eerie opening scene?

The opening scene was meant to show that whether there is childhood trauma or simply an uncontrollable impulse, someone can be a killer regardless of how much help is given to them. That sometimes a monster is a monster and there’s no helping them. This killer, even as a child, didn’t care about the repercussions of acting out in brutal violence in response to punishment or pure hatred towards her sister or parents. It was important to set up that feeling of loathing others, be they loved ones or strangers, because it encapsulates that overwhelming sense of remorselessness and warped understanding of love. She feels love but has a different belief of what it is outside of her.

How did you develop the complex relationships and dark secrets that are central to the storyline?

I did six months of research while working a full time job and writing the last book of my series Boone and Jacque. During which I listened to hours of true crime podcast, watched crime documentaries, documentary series, serial killer bio movies/series, interviewed criminology professors, watched videos of recent murder trials, and victim impact statements. Through all this research I realised a few things. Firstly, the time setting I chose, 1986, was a time where the level of technology in surveillance was not advanced enough to catch a killer in the act or find out what their pattern and M.O. (mode of operation) is. Back then, if killers were smart enough, the body count would be rather high by the time law enforcers could figure out how they went about targeting their victims. Some killers used acid to rid themselves of bodies, industrial cleaning products to erase crime scenes and kept on the move. But like any criminal, they eventually get caught because they get tired of running or become satisfied with whatever they were trying to achieve through countless murders. In addition, psychology and the thrill of control were the biggest parts of a killer’s game plan.

Now, as for how I developed complex relationships, I realized that killers can only keep their secret life a secret by maintaining connections either in plain sight or through a network of connections so they can keep doing what they want from a safe distance. They may be sophisticated in some aspects, but they are aware that they are not that smart enough to be able to kill as easily as breathing forever. That in mind, I had to have characters that had different roles for the story. Therefore, creating different kinds of connections to the killer. The killer, in the strangest ways possible, loved each person of interest. She loved Rosaria because of her obsession with catching her. She loved Paolo because of his quiet courage that became loud and lion like. Though she didn’t love Kelly. She loved Milly because she could control her and drive Kelly, her sister, to madness. Therefore, thriving off Kelly’s madness to embrace her image of true love through the captivity of Milly. As for Scarlett, it’s both love for seeing a mother’s determination to cling on to any bit of family she had left regardless of how others see her, and her hunger to see how much it would take to drive a mother to insanity.

Can you talk about your process for balancing the supernatural elements with the realistic detective work in the novel?

I didn’t want the supernatural elements to be the focus of the story because it would make the realism of people in a world not encased by a fantastical aura seem unnecessarily dream like. The detective work kept the story grounded without making the story entirely about the capture of the killer. Which created diversity of pain and call to action. It was more about making the characters feel real until the point of high impact on the city. Once the supernatural elements became evident, it was meant to be a secret kept by only a couple key characters that went from seeing things as black and white, to not knowing what is beyond black and white yet their curiosity grows. Also, I wanted the city to still be oblivious to the supernatural elements because that will come later in another book that is set in a timeline that is decades after the horrific events set by this killer.

What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?

I’ll be working on my new fantasy series: Pendulum of Khrazul (pronounced craw – zool). The premise for now is on the southern hemisphere of earth, is a foot race to reach and alien pharaoh called Khrazul. There is no light magic in this world. So, twin infants, which were born through the father getting married for the fourth time because he found the ideal wife that came from the most powerful dark magic family that has a strong connection to a prophet involving Khrazul. In which the twin infants will either enact a curse that will abolish any person that will get in the way of Khrazul’s plans for the land or create an apocalyptic event that will destroy all life on earth and create new elements that will serve Khrazul in his best interest. Question is, once these twins become of age, what will they want for earth and themselves.

Author links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | TikTok | Instagram | YouTube