36 ratings | 15 reviews | avg rating:4.42

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Susan Kraus

Goodreads Author

Born

in The United States

Website

http://susankraus.com/home.shtml

Genre

Women's Fiction, Thriller, Fiction

Member Since

August 2014

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I love writing, I love telling stories -- other people's stories and also the stories that I imagine. I believe that everyone has important stories even if they're never expressed, but remain secret, locked deep in our bones and heart.

I love creating characters so real that my readers want to have coffee with them.

Writing for me is a long-postponed 'dream.' After decades of life as a social worker. therapist, mediator, mom, spouse, volunteer, cook, housecleaner and taxi driver) I'm finally DOING it. And because I'm making up for lost time, my writing is kinda compulsive.

At times I think about what my life would have been if I'd 'demanded' the time to write. But I had kids to support, a family that required my focus. To say "I want to be a I love writing, I love telling stories -- other people's stories and also the stories that I imagine. I believe that everyone has important stories even if they're never expressed, but remain secret, locked deep in our bones and heart.

I love creating characters so real that my readers want to have coffee with them.

Writing for me is a long-postponed 'dream.' After decades of life as a social worker. therapist, mediator, mom, spouse, volunteer, cook, housecleaner and taxi driver) I'm finally DOING it. And because I'm making up for lost time, my writing is kinda compulsive.

At times I think about what my life would have been if I'd 'demanded' the time to write. But I had kids to support, a family that required my focus. To say "I want to be a writer" was too risky, too selfish. And it's also hard to know because those 40 years as a therapist, then mediator, were years I listened to other people's stories, helped them rewrite their past, choose a different narrative, even create a happier ending. Maybe I would have written more, but would it have been shallow? Less complex? Less 'real'?

I write what I know. Just like Grisham and Turow write about law, my main protagonist is a therapist and custody mediator. She is flawed. She is challenged. She is intuitive, smart, but also insecure. She does not have good 'boundaries' --but she cares greatly. Even dares greatly.

All of my characters are somehow flawed as well, because we, as humans, screw up sometimes. And only narcissists do not regret some behaviors, do not care how they hurt others.

Because I'm a social worker, my novels cannot be just about a crime.. The "why" they did it is always more important than "who" did it. The characters drive the plots. Action is often internal, not a 'car chase' (although, I must say, the car chase in book #1 is pretty terrifying.) And the abduction in book #3? Each book tackles different social or relationship issues, from multiple POVs.

Because I'm an Indie writer, with a small publisher, I do not have PR. Zero advertising. Seriously, not a single ad anywhere. Sales are lousy. But EVERY review -- from Kirkus or Indie Reader or other review sites that do cover Indie authors --- has been positive. Just two weeks ago, my last novel, "When We Lost Touch," (covering the first 18 months of COVID) received 1st Place in Indie Reader's Discovery Awards 2024 for Socially Conscious Fiction. I think of that book as 'Contemporary Historical Fiction' because it is-- but no category for that.

I've been detached from Goodreads, maybe a little intimidated or anxious about putting myself 'out there.' But that's going to change. I want you to read me and so I have to come out of my basement.

Check back once in a while to keep me honest?

Thank you. Books are empty words without the readers who bring them to life. I hope you read my 'words' and that they mean something to you.

...more

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Combine Editions
Susan Kraus’s books

Average rating: 4.34 · 351 ratings · 77 reviews · 8 distinct works • Similar authors

	Fall From Grace (The Grace McDonald Series, #1) 4.40 avg rating — 151 ratings — published 2014 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	All God's Children (The Grace McDonald Series, #2) 4.39 avg rating — 92 ratings — published 2014 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	When We Lost Touch 4.28 avg rating — 57 ratings — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Insufficient Evidence (The Grace McDonald Series, #3) 4.10 avg rating — 48 ratings — published 2018 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Echoes: An Anthology of Short Fiction by Kim Taylor Blakemore (Goodreads Author), Kerry Cathers, Elyse Garrett 4.67 avg rating — 3 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Game Day Guide To Towns of the Big 12 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2004	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Grace McDonald Series 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	3rd & Oak: Stories by Maryka Biaggio (Goodreads Author), Kerry Cathers, Elyse Garrett 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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4 posts
Susan Kraus's Blog

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE - ALL NEW COVERS NOW ON AMAZON!

