Summary of Meg Gardiner: UNSUB

Overview of Meg Gardiner: UNSUB

This episode of Wicked Words (hosted by Kate Winkler Dawson) features thriller novelist Meg Gardiner discussing her novel Unsub, the true-crime inspirations behind it, and her approach to research and character-building. Gardiner—author of 17 thrillers including the Caitlin Hendricks series—explains how cases like the Zodiac and the Golden State Killer (original Night Stalker / East Area Rapist) informed the novel’s premise, her ethical choices about depicting sexual violence, and how writers translate real-life horror into compelling fiction without glamorizing criminals.

Key points and main takeaways

• Premise of Unsub

  • Unsub follows Caitlin Hendricks, a newly minted detective who must hunt an infamous serial killer (the Prophet) who resurfaces after 20 years. The case haunted her childhood because her father failed to solve it, and it destroyed their family.
  • UNSUB’s antagonist borrows elements of notoriety and taunting (cryptic messages, symbols) from the Zodiac, and stalking/rape-at-home elements and survivor-taunting from the Golden State Killer.

• Sources of inspiration and research methods

  • Gardiner starts with a “what if” and a strong character; true events provide atmosphere and concrete details (newspaper archives, books, websites, retired police forums, podcasts, and magazine investigative pieces).
  • She emphasizes mixing emotional truth (victims’ and survivors’ perspectives) with technical specifics when needed, while avoiding gratuitous or exploitative detail.

• Personal connection and impact

  • Gardiner grew up in Southern California and remembers the Zodiac coverage as formative. While writing Unsub she discovered that unsolved double homicides in her hometown years ago were later linked to the Golden State Killer—making the material personally resonant and emotionally intense.
  • She and her brother briefly speculated about local suspects before the GSK was identified via genetic genealogy (Joseph D’Angelo).

• Ethical decisions about depicting sexual violence

  • Gardiner deliberately avoids graphic depictions of sexual assault in Unsub and other novels where it’s not essential, because it’s deeply traumatic and can be gratuitous in fiction. She prefers implying or skipping explicit detail while still conveying horror and stakes.
  • When she does draw from sexual-violence cases (e.g., Bundy-inspired elements), she limits explicitness and focuses on consequences for victims, families, and investigators.

• Villain construction and responsibility

  • Strong antagonists need humanizing traits—intellect, charm, cunning—not to glamorize them but to make them realistic and threatening.
  • Writers should watch for unintended glamorization; if the author finds themselves “falling in love” with a villain, it’s worth interrogating and possibly stepping back.

• Writing craft and the thriller’s emotional promise

  • Good thrillers are journeys with high stakes—life or death—that test characters and (ideally) restore some sense of justice or repair.
  • Research can be a “glorious, bottomless rabbit hole” and must be balanced with narrative necessities: never let data drown the emotional story.

Topics discussed

• Meg Gardiner’s bibliography and series (Evan Delaney, Joe Beckett, Caitlin Hendricks; standalone Skip Tracer; co-author of Heat 2).
• How to mine true crime for fiction without copying cases wholesale.
• Specific true-crime cases referenced:
  • Zodiac Killer (cryptic letters, taunting, public panic)
  • Golden State Killer / East Area Rapist / Original Night Stalker (rape, home invasions, survivor taunting, practical tactics like using culverts)
  • Ted Bundy (inspiration for Unsub sequel Into the Black Nowhere)
  • BTK/Dennis Rader and Samuel Little mentioned as other influences Gardiner has researched
• Research sources: trial transcripts, newspapers, investigator books, retired officers’ contributions on forums, podcasts (e.g., LA Times’ Man in the Window), Michelle McNamara’s LA Magazine pieces and I’ll Be Gone in the Dark.
• Building villains across multiple books/series and keeping readers invested.
• Ethics and craft of depicting sexual violence in fiction.

Notable quotes and insights

• “You start with a what if and a big character… ideas are everywhere. The trick is to turn that into a compelling narrative.”
• On killers: “Everybody has a reason for doing what they do… in their own mind, they are doing what they need to and it’s the right course of action.”
• On research: “Research can be this glorious, bottomless rabbit hole… it’s awful if I can’t find what I’m looking for and wonderful if it’s all there.”
• On thriller purpose: thrillers allow us to “make things turn out the way we want” and to “bring [readers] back safely at the end.”

Practical recommendations / reading & listening list

• Read Unsub (introduces Caitlin Hendricks) and its sequel Into the Black Nowhere.
• Meg Gardiner’s other works: Evan Delaney and Joe Beckett series; Heat 2 (co-authored with Michael Mann).
• True crime/contextual sources Gardiner recommends or used:
  • Michelle McNamara’s I’ll Be Gone in the Dark / LA Magazine series
  • LA Times podcast Man in the Window
  • Tenfold More Wicked (host Kate Winkler Dawson’s historical true crime podcast and companion books)
• For writers: enlist readers (especially from survivor communities or women) to vet depiction of sexual violence; be mindful of not glamorizing criminals.

How Gardiner handles difficult material (brief guidance for writers)

• Avoid gratuitous detail when depicting sexual violence; focus on consequences, survivors’ perspectives, and emotional truth.
• Humanize antagonists to make them believable, but avoid creating “sparkly” glamorized villains.
• Use public records and archived reporting to ground fiction in concrete details without exploiting victims.
• Keep the emotional arc front and center—research should serve character-driven suspense, not overwhelm it.

Credits & trigger note

• The episode contains adult content and references to violent crimes; listener discretion is advised.
• Production credits included at the episode’s end (host Kate Winkler Dawson; Exactly Right production team; Tenfold More Wicked cross-promotion).

This summary highlights the episode’s main ideas about using true crime as inspiration, ethical choices around violent material, and Meg Gardiner’s approach to crafting both protagonists and antagonists for the thriller reader.