Nothing is easier. But at least now I understand that the hard parts are part of the process. At some point during the writing of each of my books, I said to myself, This is impossible. It will never happen. I’ll never get it done. And then, of course, it got done. So now when I get to the this-is-impossible stage, I understand it’s not actually impossible. That feeling is just part of the process.
Your books always involve very current, ripped-from-the-headlines plots. How do you choose your next topic? Were you already thinking of writing about the issue of campus rape before the University of Virginia article in Rolling Stone came out?
Yes, I was writing The Last Good Girl before that horrible article came out. The Rolling Stone article has done more to set back American sex-crimes prosecutions than much I can think of in recent history. People naturally tend to doubt sex-assault victims. They think rape survivors are more likely to lie than, say, victims of a mugging—which is totally untrue. Sex assaults are fabricated at exactly the same rate as any other crime. But that badly researched article reinforced the unwarranted skepticism toward sex-assault survivors, which advocates have been fighting for decades. Sigh.
As for how I choose my topics: I always have a bunch of ideas percolating, because, unfortunately, there’s always some bad man doing some bad thing. (Sorry, it’s almost always a bad man in my line of work.) There’s plenty of “inspiration” to mull. When it’s time to pull the trigger on a book idea, I talk to my editor, my agent, my husband, and a few trusted friends about these ideas, spinning out how they’d work. After several conversations, I start to get excited about one in particular, and that’s the one I write.
How would you advise universities to improve their sexual-assault reporting procedures? Do you think there is a solution, or is this a problem that won’t go away as higher institutions strive to keep their reported rapes at zero to appeal to potential students and donors?
A few of my sex-crime prosecutor friends and I have actually talked about forming an organization to try to help colleges figure out how to improve their policies. It’s a complicated issue, trying to balance the safety of victims with the rights of suspects. I think we’re heading in the right direction—federal DOJ oversight of campuses has made it a lot harder for colleges to ignore rapes. But we’ve got a long way to go.
The legal process has to be fair, transparent, and consistent. But solutions outside the legal box could have as much of an impact. Some suggest dry campuses—since so many assaults are facilitated by alcohol—while others suggest lowering the drinking age, so that students wouldn’t come to college with no drinking experience and go overboard or binge drink. I’d love to have a study comparing those two models!
Right now, all Greek parties are held in fraternities, not sororities. It’s a throwback rule, totally sexist, and I think it contributes to sexual assaults. I believe holding parties in sororities would change the dynamics, making it much harder for predator boys to use their home turf to prey on vulnerable victims.
Do you keep up with your friends from the world of federal sex-crimes prosecuting? Do they ever give you ideas for your novels?
The friends I made at the USAO are some of my best friends in the world, and will be, I expect, for my entire life. Our relationship is a little bit like that among war vets. We went through the trenches together; experienced something difficult, crazy, harrowing, rewarding; saw each other through tough times, heartbreak, and victories. There are few legal jobs like that.
And, yeah, I shamelessly pick their brains for story ideas. Folks have been very generous in sharing the best and worst of what’s happened to them in any given week. And most everyone wants to have a character named after them. J
Which is more stressful: prosecuting a high level sex-crimes case in front of a judge and jury, or turning in your manuscript on time to your editor?
Ha! Maybe if my editor were cruel and sadistic, I’d be more stressed out, but I’ve been lucky that Lauren Spiegel, the woman who’s edited all five of my books, is terrific. Kind, smart, savvy, funny, a pleasure to work with. Turning in a manuscript is undoubtedly stressful—you know that the whole world can read it and judge you. They say publishing a book is like walking down the street in your underwear. But for pure adrenaline and stress, there’s nothing like prosecuting a sexual predator. I think that’s why I started writing, actually. It was my way of processing everything, of handling that stress.
What do you like to read and watch when you aren’t writing about the intense world of sex-crimes prosecutors?
Crime novels and courtroom dramas, of course! Although now there’s an element of “doing my homework” when I read and watch these. It’s hard to just enjoy the story; now I’m thinking, Ooh, I should have done that! Or, Hm, I could’ve done that better. Or, the worst: Damn, I’ll never be able to do it that well. I’m always picking at the seams, peeking beneath the fabric, analyzing the construction. I love literary fiction, too, though the same problems apply. For true relaxation, I watch The Bachelor. Whoa, wait. I can’t believe I just admitted that. I take it back. I’m . . . um . . . I’m pleading the Fifth.
Enhance Your Book Club
1. Read another Anna Curtis novel and discuss how Anna has changed over the years. How has her approach to prosecuting cases changed as she’s gotten older and more confident in her role?
2. Visit www.rainn.org to learn how you can volunteer to support rape and sexual abuse victims, advocate for public policy changes, and help raise money to support victims’ rights.
3. Watch the documentary The Hunting Ground, which is about campus sexual assault. What themes are similar to those in the book?
© JOHNATHON MULLEN
ALLISON LEOTTA was a federal sex-crimes prosecutor in Washington, D.C., for twelve years. In 2011, she left the Justice Department to pursue writing full-time. She is the acclaimed author of Law of Attraction, Discretion, Speak of the Devil, and A Good Killing, and founder of the award-winning blog The Prime-Time Crime Review. A graduate of Michigan State University and Harvard Law School, Leotta lives with her husband, Michael, and their two sons outside of Washington, D.C.
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ALSO BY ALLISON LEOTTA
Law of Attraction
Discretion
Speak of the Devil
A Good Killing
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2016 by Allison Leotta
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First Touchstone hardcover edition May 2016
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Leotta, Allison, author.
Title: The last good girl : a novel / Allison Leotta.
Description: New York : Touchstone, [2016] | Series: Anna Curtis series
Identifiers: LCCN 2015046724
Subjects: LCSH: Public prosecutors—Fiction. | Missing persons—Investigation—Fiction. | Women college students—Crimes against—Fiction. | BISAC: FICTION / Contemporary Women. | FICTION / Suspense. | FICTION / Family Life. | GSAFD: Suspense fiction. | Mystery fiction. | Legal stories.
Classification: LCC PS3612.E59 L37 2016 | DDC 813/.6—dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015046724
ISBN 978-1-4767-6111-4
ISBN 978-1-4767-6113-8 (ebook)
The Last Good Girl Page 29