Unreliable Narrators & Corporate Conspiracies

The best thrillers don't trick you. They tell you the truth from the beginning—just not the whole truth. In Before She Wakes, my narrator is telling you exactly what she believes. The problem is: she doesn't know what's actually happening.

The Unreliable Narrator as Trap

I spent years as an investigative researcher, reading through documents and testimony, watching people construct narratives that made sense to them—even when those narratives were built on incomplete information or careful omission. That's the heart of a good unreliable narrator: they're not lying. They're just wrong.

The reader has to do the work of reading between the lines, of noticing what the narrator refuses to acknowledge. That makes you a partner in the mystery, not a passenger.

Corporate Conspiracies Feel Real

Before She Wakes is set in a world of corporate pressure, quarterly earnings, and the understanding that some people will do terrible things for modest gains. Not out of villainous intent, but out of self-preservation.

The conspiracy in this book isn't Bond-villain theatrical. It's the kind that happens in conference rooms and confidential emails. It's the kind where everyone involved has convinced themselves they're the reasonable party.

The Twist That Earns Itself

I have one rule for thrillers: the twist must arrive one chapter before the reader sees it coming. Not because I'm hiding clues. But because when you look back, you'll see that everything was there. You just didn't want to believe it.

That's where the power lives—not in surprise, but in the moment when you realize you were complicit in the narrator's delusion because it was easier than questioning.

Why This Matters

We all tell ourselves stories about ourselves. We're all unreliable narrators of our own lives. A good thriller shows you that tendency magnified. It asks: how well do you really know what's happening around you? How much are you choosing not to see?