Heather’s Bookshelf: Author Interview with JR Maren
Book Title: ADAM
Released: 03/01/26
Genre: Adult Psychological Thriller
Interview by Heather L. Barksdale
What inspired you to write “ADAM”?
Maren: True crime research. I kept noticing that every famous serial killer got caught because of specific, documentable failures — a traffic stop, a blocked drain, a floppy disk. The question that wouldn't leave me alone was: what if someone had studied all of them, identified every failure, and corrected it? That question became the book.
How did you come up with the names of your main characters?
Maren: Adam Cole is a name that doesn't register. It wouldn't stand out on a client list, a hotel check-in, a witness statement. That was the requirement. The name had to be as forgettable as he needs to be.
Is there anything that you want readers to know about you, your writing process or your book?
Maren: The research came first. Every lesson Adam draws from the killers he studied — Bundy, Dahmer, Gacy, Nilsen, BTK, Israel Keyes — is grounded in documented case history. The failures are real. The psychology is real. The fiction is only in what someone did with that information.
If "ADAM" was adapted into a movie, who would you like to see cast to play your lead characters?
Maren: Cillian Murphy for Adam. He has the quality the character requires — precise, contained, nothing leaking through unless he allows it. The danger is never on the surface. That's the whole book.
If you could have dinner with any character you’ve written, who would it be—and what would you talk about?
Maren: Adam. I'd want to know if he's ever genuinely surprised by another person. He'd say no. I'd spend the dinner trying to find the exception. I'm not sure I'd find one.
When you encounter writer’s block, what do you do to break yourself out of it?
Maren: I go back to the case material. Adam's voice comes from the documented psychology of the killers he studied, not from imagination. When the prose stalls, the research tends to unlock it.
What’s the weirdest or most unexpected place you’ve gotten a story idea from?
Maren: A traffic report. BTK was first arrested for driving without headlights — a routine traffic stop. The most disciplined serial killer of his era, caught because of something a teenager gets pulled over for. That gap between competence and mundane failure is where the whole book lives.
What is your favorite genre, book, and/or author?
Maren: Patricia Highsmith. Specifically "The Talented Mr. Ripley." A protagonist who wins by being more disciplined about identity than everyone around him. She understood that the most unsettling thing you can put on the page isn't violence — it's competence.
What are you working on next?
Maren: The Syllabus is built as a series, so there is a Book 2. I'm still in the early stages — working through the research before committing to the structure. Nothing I'm ready to talk about yet, but the framework that drives ADAM carries forward.
Learn More About the Author and ADAM here:
Instagram: jrmarenauthor
YouTube: @jrmarenauthor
Interested in checking out the book for yourself?
Find it for purchase here
Interested in submitting your book for review? Visit my review page for guidelines and submission requirements.
review