‘Reluctant psychic’ teams with Fort Worth cop in latest thriller from Grapevine author
Several years ago Julia Heaberlin was at a crossroads in her career. Already a success in the journalism field, she wanted more.
She wanted to be an author. However, finding the time to write a book while maintaining an award-winning career which had taken her to some of the nation’s largest newspapers — including the Star-Telegram — was proving to be daunting.
Then, her husband, Steve Kaskovich, a journalist himself, offered a simple solution.
“My husband told me, ‘If you don’t quit now and start you won’t do it,’” Heaberlin recalled.
And that’s exactly what she did. Six novels later, she remains grateful for his advice — along with his ability to fend for himself come meal time when she’s on a writing roll.
“My husband went without many dinners while I was there writing a book I didn’t think anyone would read,” Heaberlin said.
Suffice to say they are eating well these days, though how much cooking Heaberlin has time for might still be in question. As an international best-selling author she is still quite busy writing — and yes, people are reading, lots of people.
When her latest novel, “Night Will Find You,” debuts on Tuesday it will be her sixth.
“Night” features a heroine named Vivvy Bouchet, daughter of a known psychic, who saved a boy’s life at age 10 by making an impossible prediction. Fast forward years later and she’s now an astrophysicist living in Big Bend, and the boy she saved is a Fort Worth police officer who continues to believe she can see things others can’t.
Vivvy agrees to help him on a high-profile cold case of a kidnapped girl, but in doing so she steps back into a dark past of voices that once haunted her. It’s not made easier when she is forced to team up with detective Jesse Sharp, a skeptic of anything but fact.
When Vivvy becomes the target of a Joe Rogan-style conspiracy theorist podcaster named Bubba Guns, she fights back, using both her scientific mind and her inexplicable gifts. Not only is she hoping to draw out the kidnapper, but she also seeks to find a child who haunts her and lay some of her own ghosts to rest in the process.
“This book, a friend said he wanted me to put in a conspiracy character like Alex Jones,” she said. “She sent me several articles on Alex Jones. I decided to mix a little astrophysics into that. And I wanted a little bit of social commentary in there.”
Heaberlin calls Vivvy “a reluctant psychic,” adding, “Vivvy is a bit of a mixture of Scully and Mulder (from ‘The X-Files’).”
And while it might not take a rocket scientist to be a writer, Heaberlin noted that it doesn’t hurt to have one in the family. Her cousin is a rocket scientist and his friend is an astrophysicist.
“He would let me ask anything, and they would send me long answers that were so helpful and insightful,” she said. “Vivvy wouldn’t exist without the two of them.”
“Night” challenges readers to examine beliefs closely and how those beliefs can cross paths. For example, can psychic power, science and a higher power be connected?
“Neil deGrasse Tyson said, ‘If you don’t believe in science, you might as well give up your cell phone,’” Heaberlin said, noting that her cousin, meanwhile, is a person of faith and once told her, “Every day I ask the question, ‘How did God build this amazing thing?’”
“One of my theories with this book is that we all believe in something that we can’t completely comprehend,” Heaberlin said.
Staying true to Texas
Heaberlin was born in Elgin, Illinois, but was raised in Decatur after her family moved there when she was 11. Texas has since had a special place in her heart. All of her books are set in Texas, starting with “Play Dead,” which took place in Ponder, less than a half hour from where she grew up.
“I love its beauty, its diversity,” she said of the state. “There’s 29 million of us and no two are alike.
“It’s such a part of me. I left a small town and realized there’s just as many dark secrets in small towns as there is anywhere else — more proportioned, of course. I’m fascinated by small towns and creepy houses.”
She jokes about her first boyfriend being named Bubba, saying it doesn’t get much more Texas than that.
Her journalism career has taken her to a variety of places throughout the U.S., including Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Rochester, New York; Dallas and Detroit. She now lives in Grapevine and has no intention of leaving the state again — unless it’s to Denver to visit her son who works as an emergency room doctor entering his second year of residency.
“It just seems right being at home,” she said.
How it all started
Heaberlin first dreamed of being an author when she was a teenager.
“I think I was 15 or 16 and I was reading ‘Rebecca’ on this window seat my father built for me,” she reminisced. “It stuck with me and I said, ‘I want to write a book someday.’”
In fact, the nameless narrator of “Rebecca” was one of several inspirations for the main characters in her books today, along with the likes of Anne Frank and Josephine March. Among her books’ common threads, Heaberlin said, is a “kick ass heroine.”
