The Chris Voss Show - The Chris Voss Show Podcast – When She Was Gone by Sara Foster

Episode Date: March 16, 2025

When She Was Gone by Sara Foster Amazon.com Was she taken ... or did she run? The pulse-pounding new psychological thriller from the bestselling author of You Don't Know Me Rose once walked away from her daughter. Now she may be the only one who can save her. Former London police officer Rose Campbell has been estranged from her daughter, Lou, for almost a decade. But when Lou disappears from a remote beach in Western Australia--and the police suspect her of kidnapping the two young children in her care--Rose is asked to help bring Lou home. This is the final case in DSS Mal Blackwood's illustrious career--and there's a lot riding on it. The missing children are heirs to the Fisher property empire, and while their multimillionaire grandfather is breathing down Blackwood's neck, the media storm is intensifying. Faced with a deluge of evidence and accusations, Blackwood doesn't know who he can trust. Rose arrives in Australia intent on proving her daughter's innocence, but how can she be sure of that when she's no longer part of Lou's life? Meanwhile, as Blackwood begins to expose the Fishers' secrets, the investigation takes a dark turn. Shadows of the past gather around the Fishers, and Rose, and soon it's clear that every hour is critical. What has happened to Lou and the children? And can Rose and Blackwood find them in time?About the author Sara Foster is a critically acclaimed, bestselling fiction author with a passion for contemporary psychological suspense and a keen interest in exploring zeitgeist issues and strong female characters in her nail-biting novels. Her work includes You Don’t Know Me, The Hidden Hours, All That is Lost Between Us, Shallow Breath, Beneath the Shadows and Come Back to Me. Sara sometimes likes to write across genres, and The Hush, a near-future dystopia, was created as part of her PhD thesis. Two of her books have been optioned for television. Sara lives in Western Australia with her husband and two young daughters.

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Now here's your host, Chris Voss. Hi folks, this is Voss here from thechrisvossshow.com. Ladies and gentlemen, our latest season of The Mixed Edition welcome to the show. For over 16 years and 30, uh, 2300 episodes. I think that's what it is, right? Is it 32 or 23? I don't know.

I can't feel my legs anymore after 16 years. So anyway guys, welcome to the big show. They made me sit here the whole time too. That's what's unfortunate about it. Go to Goodreads.com, Fortress, Chris Foss, LinkedIn.com, Fortress, Chris Foss, Chris Foss 1 on the Tik Tokity and Chris Foss LinkedIn.com, Forge has Chris Foss Chris Foss One on the TikTokity and ChrisFossFacebook.com. Today we have an amazing young prolific author on the show, multi-book author I should say as well, and her new book is out. The byline on it leads, was she taken or did she run? Ah, we're gonna find

out. We may, you may have to buy the book to find out, but we're going to get some teasers from the author herself. Sarah Foster joins us in the show. Her newest book is out April 1st, 2025 called When She Was Gone. And we're going to get into it with her, find out all of her deets and what's inside this exciting new book of hers. She's the author of the acclaimed dystopian thriller, The Hush, and seven best-selling psychological suspense novels, You Don't Know Me, The Hidden Hours, All That's Lost Between Us, The Deceit, Shallow Breath, Beneath the Shadows, and Come Back to Me.

Sounds like my first ten divorces. Two of her novels have been on television, You Don't Know Me, and adapted into a chart-topping drama podcast series by a listener. Sarah has a PhD in creative writing, studying maternal representations in fiction. She lives in Perth, Western Australia with her husband, two daughters, three cats, Luna the carvoodle, and Sunny the bearded dragon. And evidently she has a zoo too. Welcome to the show. How are you, Sarah? I'm great. Thank you for having me, Chris. Thank you. What is a cavoodle? A cavoodle, yeah. It's a cross between a King Charles Spaniel and a poodle. Oh, okay. I guess you have to have an Australian accent to pull that off.

Cavoodle, yeah. It just fits right in. And then you actually have a dragon, one of those- Yeah, he's pretty small, like a bearded dragon, not like the ones you get there with the big chunky ones. Ours is tiny. Oh, okay. So yeah. You know, it sounds like you need to get more. There's plenty of animals there in Australia.

