Lucinda Berry is a master of creepy psychological thrillers, and I’m excited to peek a little inside that brain to see what scary things helped shape the way she looks at the world and the way she writes her books. Her newest novel, Under Her Care, is one I got an early read of, and I am here to say you want this book. It’s a fun, spooky fast-paced read that will leave you guessing until the end.
This is my official take: “Creepy and chilling, Under Her Care is a tense page-turner that leaves you questioning everything you ever knew about motherhood and the family bond.”
And now….on to what scares Lucinda…
What is your greatest fear?
Without a doubt, snakes. I am TERRIFIED of snakes.
Do you have a recurring nightmare?
Yep, and it has to do with my answer to the first question: snakes. So, I’m terrified of snakes, and I have an older brother. During the spring, down by the creek where we lived, there were tons of garter snakes having baby snakes. My brother and his friends used to catch as many as they could and put them in bags. Then, they’d chase me around with them. I still have nightmares about it. Those are the scariest nightmares. The ones based in real life…
Do you like Halloween? If so, what’s your favorite part?
I LOVE Halloween. I usually say Christmas is my favorite holiday and Halloween is my second favorite but in reality—Halloween might be first, and for a couple of reasons. One, there’s so much more pressure on Christmas but there’s none of that with Halloween! Halloween isn’t supposed to look a certain way or be perfect and I love that. Two, I didn’t get to celebrate traditional Halloween much when I was a kid so I’m making up for lost time. Three, I love being scared and scaring other people.
What’s scarier: attics or basements?
Basements 100%. I grew up in the rural Midwest and every house had a basement. I’ve seen some very scary basements in my day. Ones where you were terrified you’d get locked down there; where you ran dares to see who could stay down there longest with the lights turned out.
What’s more terrifying to you: Freezing to death in a blizzard or dying from extreme heat, lost in a desert?
This one is easy since I’ve had mild hypothermia once. Again, I grew up in the Midwest (there seems to be a theme here-ha!) and got stranded overnight in a car during the brutal winter. Freezing is awful in the beginning, but then it becomes almost peaceful so I don’t have any fears about dying in a blizzard. So, I’m going with dying from extreme heat. That sounds excruciating and brutal.
Dr. Lucinda Berry is a former clinical psychologist and leading researcher in childhood trauma. Now, she spends her days writing full-time where she uses her clinical experience to blur the line between fiction and nonfiction. She enjoys taking her readers on a journey through the dark recesses of the human psyche. Her work has been optioned for film and translated into multiple languages.
If Berry isn’t chasing after her son, you can find her running through Los Angeles, prepping for her next marathon. To hear about her upcoming releases or other author news, visit her on social media or sign up for her newsletter at https://lucindaberry.com/.