“I’m not going to be one of those writers who has a cold heroine and an unredemptive ending,” she said.
It wasn’t until 2012, however, that the dream became a reality with the publishing of “Playing Dead.” That was followed a year later with “Lie Still” and in 2015 with “Black Eyed Susans,” which almost didn’t make it into print.
Despite having had success previously, Heaberlin was told by an editor that “Susans” would not be considered unless she did some rewriting. Instead, Heaberlin waited a couple of weeks, had her agent re-submit the sample and this time a different editor gave it the approval.
“It was the same 50 pages they had turned down the first time. The irony is I believe that was my best book,” she said.
Since that little hiccup, her career has blossomed. She released “Paper Ghosts” in 2018 and “We Are All the Same in the Dark” in 2020.
In all, her books have been sold in more than 20 countries. “We Are All the Same in the Dark” won the 2020 Writers’ League of Texas award for fiction, and “Paper Ghosts” was a finalist for Best Hardcover Novel at the International Thriller Awards.
But success as a novelist was anything but instant for Heaberlin. In fact, she admitted she gave some thought to giving up and going back to journalism after being rejected several times in the beginning.
“I felt like a tree in a forest. I’m writing words and no one’s going to read them,” she said. “Everybody thinks they’re going to write this fantastic debut novel. I’m proof it’s about keep trying and pushing.”
An assist from journalism
Heaberlin said she has called upon her time in journalism — which included the Star-Telegram Life & Arts section being among the nation’s top 10 during her time there (a decade ending in 2006) — to help her as novelist. She particularly noted the benefit of being an editor.
“I had to adapt to voices — many different ones — and I developed my own,” she said. “You develop your own voice by working over and over.”
Heaberlin said once she develops a character, the rest of the story follows.
“I never outline anything. I figure if I’m surprised the reader will be surprised,” she said.
She also credits Stephen King’s book “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft” as a major source of inspiration for herself, along with “Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life” by Ann Lamott.
Much like King, who has written a plethora of horror novels and at one time seemed to crank one out almost monthly, Heaberlin said her success lies in sticking to a schedule and never deviating. She noted that she typically writes about 1,500 words a day.
“I would never have six novels otherwise,” she said.
Putting in a little of herself
Another common thread in her novels is a little of herself in each. For example the opening scene in “Night,” is set in a basement based upon her grandfather’s basement.
He was a crime scene photographer and Heaberlin discovered his “murder book” of photos one day.
“In my mind I’m recreating my grandfather’s basement and that moment,” she said.
The journalist in her shows up in preparation for each book. She is a stickler for accuracy and getting facts correct. If she’s describing, for example, where Tyler is, it won’t be listed as being an hour south of San Antonio as it once was in a TV sitcom.
“I don’t want to tell a story about something without authenticity. I research thoroughly,” she said. “If you want people to take the story seriously you have to be diligent in all phases of telling it.”
And remember, her son is a doctor? Well, “My next book is going to have an ER doctor in it,” she said.
Success beyond the pages
Heaberlin’s work has caught the attention of more than her many readers. She said Fox TV is considering turning “Night” into a series. The network was one of several bidders for the rights.
“I ended up going with Fox because they were very enthusiastic with Vivvy as a character,” she said. “They felt they could build more than one season.”
In fact, Heaberlin said she has given thought to extending the character of Vivvy for more than one book. Though it is only a thought for now.
Also, she said “Paper Ghosts” has been optioned by Sony.
“I think they have a script, but I don’t know if they have talent attached,” she said.
Of course, she added that with the writers’ strike in the entertainment industry, all such plans are on hold for the time being.
Looking ahead
Even as she prepares to promote “Night,” Heaberlin is thinking of what’s next in her writing future.
“You almost immediately have to start looking at what’s next. You have a contract, which means you have a deadline,” she said. “I have 50 ideas in my head. The challenge is to pick one and move forward with it.”
Catch Heaberlin at these stores and markets when she’s on the road to discuss “Night Will Find You”:
June 17, Interabang, Dallas.
June 21: Barnes & Noble, Hulen Shopping Center, Fort Worth.
June 22: Book People, Austin.
June 27: Conversations From a Page, Houston.
June 28: Village Books, The Woodlands.
July 15, Politics and Prose, Washington, D.C.
