Monnana unleashes first book
Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Friday July 31, 2020 14:10
The book is an intriguing mystery wrapped in a nerve-racking thriller.
In the novel, the best secrets are the most twisted. The heroine, Christen Lake digs in the family deaths putting her job on the line in order to obstruct the plans of an enemy. She also uncovers a crime that her family committed in the past, but decideds to do everything to protect them.
This thriller also occurs on a much grander scale where the crimes that must be prevented are mass murder; jeopardy and violent confrontations are standard plot elements. While a mystery climaxes when the mystery is solved, a thriller climaxes when the heroine finally defeats the villain, saving her own life and often the lives of others.
“The idea started in my late-teens, after I saw my family watching one of my favourite high fantasy epic movies (Lord Of The Rings) which is something I had been trying to make them watch. The whole scene sparked an idea that I developed over the years. I would have random ideas and just jot them down. The Killer in Her Closet is a thriller that started off as a short story but ideas kept pouring in. It weaves together the lives of the Lake family,” he said.
He explained that respected by some and hated by others, the Lake family takes centrestage in that gripping epic mystery thriller. The family is said to have it all being prestige, class and the power that comes with being the wealthiest family in the town of Inkeer. Monnana added that that was all until skeletons from the past fall out of the closet and the Lake family had to fight to not only keep the family together but alive too. Still in the book, he explained that their main character, Christine Lake who had it all being wealth, a promising future in law and a budding romance with a handsome stranger who was all she ever dreamed off. She was from a happy family of five: Christine’s father, mother and her two siblings. Tragedy ultimately strikes and the siblings had to fend for themselves. As death haunts her family, Christine decides jeopardise her promising career in order to unravel the mystery of her grandfather’s stained fortune, he said.
“This thriller is more of entertainment but the theme gives a subtle approach on how to handle situation that might threaten families as well as careers. But most importantly, it gives a feel of sense of belonging during hard times. I don’t have a specific favourite character but one who might be close is Steve, who is a risk taker. If one could approach his dreams the way Steve is keen to get stuff done then we would be a nation full of dream chasers and actually achieving their dreams,” he said.
He further explained that as a writer he got good and bad writing days. He said he had delay, which can come at anytime either on good or bad writing days. He added that he struggled a lot with that. But the best antidote was having a schedule as he did most of his writing during his tertiary days, meaning he had to handle his studies coupled with writing a book.
However, he pointed out that he drew up a schedule that included writing everyday for two to three hours no matter what. He also set goals, daily, weekly, monthly and yearly about what he wanted to achieve with his writing. He stuck to it, and adopted it. This book has almost 300 pages and 24 Chapters. Monnana said it took him almost nine to ten years including research, a whole lot of editing and getting rejected a few couple times. It was published by Biggles and Boggles, a Botswana based publishing.