Things We Do in the Dark

Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses child abuse.

In his critical essay “The Art of Fiction” (1884), Henry James theorized how a novelist begins a new project: An idea, what he termed a single, small “seed,” would in turn become an idée fixe, an idea that will dominate a writer’s mind until that idea shapes itself into a story (James, Henry. “The Art of Fiction.” Essentials of the Theory of Fiction. Duke University Press, 2005).

In the Author’s Note at the end of the novel, Jennifer Hillier acknowledges such a moment. When scouting for a project, she binge-watched a six-part Netflix documentary on the brutal 2013 murder of Gabriel Fernandez, an eight-year-old boy living in Palmdale, California. Shuttled during his short life between numerous homes of relatives after being given up for adoption by his mother, who struggled with a variety of mental illnesses and substance-use disorder, Gabriel was returned to his mother’s care. He was tortured during the two months that he spent with his mother and her boyfriend. Neighbors reported the abuses, but Child Protective Services did not act. When the mother called 911 when Gabriel was unresponsive after he was beaten for not picking up his toys fast enough, he died two days later.