"THE LEGAL SYSTEM THE SILENT WATCHER'S VICTOR METHOS

Pipers Danes, a guardian as litem in the Las Vegas court system, representing young crime victims is at The center of Victor Methos new thriller The Silent Watcher. To help the survival of a serial killer, Sophie, she works with the investigating detective, Lazarus Holloway, taking them into the underground "cannibal" culture. Mr. Methos was kind enough to take a Hard Word interrogation.

SCOTT MONTGOMERY: What drew you to making your main protagonist a guardian ad litem? 

VICTOR METHOS: A guardian ad litem is in a unique place—they represent the most vulnerable, which puts them in constant moral conflict. I wanted a protagonist who’s forced to make tough decisions constantly. 

S..M.: I enjoyed the passages where she works with Sophie. How did you approach those exchanges? 

V.M.: Sophie represents resilience, and I wanted her interactions with Piper to reflect that. Their exchanges had to feel real because they’re both dealing with heavy, complicated emotions. It was about showing trust slowly being built while keeping it raw 

 S.M.: I really connected with Holloway, even though I don’t believe I have much in common with him. How did you go about constructing him? 

V.M.: Holloway is built on contrasts, like being rough but deeply moral. I gave him flaws because perfect characters don’t feel real to me, but I also gave him a sense of purpose that readers can connect with. At his core, he’s a survivor, and that’s something most people can relate to in some way I would guess. 

V.M.:  I've always believed cities have energy and nowhere has the contradictory energy of Vegas—bright and shiny on the surface, dark underneath. On any random night, you could have some guy down on his luck strike it rich in one casino and in the next casino over a young woman could be drugged and kidnapped. Contradictions and paradoxes have always fascinated me 

S.M.: As a working lawyer, what do you want to get across about the legal system? 

V.M.: The legal system isn’t about clear winners and losers—it’s messy. People think it’s about justice, but it’s also about navigating biases and human error. What I try to show is that the system is flawed, but the people within it are doing their best, for better or worse. 

 S.M.: What do you think many books get wrong about it? 

V..M.: A lot of books treat the legal system like a clean game with good guys and bad guys. Real cases aren’t like that. Sometimes the bad guys come in the good guys' clothing and the good guys get their butts kicked and suffer injustice. What’s missing is the human cost—the toll it takes on everyone. I try to show that side of it.