Celebrating Debutantes 2016: The Killer in Me by Margot Harrison (Movie Cast + Giveaway)

Hi guys! For today in Celebrating Debutantes 2016, I'm featuring The Killer in Me by Margot Harrison. It's about serial killers. I've always been drawn to the mechanics, the psychology and the creepy thrill in general of serial killer films. This would be my first book about it, if ever. Margot is going to talk about her ideal movie cast for her debut. Stick around for a giveaway - open internationally - at the end.

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I’m a huge movie fan—in fact, I see a movie every single week (you can find my reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, where I’m a critic). So when I write, I tend to “cast” my book as I go along. The Killer in Me has a small cast — just three major characters — but I’ve thought a lot about who I’d like to see play them on screen. Here goes:

Nina Barrows would be played by Kacey Rohl

The main character of The Killer in Me is a girl who believes she has a mysterious connection to a serial killer—she knows what he’s going to do next. On the NBC series “Hannibal,” Kacey Rohl plays Abigail, the daughter of a serial killer who may or may not have been his accomplice. Abigail is a wonderfully ambiguous character: One moment she seems like a normal teenager dealing with tragedy; the next moment, she just might be a cold-blooded murderer.

I wanted the reader to wonder about Nina in exactly the same way. On the surface, she’s an anxious girl who’s afraid of her own shadow — but is she hiding something darker underneath all her nervous mannerisms? Rohl would be the perfect actor to bring out both those possibilities. Her eyes are blue, and Nina’s are brown, but I can deal with that.

Warren Witter would be played by Charlie Heaton

Warren is Nina’s best friend, her sidekick, the person she tells her secrets to—and maybe more. He’s the kind of friend who agrees to go on a road trip to help you catch a killer, even though he’s not sure that killer actually exists. He’s sweet, funny, nerdy, and nursing a huge crush.

When I wrote the book, I imagined Warren as a younger version of Joseph Gordon-Levitt. But now that I’ve seen Stranger Things on Netflix, I know exactly who I’d cast: Charlie Heaton, who plays Jonathan Byers. Jonathan is a quiet guy who initially seems a little sketchy before revealing himself to be an awesome son, brother, and friend. His relationship with Nancy reminds me so much of Warren and Nina, especially in the scene where they visit the Army Surplus store to stock up on weapons. (Warren teaches Nina all about guns.) Jonathan even has a great relationship with his mom, just like Warren does with his. Heaton would rock this role.

Dylan Shadwell would be played by Michael Shannon (younger version)

Yes, I know. Casting a younger version of an actor is cheating. But I can’t imagine anyone better for the role of a guy who MAY or may NOT be a serial killer than this character actor, who can move from “down-home friendly” to “ultra-creepy” in a heartbeat.

Nina believes Dylan Shadwell is the killer she’s searching for. But she has no physical proof, and when she comes face to face with her suspect, he’s not what she expected. Could this sweet, shy guy who made his stepdaughter a dollhouse be a killer? She needs to get close to him to find out.

You may know Shannon for bad-guy roles like Zod in Man of Steel, but he can pull off the soft-spoken nice-guy thing, too—see Midnight Special, where he’s just a desperate dad trying to save his son. He’s also done full-on mentally unstable in movies like Bug and Revolutionary Road. It takes an actor with that kind of versatility to pull off the shadings of Dylan’s complex character. Most importantly, though, he has incredibly spooky eyes—perfect.

Truth is, I’d be ecstatic to see anyone cast in a film version of my book. But putting together this dream cast was a blast!

About the Author:

Margot Harrison was raised in the wilds of New York by lovely, nonviolent parents who never managed to prevent her from staying up late to read scary books. She studied at Harvard and Berkeley and now lives in Vermont, where she works at the newspaper Seven Days. Her favorite part of the job is, of course, reviewing scary books and movies. The Killer in Me is her first novel.


Find Margot: Website| Goodreads | Twitter 

Book Description:

Hardcover, 368 pages
Published July 12th 2016 by Disney-Hyperion

Seventeen-year-old Nina Barrows knows all about the Thief. She’s intimately familiar with his hunting methods: how he stalks and kills at random, how he disposes of his victims’ bodies in an abandoned mine in the deepest, most desolate part of a desert.

Now, for the first time, Nina has the chance to do something about the serial killer that no one else knows exists. With the help of her former best friend, Warren, she tracks the Thief two thousand miles, to his home turf—the deserts of New Mexico.

But the man she meets there seems nothing like the brutal sociopath with whom she’s had a disturbing connection her whole life. To anyone else, Dylan Shadwell is exactly what he appears to be: a young veteran committed to his girlfriend and her young daughter. As Nina spends more time with him, she begins to doubt the truth she once held as certain: Dylan Shadwell is the Thief. She even starts to wonder . . . what if there is no Thief?

Giveaway

Thanks to Margot for this giveaway!
What's up for grabs: Copy of The Killer in Me + Swag
Scope: International

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Treat yourself to a complete #CelebratingDebutantes2016 experience. Click the image below for the full schedule and links to the posts!