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Torjussen, Mary

WORK TITLE: Gone without a Trace
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY: Liverpool, England
STATE:
COUNTRY: United Kingdom
NATIONALITY: British

http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2144039/mary-torjussen

RESEARCHER NOTES:

PERSONAL

Married (divorced); children: two.

EDUCATION:

Liverpool John Moores University, M.A.

ADDRESS

  • Home - Liverpool, England.

CAREER

Author; formerly worked as a teacher.

WRITINGS

  • Gone without a Trace (novel), Berkley (New York, NY), 2017
  • The Girl I Used to Be (novel), Berkley (New York, NY), 2018

SIDELIGHTS

Mary Torjussen’s debut novel is the thriller Gone without a Trace, which tells the story of a professional woman’s attempt to find out what happed to her vanished live-in boyfriend. “This is how it is for Hannah, when Matt disappears in my novel Gone without a Trace,” Torjussen explained in a Publishers Weekly article. “She arrives home to find he’s gone without any explanation. His possessions are gone, and soon she discovers his photos, texts, and emails are missing, too. She has nothing … except her memories.” “Hannah’s best friend, Katie, tries to tell Hannah,” stated a Kirkus Reviews contributor, “… to move on, but Hannah won’t have it, especially when she starts receiving cryptic texts.” “As Hannah falls apart and her work suffers,” said a Publishers Weekly reviewer, “readers realize that not all is at it seems.” “Suddenly no one seems trustworthy,” wrote a contributor to Smart Bitches Trashy Books, “not her assistant who may be sabotaging her work, not her jealous best friend, not her violent, temperamental father.”

Torjussen based her first novel’s plot on an incident she learned about online. “The inspiration for Gone without a Trace,” Torjussen revealed in an article appearing on the Writing.ie web site, “came from an online forum when a woman said she’d returned home to find her boyfriend had moved out while she was at work, taking everything he owned. Of course I was sorry for her–she was clearly very shocked–but, when I lay in bed that night, I started to think of the situation from his point of view and wondered why he’d disappeared. Eventually she discovered he’d moved in with his girlfriend and had been too cowardly to tell her face-to-face, but by then his story was taking shape.”

Critics found Torjussen’s debut interesting. “What I really thought set this thriller apart than many of the other ones coming before and after it is the fact that this one had a focus on family and its influence,” wrote a Well-thumbed Reader reviewer. “We get a peek into Hannah’s home life growing up and how that it’s shaped a huge part of her character, which is expanded upon as the book develops.” “I had to know what happened to Matt,” declared a Lit Bitch contributor. “While not as obsessive as Hannah, I was intrigued nevertheless and wanted to know what happened to him. I was ultimately invested enough in the story to keep reading and find out what happened to the characters but at the same time I wasn’t desperately trying to finish the book as fast as I could to find the resolution.” “Torjussen’s debut novel,” stated Cynthia Price, writing in Xpress Reviews, “combines tightly wound suspense with an unfolding surprise ending.”

BIOCRIT

PERIODICALS

  • Kirkus Reviews, February 15, 2017, review of Gone without a Trace.

  • Publishers Weekly, February 6, 2017, review of Gone without a Trace, p. 47; February 10, 2017, Mary Torjussen, “When Memory Is All You Have to Go On: Mary Torjussen.”

  • Xpress Reviews, March 17, 2017, Cynthia Price, review of Gone without a Trace.

ONLINE

  • Lit Bitch, https://thelitbitch.com/ (April 5, 2017), review of Gone without a Trace.

  • Penguin Random House, https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/ (November 8, 2017), author profile.

  • Smart Bitches Trashy Books, http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/ (November 8, 2017), review of Gone without a Trace.

  • Well-thumbed Reader, https://thewellthumbedreader.wordpress.com/ (April 17, 2017), review of Gone without a Trace.

  • Writing.ie, https://www.writing.ie/ (November 10, 2016), “Mary Torjussen on Gone without a Trace.

