Noelle Ihli on The Last to Drown: The Real Serial Killer Behind Her Darkest Thriller Yet
Talking HorrorShow Notes
Noelle Ihli is the international bestselling, Bram Stoker Award longlisted author of Ask for Andrea, Grey After Dark, and her latest thriller, The Last to Drown.
Noelle breaks down how the real case of serial killer Israel Keyes shaped the stalker terrorizing a women's rafting retreat in The Last to Drown, and the true story of an Olympic athlete's abduction behind Grey After Dark. She talks about ghostwriting fiction before her own career, self-publishing her debut The Thicket after fifty rejection letters, and the cover redesign that turned Ask for Andrea into a BookTok phenomenon. Noelle also opens up about the Ted Bundy documentary that inspired the ghosts in Ask for Andrea, and how she protects her creative process from online criticism.
Timestamps: 00:00 – Cold Open: "A Little More Empathy for Victims and Survivors" 00:57 – Welcome to Talking Horror & Meeting Noelle Ihli 02:59 – A Childhood Drawn to "the Scary, the Spooky" and Watching Censored Horror at "Clean Flicks" 07:28 – Inside the Secret World of Ghostwriting Fiction 16:18 – Why True Crime and the Chowchilla Kidnapping Shape Her Fiction 22:15 – Fifty Rejection Letters Before Self-Publishing The Thicket 25:40 – The Cover Redesign That Turned Ask for Andrea Into a BookTok Avalanche 31:35 – Setting Boundaries With Reviews (and the Shirt With Her Best and Worst Ones) 38:49 – The Ted Bundy Documentary Behind Ask for Andrea's Ghosts 48:08 – The Real Late-Night Car Chase Behind Run on Red 52:01 – The Olympic Athlete Abduction That Inspired Grey After Dark 56:49 – Israel Keyes, the Serial Killer Behind The Last to Drown 1:05:16 – First Look at Her Darkest Book Yet, Coming in 2027
Grab your copy of The Last to Drown: https://amzn.to/45weT4w
Connect with Noelle Ihli: Website: https://noellewihli.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/noelleihliauthor/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@noelleihliauthor Follow Talking Horror Podcast: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachelreddreads/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rachelredd
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