What Are You Hungry For? An Interview With Katie Gutierrez

In her debut novel “More Than You’ll Ever Know,” Gutierrez dissects how desire — for stories, for danger, for sex, for stability — shapes our lives

Many journalists know the score. We stumble upon a small piece of information, perhaps something others have seen and deemed insignificant, and become fixated, determined to uncover the truth lying in the muck and expose it to everyone: see what you missed, you idiots? see what was right beneath your feet? In my experience, there is usually something personal, though maybe not consciously acknowledged, that leads us to obsess on a particular story.

This journalistic obsession is a real-life cliche that translates well to crime novels, or at least it translates relatively easily, which is why this narrative structure can be seen throughout crime novel history. The dogged reporter, with an admirable quest for truth that becomes dangerous, that hides something festering and sick inside him. In her debut novel, More Than You’ll Ever Know, Texas-based journalist Katie Guttierez carefully teases apart this trope, subtly revealing the confused sense of morality that leads a journalist to ignore the ramifications of their own actions in pursuit of anothers’ perceived wrong. The…