  • Gone without a Trace ( novel) Berkley (New York, NY), 2017
  • The Girl I Used to Be ( novel) Berkley (New York, NY), 2018
1. The girl I used to be LCCN 2017044781 Type of material Book Personal name Torjussen, Mary, author. Main title The girl I used to be / Mary Torjussen. Edition First edition. Published/Produced New York : Berkley, 2018. Projected pub date 1804 Description pages ; cm ISBN 9780399585036 (softcover) Library of Congress Holdings Information not available. 2. Gone without a trace LCCN 2016034658 Type of material Book Personal name Torjussen, Mary, author. Main title Gone without a trace / Mary Torjussen. Edition First edition. Published/Produced New York, NY : Berkley, 2017. Description 334 pages ; 21 cm ISBN 9780399585012 (softcover) CALL NUMBER PR6120.O75 G66 2017 CABIN BRANCH Copy 1 Request in Jefferson or Adams Building Reading Rooms - STORED OFFSITE
  • Penguin Random House - https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2144039/mary-torjussen

    Mary Torjussen
    Photo of Mary Torjussen
    Photo: © Jennie Miles Photography
    ABOUT THE AUTHOR

    Mary Torjussen is the acclaimed author of Gone Without a Trace. She has an MA in Creative Writing from Liverpool John Moores University and worked for several years as a teacher.

  • Publishers Weekly - https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/profiles/article/72757-when-memory-is-all-you-have-to-go-on-mary-torjussen.html

    When Memory Is All You Have to Go On: Mary Torjussen

    By Mary Torjussen | Feb 10, 2017
    Comments subscribe by the month

    In Gone Without a Trace (Berkley, Apr.), Hannah Monroe, a successful accounting firm employee, comes home one day to the house she shares with her live-in boyfriend, Matt Stone, to find him gone.

    Most of us have experienced the end of a relationship and having to come to terms with life without someone we loved. Usually a breakup is preceded by fights, and it’s pretty clear to each party why the relationship has ended, though there are some who enjoy the mind games of “If you don’t know what’s wrong, I’m not going to tell you!” before storming off, leaving a confused lover behind.

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    But what about those whose partners just disappear without an explanation? The need to know where someone is and why they’ve gone can be so intense that the person who’s left becomes obsessed. We hear in the news of people disappearing and, whilst sympathetic, we quite quickly forget about them and move on. Then, years later, we hear that their families, who’ve never forgotten them, are still searching. While we have been living our lives, those people have had only one goal: find the person who has disappeared.

    This is how it is for Hannah, when Matt disappears in my novel Gone Without a Trace. She arrives home to find he’s gone without any explanation. His possessions are gone, and soon she discovers his photos, texts, and emails are missing, too. She has nothing of his, nothing to remind her of him or their relationship except her memories. But how reliable are they?

    We all assume we are standing on steady ground. We like to think we know our own history and where we stand with partners and friends. When we recall an event in our past, we’re certain it happened as we remember. When Matt is gone, Hannah feels as though her whole world has been upended. Nothing was at it seemed, and every aspect of her life has to be examined and questioned as she searches for Matt. She remembers the last night they were together, lying in the bath and Matt bringing her a glass of wine and telling her to take it easy. Now with this new reality overlaying that memory, she wonders what was really going on.

    Of course, if that memory was false in some way, it’s likely others were, too. But how can she reconcile the life she thought she’d led and the reality exposed by Matt’s disappearance? The cognitive dissonance Hannah experiences as she tries to reconcile the two becomes her driving force.

    To stay sane we need to know our own history. Ultimately, all we can rely on is our memories; all we can trust is what we’ve seen and heard and experienced. If those memories are not true, not real, then what do we have?

