Shalini Boland on the perils of "The School Reunion"

Shalini Boland is tough on her characters: From beleaguered neighbors to new wives and best friends, her protagonists deal with all kinds of obstacles being thrown their way—sometimes to the point where they think they’re going nuts. Her latest psychological thriller, The School Reunion, is no exception, and when we asked her for more details, Boland was up for the assignment.

Yvonne Durant: This interview is all about you, but I have to ask about your other half, or your OH as you have referred to him on social media, Peter Boland. How does that work? You’re in one room spinning yarns, he’s in another—is there ever any cross-pollination, say, over dinner?

Shalini Boland: Ha, yes, we're always discussing plots and edits. Pete works upstairs, I work downstairs, and our paths occasionally cross over coffee. Our kids have grown used to hearing us chat in the kitchen about murder and betrayal, often pitching in with suggestions of their own.

Your previous thriller, The Silent Bride, had me questioning my intelligence, which can be questionable (that was a joke). I kept trying to figure out what was with the bride or if it was a made-up story inside a story. It was like observing a nightmare—was that your intention?

I like to put my main characters through the wringer, throwing more and more terrible things their way until they start questioning their intelligence and sanity, along with everyone around them—including me. So if it worked on you, then I'm sorry/happy.

Without spoilers, are you going to be messing with our heads again with The School Reunion? What inspired this one?

I will definitely be messing with your heads again, right up until the final chapter. There are so many emotions tied up with school reunions—crushes, secrets, revelations, what will everyone be like now? What will they think of me after all this time? I think it's the perfect setting for a psychological thriller.

I like the simplicity of your titles, such as The School Reunion, because they leave no doubt as to what the story or character is about. What led you to this format?

Thank you. Whenever anyone asks me what my book is about, I like to be able to explain the premise in a few words rather than bore people to death. If the title does part of the work for me, then that's even better.