Heather’s Bookshelf: Author Interview with Allison Boley
Book Title: Cipher
Released: 06/01/26
Genre: Adult Spy Thriller
Interview by Heather L. Barksdale
What inspired you to write “Cipher”?
Boley: As a teenager, I studied a lot of Alfred Hitchcock movies before I knew how he treated his leading ladies. In Torn Curtain, Paul Newman plays a scientist sent behind the Iron Curtain to figure out an East German secret found only in the mind of another scientist. To be honest, I didn’t particularly care for the film, but I did like the core idea of a scientist picking another scientist’s brain in the context of a spy thriller. I took that core idea and crafted something very different from it.
How did you come up with the names of your main characters?
Boley: For most characters, I like to skim through various baby name lists until something feels right.
Is there anything that you want readers to know about you, your writing process or your book?
Boley: Even though Cipher is a book about scientists written by a scientist, I want readers to know I spent four years pouring my heart into this book even more than I tried to pour my brain into it. Also, it tends to get mislabeled as sci-fi by those who haven’t read it, but it’s a spy thriller.
If "The Cipher" was adapted into a movie, who would you like to see cast to play your lead characters?
Boley: I want to see someone like Josh Vokey from Orphan Black. In later seasons as his character was fleshed out more, he felt like just another friend in research. I want to see someone who can portray a realistic scientist like that, not the stereotypes we’ve come to expect in film and TV.
If you could have dinner with any character you’ve written, who would it be—and what would you talk about?
Boley: I think I want to talk to Brother Chinua from chapter 73. He’s the kind of person who has worked through enough adversity to really have his nervous system put together, to give love and wisdom away without giving himself away. I think dinner with him would center me and strengthen me to do good work when I got back to my life.
When you encounter writer’s block, what do you do to break yourself out of it?
Boley: It depends on why I’m experiencing writer’s block. Am I too immersed and need to step away to think straight? Or is the blank page telling me I need to dissect my problem piece-by-piece? Overall, since this is my first novel, the more times I overcame writer’s block or other similar problems, the more I gained the confidence that I could do it again.
What’s the weirdest or most unexpected place you’ve gotten a story idea from?
Boley: I got a song idea once from examining a bruise on my leg while using the restroom. I can’t think of a place I’ve gotten a story idea that’s weirder than that.
What is your favorite genre, book, and/or author?
Boley: I head straight to the Mystery/Suspense/Thriller section in any library or bookstore. I don’t have a favorite author, but my favorite book is The Constant Gardener by John le Carré.
What are you working on next?
Boley: Living in Arizona almost all my life, I’m really interested in water. I earned a certificate in Water Management last year, and I learned so much that I didn’t even know that I didn’t know. I think there are opportunities to tell an interesting thriller about water in the desert, and I’m headed in that direction for my second novel.
Learn More About the Author and Cipher here:
IG @allisonboley or @ciphernovel
Interested in checking out the book for yourself?
Find it for purchase here
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