    A version of this article appeared in the 02/13/2017 issue of Publishers Weekly under the headline: Truth and Memory

Torjussen, Mary: GONE WITHOUT A TRACE
Kirkus Reviews.
(Feb. 15, 2017):
COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Torjussen, Mary GONE WITHOUT A TRACE Berkley (Adult Fiction) $16.00 4, 11 ISBN: 978-0-399-58501-2
When her boyfriend disappears, his belongings in tow, a Liverpool woman pulls out all the stops to find him,
dismantling her own life in the process.Hannah Monroe's life couldn't be better. She has a great job as an accountant,
with a possible promotion on the horizon, and an equally prized boyfriend, architect Matt Stone. But then it's gone,
with Matt vanishing one night after work, taking everything he owns with him. Hannah, with her self-centered
personality and lack of empathy, garners little if any sympathy from the reader. Torjussen tries to make Hannah's dual
reactions of pining and searching aimlessly either resonant or nonrepetitive but fails. Matt's presence is not only wiped
clean from the house--he took everything from his jazz posters to his ugly mugs--but he erased himself from social
media as well. While it's clear that a sense of foreboding should be building for the reader as it mounts for the frantic
Hannah, instead what's kindled is a curious lack of emotional connection. Hannah's best friend, Katie, tries to tell
Hannah--who's slowly losing it at work as she spends hours Googling Matt and possible leads regarding his
whereabouts--to move on, but Hannah won't have it, especially when she starts receiving cryptic texts and is sure
someone is lurking in the house. Sometimes a missing person should stay missing, for the benefit of the story and the
reader. This is one of those times. The reveal, when it finally comes, is less revelatory than cheap, an attempt to
breathe dramatic life into a story that sorely lacks it.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Torjussen, Mary: GONE WITHOUT A TRACE." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Feb. 2017. General OneFile,
go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA480922037&it=r&asid=96d7e413d5e686fe3b1e2f5994f07ec2.
Accessed 15 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A480922037
10/15/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1508105242889 2/3
Gone Without a Trace
Publishers Weekly.
264.6 (Feb. 6, 2017): p47.
COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Gone Without a Trace
Mary Torjussen. Berkley, $16 trade paper
(352p) ISBN 978-0-399-58501-2
Hannah Monroe, the narrator of Torjussen's strong debut, is flush with the promise of a much-earned promotion at her
accounting firm and eager to share the news with her live-in boyfriend of four years, Matt Stone. But when she returns
to her house near Liverpool from a training course in Oxford, Matt isn't there, and all his belongings have disappeared
with him. Bewildered and devastated, Hannah discovers that Matt's phone number has been deleted from her phone
and that he's even left his job. She turns for comfort to her best friend, Katie, who tries to persuade her to move on, but
all Hannah wants to do is find Matt and confront him. Soon she begins receiving strange texts and suspects that
someone is entering her house. As Hannah falls apart and her work suffers, readers realize that not all is at it seems.
The deliciously dark conclusion is perfect for this tale of all-consuming obsession, jealousy, and the secrets that lie
beneath the most perfect of exteriors. Agent: Kate Burke, Diane Banks Associates (U.K.). (Apr.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Gone Without a Trace." Publishers Weekly, 6 Feb. 2017, p. 47. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA480593833&it=r&asid=eada5a8d0ff9cdc7a23d475bf54c76fb.
Accessed 15 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A480593833
10/15/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1508105242889 3/3
Torjussen, Mary. Gone Without a Trace
Cynthia Price
Xpress Reviews.
(Mar. 17, 2017):
COPYRIGHT 2017 Library Journals, LLC
http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/reviews/xpress/884170-289/xpress_reviews-first_look_at_new.html.csp
Full Text:
[STAR] Torjussen, Mary. Gone Without a Trace. Berkley. Apr. 2017. 352p. ISBN 9780399585012. pap. $16; ebk.
ISBN 9780399585029. F
[DEBUT] Hannah's on the fast track to success. She's about to be named director of the accounting firm where she
works, and she can't wait to tell her boyfriend Matt. But when Hannah gets home, Matt isn't there and doesn't return
that night. In fact, he seems to have vanished into thin air, and all traces of their life together have disappeared as well.
Empty spots where photos used to hang on the wall, deleted text messages, scrubbed voice mails, and even his social
media accounts have been erased. With her own hopes and dreams on the line, Hannah fights to make sense of her
new reality even as the awful truth begins to unravel.
Verdict Torjussen's debut novel combines tightly wound suspense with an unfolding surprise ending, making for a
gripping page-turner from start to finish. Fans of Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl and Alafair Burke's If You Were Here will
love this.--Cynthia Price, Francis Marion Univ. Lib., Florence, SC
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Price, Cynthia. "Torjussen, Mary. Gone Without a Trace." Xpress Reviews, 17 Mar. 2017. General OneFile,
go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA490983518&it=r&asid=47fa23f4f26109e257d64d6a4422afa5.
Accessed 15 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A490983518

