| Name | Lisa Gardner |
| Pen Name | Alicia Scott |
| Nationality | American |
| Born | 1972 |
| Died | NA |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Education | University of Pennsylvania |
| Genre | Romantic suspense novels, thrillers |
| Notable Works | Fear Nothing, Hide, Love You More |
| Notable Awards | Best Hardcover Novel (International Thriller Writers), Grand Prix des Lectrices de Elle, Daphne du Maurier Award, Silver Bullet Award |
| Height | NA |
| Spouses | Not known |
| Children | Not known |
| Official Website | lisagardner |
Gardner was brought up in Hillsboro, Oregon. She finished her high school education at Glencoe High School and her college education at the University of Pennsylvania.
During the mid-1990s, she worked with Mercer Management (which now goes by the name of Oliver Wyman) in Boston as a research analyst. Describing herself as someone who is addicted to research, she converted her passion for criminal psychology and police procedure into a writing career.
Her job required her to conduct long hours of research, and the writer says this is where she derived the patience to follow an investigation and learn about new subjects, all of which helped her to become the successful author she is today.
Gardner was still in college when she sold her first novel. It took her three years to finish the book, after which she rewrote it at least four times. Walking After Midnight, released in 1992, was the name of the first published novel, which she wrote under the pen name of Alicia Scott.
She wrote romantic suspense novels at the beginning of her career as an author. However, she slowly got more and more invested in the intricacies of the plots, and she was also quite unusual as a writer in the genre of suspense novels.
The reason for this was that unlike many other authors writing in this genre, she didn’t have a background in crime reporting or law.
The more cops she met and the more prison cells she visited, the more she got to incorporate it all into her novels. Hence, the shift from romantic suspense to thrillers came quite naturally for Gardner.
There is, however, one aspect she carried into this new genre, too, which is the importance she placed on her characters. This is why she ensures to write her characters in a way such that her readers get attached to them and care about the evil they’re forced to face.
The Perfect Husband, which was released in 1997, was the first thriller she published and also the first novel that was published with her original name. There wasn’t a lot of faith shown in the book initially.
About 40,000 copies were slated to be printed, after which the author says the publishers had decided to walk away. However, as fate would have it, the book became a huge hit and debuted in the 17th position on the New York Times’ list of bestsellers.
The entire experience taught Gardner that although things might take time to work out, hard work pays off in the end. After this, she continued to move forward and write books, and they all kept getting noticed and ending up on the list of bestsellers one by one.
Writing Style And Approach
Speaking of her writing style and where she gets her ideas from, Gardner says that she is actually not sure where the ideas for her novels originate from. They somehow just come to her, especially the scary and creepy ones.
She begins her day by writing, as she prefers to write in the morning, accompanied by her dog and a large cup of coffee.
Gardner tries to complete at least a couple of scenes from her book every week, which can either mean that she writes for a few hours each day or, at times, even 10 hours on a daily basis. All of it depends on how quickly her mind is working at that moment.
When she starts to write a novel, she creates a general outline of the story in the beginning. This includes knowing the crucial scenes and plot points and how much research will be required to develop the story.
However, she says that she does make a lot of changes to her story as she goes along, due to which the final result may often have very few similarities to her initial ideas.
At times, she comes up with a better plot point or twist, and her characters become even stronger than she had imagined them to be. She often adjusts her story so that it fits in well with the new concept.
Gardner takes about six months to draft a story, after which she spends three months polishing it till she feels that this is how she wants the world to see her book. In order to keep her books as original as possible, she interviews people from various fields to learn more about their real-life experiences.
So far in her career, she has interviewed:
- ATF agents
- FBI agents
- Local police
- State police
- Corrections officers
- Various other people who hold significant professional positions
The author says she has been fortunate enough to receive crucial information about their daily roles and responsibilities, which have ultimately helped in making her stories more genuine.
Lisa Gardner has an extremely interesting style of storytelling, and equally interesting are the themes she writes about. She populates her novels with complex characters, intriguing plot twists, and quick pacing. The emotional and psychological impact of crime on human beings often forms the main theme of her books.
Several of her novels are based on women who are victims of despicable crimes. She talks about how they overcome that trauma and seek justice from the legal system. Subjects such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse are handled both sensitively and deftly by the writer.
The topics she discusses in her books are extremely thought-provoking and leave you with a better understanding of the human mind. She collaborates with forensic experts and professionals in the Department of Law Enforcement since her novels have themes surrounding these fields.
Gardner says that she has always been a reader, and her love for writing has always been present as well. She was the nerd who would work on her short story sitting at the back of her Latin class while completely ignoring what her teacher was saying.
She decided to give writing a go one summer while working as a waitress. The result was a novel that was complete yet truly awful. In the meantime, her hair had caught on fire twice as she was serving her days as a waitress, which was a clear sign for her to leave the job.
She quit and decided to polish her novel instead, which obviously worked extremely well in her favor. Gardner read M.M. Kaye’s The Far Pavilions when she was 12 years old, and the author says that she was completely enthralled by the book from the very beginning.
Everything, right from the history and characters to its setting, pulled her in and gave her a literary experience so strong that it served as a foundation for her writing career. She still holds the book very close to her heart and also goes back to it every couple of years.
Some of the other authors whom she loves are Stephen King, Karin Slaughter, Lee Child, Michael Connelly, Tess Gerritsen, and John Sandford.
Gardner believes that writers should take care of one another because the success of one writer also indicates the success of the writing community as a whole. She loves discovering new authors and helping aspiring authors as well.
There is a section on her website known as ‘Writer’s Toolbox’ where she provides tips and tricks regarding writing, researching, and selling books.
As far as her legacy is concerned, Gardner has also managed to make her name included in the list of authors whose books have been adapted into movies or TV shows. Four of her novels have been turned into TV movies so far.
The first book of hers, which was made into a movie, was At the Midnight Hour, with the movie having the same name and being released in 1995. The second movie was Instinct to Kill, released in 2001, and was based on her book titled The Perfect Husband.
Next was The Survivors Club, which came out in 2004 and was based on the book of the same title. Finally, there was Hide, a 2011 movie adapted from Gardner’s novel of the same name.
Lisa Gardner has been presented with numerous prestigious awards and honors to date. Some of them include:
- She received the award for the Best Hardcover Novel for her book, The Neighbor, from the International Thriller Writers
- She was given the Grand Prix des Lectrices de Elle in France
- Her novel, The Other Daughter, won her the Daphne du Maurier Award in 2000
- In 2017, she was presented with the Silver Bullet Award from the International Thriller Writers with regard to the work she does for at-risk kids and the Humane Society
