Interview with Jeff Scotts, Author of What We Hide Behind the Veil

What's the story behind the story? What inspired you to write this book?

Without being too personal, there are some extended family members who inspired this novel. I never knew some women would marry men and discard them once they were no longer useful. One has had fourteen marriages, and another is approaching twelve. Having spent time with them, it was clear that something dark lived within them that I could not explain. I wrote these books to get the anger inside me out over how they treated my family when we refused to play their deceitful games.

If you had to pick theme songs for the main characters of your book, what would they be?

Abigail – “You’re So Vain” by Carly Simon
Isla – “Psycho Killer” by Talking Heads

What's your favorite genre to read? Is it the same as your favorite genre to write?

Science Fiction, Some Horror, and True Crime.

What books are on your TBR pile right now?

I have to be honest, most of my reading is research for my books. I do read books and have read the series by J.K. Rowling, Stephen King’s novels, Isaac Asimov, John Carpenter, V.C. Andrews, and others.

What scene in your book was your favorite to write?

Needful Things - Beau’s lobotomy is the novel’s darkest reversal. After following Abigail to the twins’ farmhouse, he is drugged, chained in Norma Jean’s room, and remade as Hollis’s replacement. Virginia and Caroline discuss the procedure like sisters correcting a recipe, convinced that destroying resistance is the same as healing. Beau wakes during it and fights back, but too late. His speech collapses; he calls himself a “good boy” and searches the faces of his tormentors for approval. When the stolen instrument shatters Norma Jean’s portrait, blood crosses the painted face of the first woman erased in that room. Beau tears the floor bolt free and walks out dragging the chain—his body still powerful, his mind altered. The twins smile. To them, the procedure worked. They have not cured Beau. They have made obedience wear his face.

My second favorite scene to write is how Abigail managed Roger without just killing him or frightening him beyond his wits.

Do you have any quirky writing habits? (lucky mugs, cats on laps, etc.)

Yes, funny you should ask. My Chihuahua-Dachshund mix, Boo Boo, also known as Itsy Bitsy, lies on a dog bed and keeps my feet warm under my desk.

Do you have a motto, quote or philosophy you live by?

If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got.

If you could choose one thing for readers to remember after reading your book, what would it be?

Not all family should be treated as family if they are users and abusers.