"Torjussen, Mary: GONE WITHOUT A TRACE." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Feb. 2017. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA480922037&it=r. Accessed 15 Oct. 2017. "Gone Without a Trace." Publishers Weekly, 6 Feb. 2017, p. 47. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA480593833&it=r. Accessed 15 Oct. 2017. Price, Cynthia. "Torjussen, Mary. Gone Without a Trace." Xpress Reviews, 17 Mar. 2017. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA490983518&it=r. Accessed 15 Oct. 2017.
  • Lit Bitch
    https://thelitbitch.com/2017/04/05/review-gone-without-a-trace-by-mary-torjussen/

    Word count: 740

    Review: Gone Without A Trace by Mary Torjussen

    When I read mysteries, I typically read historical mysteries but from time to time, a modern psychological thriller captures my eye and I pick it up but I kind of have to be in the mood.

    Well the mood struck me when Gone Without A Trace came up for review. So what caught my eye about this one? Well I liked the tag line ‘no one disappears completely’. One of my favorite shows on ID TV is Disappeared, so books that deal with disappearances intrigue me because that tag line is so true and the not knowing drives the interest for me.

    Gone Without a Trace is a compulsive thriller about a woman who returns from work to find her boyfriend has vanished.

    No one ever disappears completely…
    You leave for work one morning. Another day in your normal life. Until you come home to discover that your boyfriend has gone.

    His belongings have disappeared. He hasn’t been at work for weeks. It’s as if he never existed. But that’s not possible, is it? And there is worse still to come. Because just as you are searching for him, someone is also watching you (summary from Goodreads).

    This book is told in the first person which I thought worked well for the story and a point of view that I think typically works well within suspense or thriller novels. For me though, Hannah as a main character was at times a little over dramatic and that kind of bothered me. I prefer my main characters, especially women leads, less drama. I think what bothered me the most was at first she had questions but when things started to look like he simply left her, why keep beating a dead horse so to speak? I don’t know, had it been me I would have been like fine you left me, your loss and move on.

    Finding Matt becomes an obsession for her in a way that I couldn’t necessarily relate to as a reader. While at times she seemed justified in her frustration and obsession, I just had a hard time relating to her. After a while I did start questioning her reliability as a POV character which ultimately became the driving force for me to continue reading this one.

    Something about this book just fell short for me. It was a little slower paced that I expected for a book that’s supposed to be a thriller and the plot wasn’t exactly ‘fresh’ in my opinion. With the success of books like Gone Girl, I think this book tried to capitalize on that trend, but for me it feel just in the middle of the road (as did Gone Girl in my opinion).

    That said, I did enjoy the whole unreliable narrator piece and as I mentioned earlier, I like books about disappearances so that kept me reading. I had to know what happened to Matt. While not as obsessive as Hannah, I was intrigued nevertheless and wanted to know what happened to him. I was ultimately invested enough in the story to keep reading and find out what happened to the characters but at the same time I wasn’t desperately trying to finish the book as fast as I could to find the resolution.

    The other suggestion I had was adding more substance to the summary. For me, it wasn’t enough to garner any attention. It was bland and not appealing. Had I not been in the mood to read a psychological thriller, I probably would have passed on this one based on the summary. It was worthy of a more detailed synopsis.