Yeah. So feel free to fill the home. Dingoes and- We're doing our best. Alligators and lions and tigers and bears, all that stuff. So give us any dot coms. Where do you want people to find you on the interwebs? Yeah, sure. Sarah Foster.com.au, but Sarah without an H, or everywhere, I'm Sarah without an H, on Facebook and Instagram at Sarah Foster Author, and I also write on Substack. I write one for writers called The Resilient Author and one for readers called Story Matters. Pete Slauson So, give us a 30,000 overview. What's inside the new book?

Yes. This new book is back to my classic psychological suspense after I took a little detour into near future last time. So it's the story of an au pair called Louisa who goes missing from a remote Southwest Australian beach very early one morning with the two very young children under her care. And no one knows what's happened. But the thing is the kids are from a really high profile wealthy family in Australia called the Fishers. A bit like the Murdoch or you know kind of how you'd imagine this kind of family to be. They descend on the beach with the police, the searchers, the public. Everyone's really curious about what's happened.

To start with, there's no evidence. And I've got two people kind of who are my key players in the story who are telling the story. The first is the old detective who's on his last case, had a brilliant career, doesn't want anything to mess it up, and he's in this scenario now, doesn't have a clue what to do and where to go to start with because the evidence just isn't there. And then the second person is Louise's estranged mother, Rose. And Rose is also a former police officer. So she comes over and she hasn't seen her daughter for a while, but loves her very much, wants to help, sees holes in the investigation, tries to run it herself. So you've got the wealthy family, the detective, Rose, all trying to find out what's happened. And in the middle of that,

they suddenly find a really disturbing piece of evidence on the beach. And then it becomes really clear that they're in a race against time to actually get Louisa and the kids home safe. Pete Slauson Wow. What can go wrong? Louisa Peltz Oh, there's a lot. Pete Slauson A lot can go wrong. What was the idea that brought you to this concept of the book to write about this in such a way? Fanny Higgins

Funnily enough, it was from a conversation I had with one of your previous guests, Devlin McTiernan, who's also a writer who lives in Perth, and she's a very good friend of mine. And we were saying, oh, what could we do that would set stories in Perth? And I went away and thought about that. I was like, oh, an au pair would be a really good one because they're not with anyone. They're right away from family, friends, quite vulnerable in a way.

And then, of course, as a writer, it's all up the stakes, up the stakes. What would make that more interesting if she worked for one of the most high profile families in Australia? What would make that more interesting if she went missing with her kids? And you just start from there and keep going and constantly trying to add a bit more in as to how the story will be juicier. missing with their kids. And you just start from there and keep going and constantly trying

to add a bit more in as to how the story will be juicier. And so I took it from there. Yeah. You're really punishing this character, maybe the other people in the book. I don't know. Yeah. Sounds like you're stacking on everything. We're very quarter on our characters. Doing everything in the kitchen sink in them. Let's see how we can make their lives more miserable. Sarah Foster But then we try, sometimes we rescue them and

sometimes we don't. It's the life of a crime writer. Pete Slauson This is just in folks, it's tough being a character in Sarah Foster's book. Sarah Foster It certainly is. Pete Slauson Now, you have a, I think about seven or eight other books. How many books do you have there? Sarah Foster Yeah, this is my ninth book, although one was a novella, so I say that's a half at times.

But yeah, I've been doing this for a while. So my first one was published in 2010, and I've been lucky enough to have a few of them published in America now and a few more to come. Yeah. Yeah. And you're very popular. People love your books, they love reading them, they love doing all the things with them.

Yeah, they've really hit a groove with that. I kind of do a blend of crime and go into psychological suspense. So someone described them recently as thrillers with a little bit of heart and I really like that because I often look at how the character's motivations quite deeply and yeah, I often go into some kind of deep thread in the background of the story. So in this story, I'm looking at the kind of wealth, power and control issues around the Fisher family. But also I was looking at different types of violence from the kind of violence you would normally expect

in a crime, but much more subtle emotional violence as well and how it sort of interplays. And one leads to the other and the different threads of violence that run through the story were really good to dig deeper as well into. What did you find most intriguing about the story? Trying to get into the mindset of this wealthy family, I think. So just obviously when you don't come from that background, you've got to do a lot of research, just watching things

and reading things and just trying to get into the mindset of how differently they would think about being able to come and run a criminal investigation. So most people would be very deferential to the police, but because they're used to the power and control, they're not at all. And they just think, this is what we're going to do. You know, they immediately announced there's a $2 million reward, thinking that's a great thing to do. But for the police, it's a nightmare because it brings everyone who is wanting the money to come and look as well. So that interplay between the police and that family was really intriguing. Pete Yeah, that's interesting.

