Remember how I mentioned earlier in the #read99women series that the DC writers’ scene is a pretty impressive bunch? Today’s guest is another one of our local bright lights, and if you happen to be in the DC area, you can see her tonight at Kramerbooks launching her brand-new novel FOLLOW ME. (I’d be there myself, except that I’m doing an event for WOMAN 99 a few miles away at One More Page at the same time! But I’m attending in spirit.)

Kathleen Barber’s debut novel TRUTH BE TOLD (originally published as Are You Sleeping) is the inspiration for the Apple TV+ series of the same name, which is produced by Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine and stars Octavia Spencer and Aaron Paul. Originally from Galesburg, Illinois, Kathleen is a graduate of the University of Illinois and Northwestern University School of Law, and a former attorney. She lives in Washington, DC, with her husband and son. FOLLOW ME is her second novel.

My to-read list of thrillers written by women has been growing dramatically as our #read99women series rolls on, and today’s recommendation from Kathleen has added one to the very top of that list:

“Layne Fargo’s debut, TEMPER, took my breath away. A slow-burning feminist thriller set in Chicago’s theater scene, it’s a dangerously seductive story about ambition, obsession, and the capacity for violence that bewitched me from the start and kept me in its thrall until long after I turned the final page.”