    On the whole, it earned three stars from me. Ok, but not mind blowing.

    Challenge/Book Summary:

    Book: Gone Without A Trace by Mary Torjussen

    Kindle Edition, 352 pages
    Published November 3rd 2016 by Headline
    ASIN B01D8ZE2QG
    Review copy provided by: Publisher/Author in exchange for an honest review

    This book counts toward: NA

    Hosted by: NA
    Books for Challenge Completed: NA

    Recommendation: 3 out of 5

    Genre: Psychological thriller, thriller, mystery, suspense

    Memorable lines/quotes:

  • Smart Bitches Trashy Books
    http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/reviews/gone-without-trace-mary-torjussen/

    Word count: 507

    Gone Without a Trace by Mary Torjussen

    by Elyse · May 13, 2017 at 10:46 pm · Leave a comment
    Gone Without a Trace by Mary Torjussen
    C
    Gone Without a Trace

    by Mary Torjussen

    Gone Without a Trace by Mary Torjussen is a psychological thriller with an intriguing premise, but the end doesn’t quite stick the landing.

    Hannah is excited to get home from a conference to tell her boyfriend, Matt, about her upcoming promotion. When she arrives home, however, she finds all of Matt’s possessions gone. It’s as though he’s never lived there–even the sheets have been replaced by ones she owned before Matt moved in. His food is missing from the fridge. Understandably freaked out, Hannah checks her cell–Matt’s texts, emails and voicemails have been deleted. His social media accounts have been deleted too.

    The total disappearance of her partner derails Hannah completely. He’s not at his job. His mother has moved and left no forwarding address–and to make things creepier, someone is sending her spooky texts from an unknown number.

    Hannah is determined to find out what happened to Matt. If he did leave her, why? And why make it appear as if he never existed? She gets sucked further and further into the mystery and her professional life, friendships, and relationships with her family crumble as she falls down a rabbit hole of paranoia. Suddenly no one seems trustworthy, not her assistant who may be sabotaging her work, not her jealous best friend, not her violent, temperamental father.

    If all of that sounds deliciously creepy, it is. The reason I gave the book a C is that while the build up is amazing, the resolution feels like it comes out of left field. I didn’t think there were enough clues to justify the ending and in some ways I felt cheated
    Click for spoilers!

    I should also warn readers that there are graphic depictions of domestic violence in this book.

    The build up in Gone Without a Trace was so excellent, I just wish the end lived up to the expectations it created.

    – Elyse

    GONE WITHOUT A TRACE by Mary Torjussen is a chilling psychological thriller about a woman whose boyfriend has vanished. Fans of I LET YOU GO and THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN will be gripped.

    No one ever disappears completely…

    You leave for work one morning.

    Another day in your normal life.

    Until you come home to discover that your boyfriend has gone.
    His belongings have disappeared.
    He hasn’t been at work for weeks.
    It’s as if he never existed.

    But that’s not possible, is it?

    And if he has gone without a trace
    why do you still feel that someone is watching you?
    Mystery/Thriller

  • Well-thumbed Reader
    https://thewellthumbedreader.wordpress.com/2017/04/17/arc-book-review-gone-without-a-trace-by-mary-torjussen/

    Word count: 724

    [ARC BOOK REVIEW] Gone Without A Trace by Mary Torjussen
    Posted on April 17, 2017 by Mikaela @ The Well-Thumbed Reader

    Gone Without a Trace

    Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Adult

    Series: None

    Rating: 3 STARS

    Release Date: April 18, 2017

    Description:

    A jaw-dropping novel of psychological suspense that asks, “If the love of your life disappeared without a trace, how far would you go to find out why? ”

    Hannah Monroe’s boyfriend, Matt, is gone. His belongings have disappeared from their house. Every call she ever made to him, every text she ever sent, every photo of him and any sign of him on social media have vanished. It’s as though their last four years together never happened.

