Author in Focus: Kathryn Fox

March 28, 2011

Inside the Two Worlds of Kathryn Fox

Interview by: Kylie Fox

Kathryn Fox is a medical practitioner with a special interest in forensic medicine giving her an insight into the minds of the criminals and the victims that she writes about.

Kathryn’s first novel, “Malicious Intent” received international acclaim and won the 2005 Davitt Award for adult fiction.

Since, Kathryn has written another four novels which have all hit the best seller lists.

Her latest, starring the popular character Dr Anya Crichton, is “Death Mask” and deals with footballers behaving very badly. See Mandy’s review on this page.

Kathryn spends her spare time (in between writing best sellers and practicing medicine!) running the “Read for Life” project which provides children’s books and resources to indigenous and remote communities where poor literacy levels are directly correlated with poor health and increased infant death rates.

Kathryn was kind enough to answer a few questions.

KYLIE Parallels are always going to be drawn between yourself and your character, Dr Anya Crichton. Is this something that bothers you now that her own personality has been so well defined across your novels?

KATHRYN First, may I say, I am definitely not Anya. She has a degree of clinical detachment that’s necessary for longevity in her job, whereas I got burnt out because I couldn’t reach that balance between caring and maintaining objectivity.

In some ways, I wish Anya had more social skills. Conversations would flow more quickly and information exchange would be a lot simpler. If she were more outgoing, she could have had a romance by now!

KYLIE You say that you believe evil really does exist as an absolute entity. Is it your work in medicine, your research, or personal experience that leads you to this conclusion?

KATHRYN I was sixteen when I read ‘In Cold Blood’ by Truman Capote. The real crime behind that book made me question whether evil really did exist.

Two men drove across the US to a family they didn’t know because of a rumour they’d heard in prison that there may have been a safe and some money in the home. They brutally assaulted and murdered the Clutters – both parents, a son and daughter. They left with less than fifty dollars, from memory.

Once caught, the killers coldly described the murders, demonstrating a complete lack of empathy for the victims. They continued to show no remorse up to their executions.

Since then, through medicine, I’ve seen numerous psychopaths – in addition to those in prison. Some have attained success in business, law, politics, teaching and even medicine and can be incredibly cruel to those around them.

I’ve met a couple of children who appear to lack any sense of empathy or conscience and are cruel to animals or other kids for no other reason but sheer pleasure. They were both at primary school.

Lots of people are competitive from an early age, but the ones I’m talking about have a true killer extinct and seem capable of things that could only be described as evil. The two who tortured and killed 2 yr old Jamie Bulger’s, are examples.

Obviously, IQ, circumstance, opportunity, home life and other environmental factors come into play, but sometimes there seems to be no other explanation. In some individuals, evil thoughts lead to evil actions.

KYLIE ‘Death Mask’ explores American footballers behaving badly – sexual assaults, the abuse of power and the ensuing cover-ups. This has become an even more poignant issue in Australia since the book’s release. What inspired you to write this particular story and; what have the reactions from the sporting world been like?

KATHRYN I’ve seen women who’ve been raped by a group of men from their local club team, and ones who have been assaulted by groups of professional players, of all football codes. There appears to be a culture of degrading women that is more apparent in male contact-sports, and part of that culture is to close ranks and protect each other.

The problem also occurs around the world. Ice Hockey and Football of all codes are rife with similar scandals in the US, England, Canada, Europe and Australia.

I imagined footballers wouldn’t pay any attention to Death Mask, and possibly criticise it, but I’ve had the opposite reaction! In fact, a chairman of a Professional Rugby League club contacted me and asked if I’d speak to their young players about appropriate sexual behaviour, sexually acquired infections and symptoms of significant head injuries. He’d heard me interviewed on radio, read Death Mask and was impressed with how I had captured the real football culture.

I’m also in talks with a representative from the national league about more educational input. It’s impressive that people really are working hard to stop the bad and illegal behaviour by sports men, but there is a long way to go.

KYLIE How do you think that the focus and manner of crime fiction has changed over the years? What do you see as the future for crime fiction?

KATHRYN Crime fiction has definitely become more science-based, as the public’s appetite for all things forensic has shown. Unfortunately, at the same time, it seems that books, tv and games have all become more graphic and explicit. There’s more extreme violence, explicit sex and gore on screen and in books, which does bother me.

Crime books are human interest stories. They should have intriguing and cogent plots, three-dimensional characters who engage the reader, and an exciting denouement. Above all, the reader should care what happens next, not feel as if they need a pair of tongs to turn the pages.

KYLIE You take your characters into their (and our) worst nightmares. Is there a point where you draw the line, a story you won’t tell?

KATHRYN My simple rule is: write what I love to read. That means I won’t glamorise criminals or write about children being physically and sexually abused.

Any violence or sex has to be essential to the story and has to leave as much to the readers’ imagination as possible. Showing the characters’ emotions is far more powerful for me.