At her very first fraternity party, college freshman Hannah is thrilled with the attentions of Logan, a good-looking senior. They talk and flirt.

And then it all goes very wrong.

Across town, Shelby, a junior, wakes up naked after a date, with no memory of what happened. Therapist Grace McDonald works with both Hannah and Shelby as they try to process their experiences and seek justice. Grace strug Read more of this blog post »

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Published on November 16, 2021 12:18 • Tags: indieauthor, insufficientevidence, mystery, thriller

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Series by Susan Kraus

The Grace McDonald (3 books)
by

Susan Kraus (Goodreads Author)

4.35 avg rating — 291 ratings

Susan is Currently Reading

Susan Kraus is currently reading

The Beekeeper's Apprentice (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes #1)

by Laurie R. King (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

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Aug 01, 2024 06:37PM

Susan Kraus is currently reading

All Good Deeds (Lucy Kendall, #1)

by Stacy Green (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

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Jan 20, 2015 08:25AM

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Susan’s Recent Updates

Susan Kraus rated a book it was amazing The Life List by Lori Nelson Spielman (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I'm not a reader of romance-- more doing research because I'm writing a rom-com-ish book after four novels that are more thriller, psych thriller, complicated relationships. That said, I fell for the main character. It was a journey of self-discovery ...more
Jul 13, 2024 07:38PM · 1 like · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Life List by Lori Nelson Spielman. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Life List by Lori Nelson Spielman <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">

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Quotes by Susan Kraus (?)

“She'd been a good girl all her life, played by her rules, lived by the Golden Rule, and what had it gotten her?”
― Susan Kraus, Fall From Grace

tags: golden-rule, perfectionism

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“If they want me to work remotely,' Molly had said after just one week of the new system, 'they damn well better come up with a remote location. Like, maybe, the roof? And send over a homework fairy while they’re at it.”
― Susan Kraus, When We Lost Touch

tags: covid, online-school, parenting, quarantine, remote-school

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“Molly was relieved that the winter break was over. She dropped her son, Max, at school and then celebrated by going straight to a coffee shop and ordering a mocha grande. She slid into a booth in a back corner, closed her eyes, and inhaled the coffee. Then she sat, both hands on the large, warm cup and smiled. 2020, she’d decided, was going to be the best year ever.”
― Susan Kraus, When We Lost Touch

tags: 2020, coffee, covid, parent, parenting, school

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Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
The Mystery, Crim...: Group Reads have now been selected for Mar/ April 2015 Group Reads	56	201	Mar 30, 2015 09:52AM
The Mystery, Crim...: Winners are Announced for the Apr/ May 2015 Group Read	47	371	Apr 14, 2015 07:56AM

Susan’s Quotes

“There is so much we do not know about the people we think we know, he thought.”
― Susan Kraus, When We Lost Touch

tags: friends, people, relationships

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“People dying of COVID can be 'dying' for a long time. People dying of cancer often are dying for a long time. But with cancer, and other terminal illnesses, it's acceptable to move from treatment into hospice...We give them morphine...we meet death half-way.”
― Susan Kraus, When We Lost Touch

tags: cancer, covid, death, dying, hospice

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“There was no time for self-reflection in the ER, or on any COVID unit. It was like telling a soldier to take a break and think it through before he shot back.”
― Susan Kraus, When We Lost Touch

tags: covid, emergency-room, er, hospital, metaphor, soldier, war

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“Human ‘senses’ have a hierarchy as far as loss, and taste and smell rarely made the news or a made-for-TV movie. Most people are terrified of losing sight or going deaf. Losing the ability to touch is a horrible part of paralysis. But smell and taste? Not newsworthy.”
― Susan Kraus, When We Lost Touch

tags: covid, deafness, loss-of-smell, loss-of-taste, paralysis, senses, sight, smell

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“In the last two months, Mike had seen her at her worst. They’d ‘Zoomed’ through her snot-dripping crying jags of hopeless angst, and post-paper-writing-all-nighters when she hadn't taken a shower in two days and was sure she smelled all the way to Florida.”
― Susan Kraus, When We Lost Touch