    As Hannah struggles to get through the next few days, with humiliation and recriminations whirring through her head, she knows that she’ll do whatever it takes to find him again and get answers. But as soon as her search starts, she realizes she is being led into a maze of madness and obsession. Step by suspenseful step, Hannah discovers her only way out is to come face to face with the shocking truth…

    My Thoughts:

    This was quite the interesting psychological thriller. I went into this one really excited because the premise sounded awesome: a woman comes home to find her boyfriend missing? What? Unfortunately, though the pacing for this one was really well done, and this book kept me reading until the very last pages, the ending definitely fell flat on its face for me.

    As I said before, the pacing was definitely well done. As soon as I started this book, I was hooked, and it really kept my interest. I feel like I’ve been doing absolutely terrible at reading this past year, so it was really nice to have an addicting read to keep up with. The mystery definitely keeps you going, especially with such an interesting premise at the basis of the novel.

    I thought the characters for this one were also quite interesting. We have Hannah, our main character, and Katie, her best friend, that really drive this novel with their toxic friendship. I’m always a fan of that trope in thrillers, and this was no exception. This one proved to be a bit more subtle than as an outright thriller surrounding toxic friendships, but I still really enjoyed it. We also have James, Hannah’s husband, that was a previous boyfriend of hers when the two of them were growing up, and he played an interesting part in the book as well.

    What I really thought set this thriller apart than many of the other ones coming before and after it is the fact that this one had a focus on family and its influence, much like The Roanoke Girls, except way less creepier. We get a peek into Hannah’s home life growing up and how that it’s shaped a huge part of her character, which is expanded upon as the book develops. I thought it was a really nice touch to see how her mom and her dad influenced her and played a part in what happens in the overall bigger picture of the book.

    Now, the ending was what got stars docked off for me. Near the end, we get what I’d consider an interesting part, because something happens that I didn’t really expect to happen. I was really excited because I wanted to know where the book would propel from there on out. But after that point, the book got so…busy. Things were revealed, we got a flashback, even MORE things were revealed, a big thing happens, more things are revealed, more stuff happens, and then the epilogue. And it was just all too much. I wouldn’t have minded if everything were interspersed near the falling resolution, but it just happened all at once, and that’s what really bothered me the most.

    Overall, an okay psychological thriller that could’ve done with a better ending.

    arrow

    A huge thanks to Berkley Publishing for the free e-ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

  • Writing.ie
    https://www.writing.ie/interviews/crime/mary-torjussen-on-gone-without-a-trace/

    Word count: 1299

    Writing.ie | Interviews | Crime | Mary Torjussen on ‘Gone Without A Trace’
    Mary Torjussen on ‘Gone Without A Trace’
    w-ie-small
    Article by writingie © 10 November 2016 Mary Torjussen .
    Posted in the Magazine ( · Crime ).

    The inspiration for Gone Without a Trace came from an online forum when a woman said she’d returned home to find her boyfriend had moved out while she was at work, taking everything he owned. Of course I was sorry for her – she was clearly very shocked – but, when I lay in bed that night, I started to think of the situation from his point of view and wondered why he’d disappeared. Eventually she discovered he’d moved in with his girlfriend and had been too cowardly to tell her face-to-face, but by then his story was taking shape in my mind and I knew I would write about it.

    I’ve always wanted to write a novel and get it published. Like many people, though, real life got in the way and there were always competing demands for my time. I wrote my first novel about fifteen years ago and spend eighty days writing one thousand words per day, timing it so that it would be finished by the time we went on holiday. We were going to France and I knew that for much of the day my children would want to play outdoors, giving me plenty of free time. I edited the novel in France, then sent it off to agents. Their reaction was favourable but they said that it didn’t have a strong enough hook for them to take it further. They were absolutely right.

    Then my husband and I divorced, and for a while I was too busy teaching full time and caring for two children on my own to write. When they were teenagers, though, I had more free time and was accepted on an MA in Writing at Liverpool John Moores University.