Yeah, yeah. Now, this is a standalone from your other books, right? There isn't a series that this is part of? Anna No, all my books are standalone, in fact. So, yeah, I haven't got to a series yet, although I'd love to. Pete You kind of have to just, it kind of has to come to you, right? You kind of have to feel it and stuff, as it were, I guess. Anna-Maria Yeah, I always think that I want to take the characters on, but then I'm always distracted by

another idea. So, that seems to be my way at the moment. And sometimes the last one I wrote, The Hush, that's got a TV option on it. And if that goes anywhere, I've definitely got the second story to that. So you never know, I might be able to write a sequel and get a little thread going. People love those things, but standalone is good too. I mean, you've got new characters, everything's fresh and you can do the thing. When did you know you were a writer? When did this start? You know, for me, it was so early.

So I remember always wanted to be a writer, loving reading from when I was very little. And I've even got a book that I wrote in at school when I was about seven, and it had bits you could fill in and then what you want to do when you grow up, I put author. So it was very early on, but I have to say that I lost my confidence. I had a dip in my teens and my early 20s where I thought, oh, I don't think I can do it. You know, it looks much harder than I thought when I was a child. So then I decided I was going to work for a publishing company instead. And I worked for HarperCollins in London. And that really kickstarted my career in in books and I got to hang out with some

uber-famous authors and just see how it all worked and slowly got my confidence back to try writing again. Yeah, you were like, this isn't hard at all. No, I'm just kidding. It's difficult to write a book. It's so tricky, yeah. And even if you've done it nine times, I'm working on my tenth right now. It just never gets easier. It's annoying. Yeah, I mean, but that's even if you've done it nine times, I'm working on my tenth right now. Pete Yeah. Anna It just never gets easier, it's annoying. Pete Yeah. I mean, but that's why, you know, that's the great thing about why people respect authors so much. When I first became an author, like everybody who knew me was like, oh, wow, you're kind of smart. And I was like, you guys have been with me for 50 years. Like,

when did you think, you guys are just now figuring it out because I put in a book? And it's like, oh, you're smart now, you have a book. Yeah. And so it's funny how people are like that. But when you write a book, you do realize how hard it is to, you know, especially with the editing part and all that crap. I'm not a lover of the editing part, but it is necessary. I do understand the function of it. It's just, it's just when they

tear up 50,000 words that you wrote and then tell you to go write 50,000 more. Why don't you go fuck yourself? I put blood, sweat and tears in those 50,000 words and now you're just like throwing away. What the hell with you people? Anyway, so as you grew up, you went to work, when did you write your first book other than this one you did, the seven? So funnily enough, the first book that I started writing in my early twenties was called Beneath the Shadows. It actually ended up being the second book I published. So I started writing that. Then again, lost a little bit of confidence. It's actually really hard to finish a book, a fiction book. And that's where a lot of people lose their way. You get into that messy middle and you can't figure it out. And so you just lose interest or lose motivation. And that happened to me a little bit. And then I started

writing Come Back to Me, which was my first published book, a bit further down the line, I had the idea, decided that I was going to take some time off work and really put everything into finishing that book and managed to do that and then send that one out to the industry in Australia who were really receptive. Luckily, a lot of them knew me because I worked as an editor in the industry as well. So I was lucky to get a break that way. And then Beneath the Shadows then came back to life as the second book in my publishing deal. Pete Oh, and people love them. They order them up. I see all the reviews on the Amazon and all that good stuff. What's the future hold for you? Is there any other books you're cooking? Jennifer Yes. So at the moment moment I am working on a Newth crime thriller, which I'm trying to incorporate

some Agatha Christie motifs in there. That has proved quite a big challenge actually. So I decided I was going to put two Agatha Christie plays inside the book and my characters would be performing these plays. But it causes me as the author, quite a lot of tricky decisions in terms of how to pace all out, what you can use and can't use. Because of course, that could be a state, or you can't give away the plots and one thing or another. So, I'm kind of regretting this, Chris, but I'm halfway through now, so I might as well push on.

