PHOTO: Lane Diamond in his Transylvania home, where inspiration and storytelling weave seamlessly with global mystique.
A Master Of Psychological Thrillers Reflects On Craft And Character
Lane Diamond shares his journey as an author and editor, revealing the inspirations, techniques, and emotional depth behind his most compelling thrillers, including Forgive Me, Alex and Devane’s Reality.
Lane Diamond’s work stands as a testament to the power of fiction that grapples with the shadows within us. Whether delving into the tormented psyche of Tony Hooper in Forgive Me, Alex, or shaping the eerie, tension-soaked landscapes of The Devil’s Bane, Diamond demonstrates a bold dedication to exploring emotional fragility and resilience. His stories resonate deeply because they do not shy away from life’s harder truths: the cracks in the mind, the weight of personal loss, and the haunting aftermath of tragedy. There’s a gritty honesty to his writing—one that invites readers not just to follow his characters, but to feel every beat of their struggles.
As an author who started penning tales in the late 1970s and sharpened his craft through decades of professional editing, Diamond builds his novels with precision and heart. His settings, often rooted in his Midwestern upbringing, act as mirrors to the inner lives of his characters—familiar, quietly suffocating, and ripe with possibilities both hopeful and dire. From sleepy towns that harboured horrors to windswept corners of loneliness, the places Diamond writes about are more than backdrops; they are intrinsic actors in their own right, pulling readers deeper into the tension surrounding his prose. His narratives breathe, at times in whispers, at others in devastating cries, and they demand attention for their humanity as much as for their suspense.
But perhaps what sets Diamond apart is his belief in storytelling as a shared experience—a collaboration between reader and writer. His sage advice, “keep readers in the moment,” serves not only as guidance to aspiring wordsmiths but as a reminder of his own mastery. Through razor-sharp focus and relentless emotional immediacy, Lane Diamond invites us into his worlds, compelling us to live inside the pulse of his tales. Few writers balance heart-stopping psychological suspense with evocative truth so effectively, and none quite in the distinctive voice that Diamond has made his own.
What inspired your return to Tony Hooper’s world in The Devil’s Bane, and how did growing up in Algonquin feed into his chilling new adversary?
When I started Forgive Me, Alex, I had no intention of writing a direct sequel, but as the story unfolded, and particularly as I closed-in on the end, it became clear I had more story to tell. Algonquin seemed the perfect place for me not just because of my intimate familiarity with it, but because it’s just the type of sleepy little town where people are supposed to be safe from such evils. That added element of surprising danger helped heighten the tension.
Your debut Forgive Me, Alex won a Pinnacle Book Achievement Award; how did that early recognition shape your approach to psychological tension in The Devil’s Bane?
The recognition Forgive Me, Alex received, including a lot of great early reviews, just convinced me that those 4 years I worked on it, and on honing my craft, were not in vain. It provided some incentive to get to work right away on The Devil’s Bane. Sadly, my work at Evolved Publishing, which, from a company perspective, is almost a one-man show, has made it impossible for me to find time for my own writing, and I’m stalled about 40,000 words into The Devil’s Bane. Still, I’m anxious to finish it in 2026.
As both novelist and editor of over 200 books, how does curating anthologies like Evolution Volumes I and II influence your own suspense writing?
It’s much the same as reading any other authors, except that taking a dive as editor gets me into the writing even deeper. I learn from those I read, and certainly from those I edit, and having read a couple thousand novels, and now edited a couple hundred, I think there’s no better training available. Take note of what’s bad, and emulate what’s good.
In Wind Tunnel, Dr. Michael Sheehan shows burnout in medicine; do you draw on personal experience or empathy with caregivers when crafting such characters?
Yeah, I had a couple different jobs on my old career path in middle management where the companies, I felt, took serious advantage of me. It was my own fault, really, as I was all too eager to put in whatever time was necessary to get the job done, even when that ran to 90-100 hours per week. Just nuts! Burnout is a killer.
Circles was your most popular Goodreads work — how did your role as editor shape the narrative cohesion of that novel?
Author Ruby Standing Deer was one of my first clients as a writing coach, and one of the first authors I brought on with Evolved Publishing. Her storytelling chops were strong, but her basic writing skills were not – a common problem. I learned with her and all my early clients that nothing would be more important in my editing than helping them to elevate the immediacy and visual impact of their prose. As I’ve said for many years now, the three most important words in fiction are “in the moment.” If you keep a reader in the moment at all times in your story, you’ll have a real fan in the end.
Devane’s Reality explores loneliness—how did you build psychological depth into Lawrence Steven Devane’s interior world?
I was going through a rough phase of my life, suffering from Post-Concussion Syndrome so severely that I couldn’t work. Eight concussions will do that. Yeah… don’t ask. Anyway, I was depressed about the whole thing, not sure if I would even have a future, and I channelled those emotions into Devane’s Reality.
Having grown up in Algonquin and begun writing in 1978, how has your Midwestern childhood informed the atmospheric settings across your thrillers?
I chose my hometown of Algonquin, IL for reasons previously stated, but I think the Midwestern sensibility informs all my characters as well. In the early days, it was easier for me to craft “real” characters by sticking with what I knew. I’ve been all over the world since then, and now feel more comfortable casting that net more broadly, but it was a great place for me to start.
What one key piece of advice would you offer aspiring authors seeking to master psychological suspense as you have?
I mentioned it earlier, but keep readers in the moment at all times. Stated differently, allow the reader to experience the story as it happens, as if they were a peripheral character off to the side, watching it all unfold in real time. Stay away (at least 99.9% of the time) from the old trap: of course, he didn’t know this was going to happen. That works only rarely. Just let it happen when it needs to happen, where it will be a real punch in the gut for the reader. Don’t water it down.
