Lora Beth Johnson introduces her supernatural heist thriller, Hell To Pay!
About Author
Hell To Pay is an action-packed trip to the Afterlife with demons, death and double-dealing in each twist and turn. ReadingZone caught up with author Lora Beth Johnson to find out more!
As an only child, Lora Beth Johnson grew up telling herself stories and reading past her bedtime. She spent her adulthood collecting degrees, careers, and stamps in her passport before realizing her passion for creating fictional worlds.
When she's not writing, she's teaching college English and learning new languages. She lives in Edinburgh with her little roommate, Colocataire the Yorki-poo. Her previous books are Goddess in the Machine and Devil in the Device.
Find Lora Beth on Instagram @Lorabethjohnson
Interview
August 2026
Lora Beth Johnson shares her supernatural thriller, Hell To Pay!
With a whip-smart protagonist and world-building in the Afterlife, Lora Beth Johnson's Hell To Pay keeps readers on their toes and with heart-in-the-mouth tension! ReadingZone caught up with the author to hear more about found family, filters and fiendish world-building!
More about Hell To Pay: Elle Fields comes from a long line of thieves who specialize in breaking into the Afterlife to steal secrets from the Dead. Until, that is, a job goes horribly wrong - which cost her brother his soul. Now she's desperately trying to restore the life she lost. Here's an extract from Hell To Pay
Review: "Full of dark humour, quick wit and action, Hell to Pay is an engaging read." - Clair, ReadingZone
Lora Beth Johnson- Hell to Pay Reading Zone Written Q&A
"It's an impossible heist full of demons, magical mafias, terrible life choices, and a very dysfunctional
found family trying to survive long enough to pull it off."
1. How did you get started as a writer? What kinds of books are you drawn to as a reader?
I was unemployed and living with my parents in my late 20s and needed something to do. I've always been a reader, so I thought: how hard can writing be? The answer, as it turns out, is very hard. My first attempts were terrible, but I discovered I loved the process enough that I wanted to keep working at it. Every book taught me something new, and eventually those lessons turned into a career. It was definitely less efficient than just getting a normal job.
As a reader, I love fast-paced stories with big ideas. I want books that completely sweep me away, make me laugh, keep me guessing, and then sneak in something meaningful while I'm having fun.
2. What happens in your new YA book, Hell To Pay?
Hell to Pay follows Elle Fields, a con artist from a family that specializes in breaking into the Afterlife to steal secrets from the dead. When a job goes horribly wrong and her brother is killed, her crew falls apart. Then a mysterious stranger hires her to steal a soul from Hell itself.
It's an impossible heist full of demons, magical mafias, terrible life choices, and a very dysfunctional found family trying to survive long enough to pull it off.
3. What inspired this novel about the world being run by secretive, demonic forces? Is there anything in today's real world that helped inspire it?
Once I'd decided to write a heist, I realised the Afterlife is the ultimate impossible location. It's somewhere everyone wants to reach, but no one knows how to get to. That made it the perfect place for a break-in.
I knew I didn't want my version of the Afterlife run like a mid-century office, what some people call bureaucratic gothic. Plenty of brilliant books and TV shows have already done that. Instead, I imagined powerful crime families stepping into that role. But since this is YA fantasy, they couldn't be just any mafia. They had to be Greek gods.
There was definitely a little inspiration from the real-world history of organized crime, but I was also interested in the broader idea that wealth and powerful connections can create systems where the rules don't apply equally to everyone.
4. There are a lot of ideas and 'rules' around magic, demons and the Afterlife in this novel - how did you approach the world building for Hell To Pay, and also setting the scene for the reader?
Before I wrote fantasy, I wrote science fiction, so my instinct was to invent rules for absolutely everything. But my editor reminded me that fantasy is allowed to keep a little mystery. Once I understood where the magic came from and what its limits were, I focused less on explaining the world and more on letting readers experience it through Elle. Luckily, she loves showing people how clever she is, so I could sneak in those explanations while staying in her voice.
5. Have you drawn on any of your own experiences for the book? perhaps something terrifying you've seen or experienced?
Despite writing about demons and ghosts, I'm honestly a complete coward. I can't watch horror films, and I usually avoid anything that's even slightly creepy. The scariest things I've experienced have mostly been in my own imagination. As for drawing on my own experiences, I think every author sneaks bits of themselves into their characters. Sometimes they're versions of us. Sometimes they're the people we wish we could be.
I grew up with undiagnosed ADHD and developed a lot of coping mechanisms to hide it. Elle, on the other hand, never learned to filter herself. Writing her let me explore a version of myself that's a lot less concerned with fitting in.
6. If you could access the Afterlife in Hell To Pay, what secret would you want to steal from the dead?
If I had unfettered access to the Afterlife, I would use it to be nosy and maybe solve some of history's unsolved mysteries, like what happened to Amelia Earhart or how Stonehenge was built. Then I'd probably interview people like Jane Austen and Marie Curie. Apparently I'd spend my afterlife aggressively fact-checking history.
7. Your main character Elle is full of energy and wisecracks, but also prickly and plagued by demons; what keeps the reader on her side? Did you enjoy writing her?
I think the key to making a so-called "unlikeable" character interesting is to make their motivations understandable. Sure, Elle makes questionable decisions, says things she shouldn't, and has a habit of charging headfirst into disaster, but she's just trying to get her brother back.
I had a blast with Elle. She has no internal filter, which meant she could say all the things most of us only think - and that made her voice incredibly fun to write.
8. You have a great group of characters around her - her 'found family'. Can you tell us about them and how they developed? Did any of them take you by surprise and steal your heart?
I started by deconstructing a traditional heist crew and asking, "What would the fantasy version of each job be?" The hacker became an empath. The explosives expert became an alchemist. Once I knew everyone's role, I started asking what kind of person would be both brilliant at that job and absolutely terrible at something else. Then it was a matter of intertwining their histories.
What I think surprised everyone was Crowlene, Elle's zombie crow familiar. She wasn't in the first draft, and I was advised by several people not to add an animal into the mix. But now she's on the cover and has ended up being a reader favourite. She's secretly my favourite too.
9. There are many questions remaining at the end of the novel, what do you have planned next for Elle and her friends?
I deliberately built the world so there would always be another impossible job waiting for them. I'd happily write this crew forever because there are so many corners of the Afterlife we still haven't explored, so many mysteries left unsolved, so many terrible decisions Elle has yet to make. At the moment I don't have any sequel news to share, but I certainly haven't run out of adventures for them.
10. The book would translate well on screen - do you watch a lot of films? What else do you enjoy when you're not writing?
Thank you! I absolutely hoped it would feel cinematic, an ode to heist films like Ocean's Eleven and Inception. I definitely watch more television than films these days. I've gotten really into comedies like The Good Place, Ted Lasso, and Community. I love stories that can make me laugh while still sneaking in surprisingly heartfelt moments.
When I'm not writing, I love travelling, collecting perfume, exploring Edinburgh, and accumulating random hobbies.
Hell to Pay