Chris Boundsell I might as well push on, get through it. Yeah, I mean, it's all problem solving when it comes down to it. Really? Okay. Well, how do I solve this problem and make this work? And, you know, you solve one puzzle and move on to the next. I think, I think it's pretty much, I think it's pretty much what life is. People should have just called it problem solving is, or problem

surviving or survival of the fittest, I suppose, maybe instead of the other. But I think people are really excited to pick up the new book and find out more about what you got going on. And what do you like about psychological thrillers? What draws you to them? What do you find motivates you in that? I love not being able to guess where the story is going. So I love, I also love people that really get inside the head of their characters. So Gillian Flynn is a brilliant example of that with something like Gone Girl, where she was really able to get inside that husband and wife relationship and play with it.

But again, and hers is actually a great example of the big twist as well. I like it when authors can surprise me, and it's a very much a genre where you can work with all sorts of layers and build that kind of suspense through and then turn it on its head. And the challenge of doing that as an author is amazing as well. That never gets boring, trying to keep the reader engaged and excited and hold them with the story and know enough about what they're thinking about the story to be able to be in control, but also be able to

fool the reader almost so that they get that sense of, oh, you know, I didn't realize we were going there and that's even more exciting. And so, yeah, I love playing around with those different ways of dragging out the suspense. Pete Slauson Making things suspenseful. I think people love the thrill of psychological thrillers, they like the danger, they like living through, you know, it's like people like murder mysteries and whodunnits and what are those other shows that are on TV? The shows where the CSI shows, Crime Scene Investigators, I think is what it stands for. I'm surprised I even know what that means. I just kind of made it up as I went along and I was like, Crime Scene Investigators, oh, that makes sense. Yeah, that's probably what it is.

How can people stay in touch with you? You said you have a newsletter. Dr. Preeti Sivaramanian Yeah. So I write for writers on Substack at The Resilient Author, and that is really encouraging other writers to think about the industry in different ways, that it's a very complex industry as you would know, constantly changing, very challenging, and psychologically as well to stay in the industry when it's hard to get promotion for your books and get them out to readers. So I look at that in all sorts of different ways. I do some that are just more opinion pieces, some real practical financial help pieces, some about different types of the business, suggesting promotion opportunities and different ways of thinking about promotion. So I do that side of

things for writers, but I also run a newsletter for readers and I'm just changing it around now. So my new one is called Story Matters and that's going to be launched properly in the next week or so. And that's really just going to be my fun newsletter to take people behind the scenes so they can see a bit more about what I'm doing and where I'm up to. I'm doing a fun promotional tour next week where I'm going to the southwest of Australia and going to all sorts of iconic venues. We have wineries down there and beautiful lighthouses and a big jetty that we're going to hide books in. I'm really looking forward to doing that as a bit of a promotional trip. So, just going to have some fun with my readers there.

It sounds delightful. It sounds delightful. Get out and get to see the people and everything that's out there for your readers. So give us your final thoughts as we go out on people to reach out to you, follow you on social media.com and pick up the book. Yeah, sure. So you can follow me on my website. It has all my book details. That's sarahfoster.com.au and SarahwithoutanH. And you can find the books everywhere. They're on audio, they're on ebook, as well as physical copies in stores. I'm also on Facebook and Instagram at Sarah Foster Author and I'm on Substack at those Resilient Author

and on Story Matters. Thank you very much for coming on the show. We really appreciate it. Thank you, Chris. Thanks for having me. Thank you and thanks for tuning in. Order up wherever fine books are sold. April 1st, 2025. Can you believe we're almost to April? Wow. When She Was Gone is out by Sarah Foster.

Thanks for tuning in. Be good to each other. Stay safe. We'll see you next time. And that should have us out.