Q&A: Kate Alice Marshall, Author of ‘We Won’t All Survive’

We chat with author Kate Alice Marshall about We Won’t All Survive, which is a new nail-biter that’s part survival story, part murder mystery, and all thriller—perfect for fans of Karen McManus and Holly Jackson!

Hi, Kate! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?

I am someone who likes to pair dark and thrilling books with a gentle life—my books are full of adrenaline and horrors, but in the real world I prefer collecting fountain pens and walking my dogs through very un-haunted woods. I have lived in the Pacific Northwest most of my life, which is probably why most of my stories involve forests and rain.

When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?

I have been writing my whole life! My mom used to take dictation for my stories, until I learned to write them down myself. I decided I wanted to write books when I was four or five years old, and never wavered. I joke that I never bothered to develop any other skills, so it’s a good thing this one has worked out…

Quick lightning round! Tell us:

• The first book you ever remember reading: I remember poring through the pages of Animalia many times when I was little.
• The one that made you want to become an author: All of them! As soon as I knew people made those books, I knew I wanted to do it, too.
• The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Watership Down. My favorite as a kid, and it has remained so.

Your latest novel, We Won’t All Survive, is out July 29^th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?

Survival show teens start dying.

What can readers expect?

We Won’t All Survive is about a group of young people who arrive to film a survival-themed TV show only to find the set—a real ghost town in the isolated mountains—abandoned. Soon they’re trapped, the game seems to be running autonomously, and one of them turns up dead. This is a book about what it means to survive, who you can trust, and how trauma shapes us. It’s also about trapping teens in an isolated location and killing them off one by one in creative ways.

Where did the inspiration for We Won’t All Survive come from?

I wanted to write an isolation thriller featuring a group of teens and one-by-one style murders. From that seed, I started asking questions. It’s actually pretty difficult to truly isolate a group of people somewhere they can’t just hike to a highway and flag down a car, and many of the constraints of the book—the ghost town setting, the storm on their first night, the machinations of certain characters—came from that first challenge. I had been thinking a lot about survival, trauma, and isolation, and those themes guided the creation of the characters and the challenges.

Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?

I really like writing Harrison Hane, the podcasting true crime enthusiast with a heart of gold. He’s got some traits in common with me (including his tendency to do random deep dives on things like the history of medieval beekeeping) plus a whole lot of optimism and drive that make him a delight to write. But I fell in love with writing most of the characters at various points—which made it very hard to kill them off when the time came!

Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?

This book changed significantly midway through the first draft, which meant throwing out everything I had written and starting from scratch. I kept the characters, but only a couple thousand words survived from one version to the next. Knowing those characters, though, was a huge help—they are the heart of the book, and so the new version flowed.

You’ve written for all ages. Do you have a different approach when writing for YA versus adult?

Writing for adult vs YA has a few differences. A lot of it comes down to the type of story I’m telling. In adult, my books focus on events from the past that have come back to haunt the characters. The people in them have scars and secrets that have had decades to develop and fester. With YA, I’m generally reaching for more immediate events and fresh wounds. There are a lot more firsts—first love, first brush with death—and more intense emotional immediacy.

What’s next for you?

My next adult book, The Girls Before, will be out in early 2026! After that, I’m working on a YA thriller about a vacation gone very wrong and an adult thriller about a group of women who may have sort of started a cult as teenagers.

Lastly, what books have you enjoyed reading this year? Are there any you’re looking forward to picking up?

I have had great luck with recent reads! Recently I’ve loved Jackal by Erin E. Adams, The Reformatory by Tananarive Due, Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell, and I’m currently reading Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green. I am very excited to pick up Susan J. Morris’s Wayward Souls, the sequel to her fantastic debut Strange Beasts, which follows the Samantha Harker (daughter of Dracula’s Jonathan Harker) as she teams up with Helena Moriarty (daughter of the infamous villain) to hunt monsters in turn-of-the-century Europe.

Will you be picking up We Won’t All Survive? Tell us in the comments below!