    There we had workshops, guest speakers and inspirational lectures, and I learned so much. I wanted to write a psychological suspense and, luckily, my workshop tutor was the thriller writer, Margaret Murphy. Those workshops were the most important part of the course for me as I learned to critique my own work; I think this is the most important skill a writer can gain.

    While I was plotting my novel, I met an agent who asked me to send it to her when it was complete; when I did, I was asked to make a few small changes before she submitted it to several editors. There was some nice feedback but nobody wanted to take it on, with many editors saying it needed to be polished. I wrote another, determined to keep going until I was published. Again, although I had nice feedback, it didn’t have the hook that agents wanted.

    Mary Torjussen - Photo for HeadlineThen another agent wanted to represent me on the first novel. Once she heard that it had already been sent out to editors, however, she withdrew. I’ve since learned from others in the publishing business that it’s considered very unfair to submit unpolished books as the onus is on the editor to do all the editorial work and it doesn’t showcase the novel in its best light, so there’s a risk the author will be rejected and, because it’s already been sent out, will never be able to sell the book. It’s also considered to be potentially troublesome to send out work without signing a contract with the author – what would happen if an editor wanted to buy it but the author decided to change agent?

    So, I decided to self-publish. Both received good reviews, but it’s incredibly difficult for an author to market their own work, so I was still determined to get a publishing contract. Then my employer offered voluntary redundancies and I jumped at the chance to spend a year trying to write a novel that would sell.

    As soon as I sent Gone Without a Trace off to agents, I knew this book was different. The response from agents was positive right from the start. When authors make a submission to an agent, they have to pitch the idea and attach a synopsis and the first three chapters. If an agent is interested, the author is asked to send the full manuscript – it’s very hard to get to that stage. However, this time, most agents emailed back immediately to ask for the rest of the book.

    One agent asked me to make changes, again without a contract, then she said she wasn’t certain about some elements of the story and wouldn’t represent me.

    Undeterred, I sent it straight out again. Kate Burke of Diane Banks Associates emailed me a couple of days later to ask for the full manuscript and then a few days after that she called and we agreed she would represent me. That was a wonderful day.

    Kate was an editor for several years and had so much knowledge and expertise. That was mid-November 2015; we agreed she’d have editorial comments ready in January. The editorial period lasted a month and she suggested ways to strengthen the novel and cut back wherever she felt the text slowed down the narrative. That editing process was intense but very enjoyable. At the start of February she sent it out to editors and immediately there was interest. Within a few days, she phoned to tell me that Emily Griffin at Headline loved the book and wanted to make a two-book offer immediately, to pre-empt an auction. Emily understood exactly what I wanted from the book and I was absolutely thrilled to accept her offer.

    A couple of days later, Kate called again to tell me that there was a lot of interest from German publishers and an auction took place, involving five of their biggest publishers. It was so exciting to hear that Random House had won the auction, especially when they said they would make Gone Without a Trace their lead book.

    Just days later I was told that Penguin in America were very interested in a two-book deal. I had a long conversation with one of their editors, Danielle Perez, about my novel and, like Emily, she knew exactly what could be done to improve it. At this point Emily kindly agreed to co-edit with Danielle and that editorial process lasted a couple of months; it has been such a privilege to have such experienced editors working with me.

    On the day that I was told America was making an offer, I heard we’d sold Russian rights, and shortly after that, Kate sold Polish, Czech, Slovak and French rights, as well as TV rights, too. She’s an amazing agent!

    Now all I have to do is to write another book…

    (c) Mary Torjussen

    About Gone Without A Trace

    No one ever disappears completely…

    You leave for work one morning.

    Another day in your normal life.

    Until you come home to discover that your boyfriend has gone.
    His belongings have disappeared.
    He hasn’t been at work for weeks.
    It’s as if he never existed.

    But that’s not possible, is it?

    And if he has gone without a trace, why do you still feel that someone is watching you?

    Gone Without a Trace is in bookshops now or pick up your copy online here!