Archives for September 2017

‘Don’t Let Go,’ A Conversation with Harlan Coben

September 26, 2017 by Mark Rubinstein Leave a Comment

Harlan Coben is known to millions of readers around the world. His first novel was published when he was twenty-six, and after two stand-alone thrillers, Play Dead in 1990 and Miracle Cure in 1991, he began writing the popular Myron Bolitar series. His 2001 standalone novel, Tell No One, was hugely popular. In 2006, Film director Guillaume Canet made the book into the French thriller, Ne le dis a personne. The movie was the top box office foreign-language film of the year in the U.S.; won the Lumiere (French Golden Globe) for best picture; and was nominated for nine Cesars (French Oscar), winning four awards.

Harlan Coben has gone on to write many more standalone novels. His books regularly appear on the New York Times bestseller list, and more than 70 million have been sold internationally. He was the first writer to receive the Edgar, Shamus, and Anthony Awards.

Don’t Let Go is told through the eyes of New Jersey Detective, Napoleon (Nap) Dumas, who has been mourning the death of his brother, Leo. His brother, along with Leo’s girlfriend, Diana, was killed years earlier by an oncoming train. At the same time, Maura, the love of Nap’s life, broke up with him and disappeared with no explanation. For fifteen years, Nap has been searching for Maura and the real reason for his brother’s death. As so often happen in Harlan Coben’s novels, events coalesce and an ominous scenario begins to unfold—one more sinister than Nap could ever have imagined.

In an Author’s Note at the start of “Don’t Let Go,” you talk about a legend that circulated in your home town and inspired this novel. Tell us about it.

When I was a kid, there was a wooded area behind an elementary school where a lot of people went, and where teenagers went and did more than just play. There were barbed-wire fences and KEEP OUT signs. Rumor was that it was a Nike missile base with nuclear capabilities. I didn’t really buy into that rumor, but when I was older, I learned it was true. They eventually closed down the base, and I used that as part of the plotline in Don’t Let Go.

Although Nap Dumas couldn’t be described as an “anti-hero,” he has some qualities that are a bit different from many of your protagonists. Will you talk about that?

Most of my protagonists are pretty happy, sociable people, trying to achieve the American dream. They’re usually married with a couple of kids. Nap is a darker character. I didn’t want him to be too dark or an anti-hero, but he’s much more of a loner. Usually, my guys are well-adjusted, but Nap is not. He’s haunted by some of the ghosts of his past, which he’s trying to exorcise in this book.

And he’s not above doing something a bit illegal, is he?

[Laughter]. No, he’s not.

I’ve read many of your books and can’t recall any you wrote in the first person, present tense as in the case of “Don’t Let Go.” Tell us about the different points of view in your storytelling.

I’ve done first person, third person…whatever tells the story best. There’s something about first person, present tense that makes it seem as though Nap is telling this story to a ghost—the ghost of his brother, Leo. It just worked. It felt ridiculously natural. Everyone seems to react enthusiastically to that voice and viewpoint. This is just the way Nap channeled through me. I let him tell his story, and it feels as though the reader is his dead brother, Leo. Also, I think the present tense lends an immediacy to the narrative.

Many of your books have been characterized as “domestic thrillers.” What about this subgenre makes it so appealing?

The domestic element ensures that readers can identify with the story and the characters. People say, “Write what you know” which I don’t necessarily agree with, but the suburban, domestic situation is what I know very well. It may have something to do with the drive toward the American dream—the wish to have a house, two cars, two kids—and an idyllic life. I have a sort of romantic yet skewed vision of all that.

The past plays a prominent role in “Don’t Let Go.” In fact, it’s integral to the story. Will you talk about characters’ backstories in your novels?

It’s the iceberg effect. I know a ton of stuff about a character that I don’t reveal. The hard part when I’m writing, is not to give too much backstory at one time. I drop backstory in on a need-to-know basis, a little bit at a time. First-time fiction writers sometimes write a compelling opening paragraph and then proceed to give page after page of backstory. The novel’s pacing is ruined. Often, less is more. I feel I can do a great deal with dialogue—describing how a person talks, reacts, or feels, rather than writing pages of backstory.

Is there anything about your writing process that might surprise our readers?

I don’t know if it’s a surprise, but I write much faster toward the end of a novel than at the beginning of the book. The last forty pages of Don’t Let Go were written in one sitting, and were barely rewritten. It’s because I knew how the book was going to end from the first day I began writing it. I get so excited toward the end, I end up writing in a frenzy.

What do you read when you’re writing a novel?

At the beginning of my career, I might have been more careful. Now, I read anything because my writing voice is distinct, so whatever I read doesn’t interfere with what I’m doing. I’m not one of those writers who can’t read fiction while writing because frankly, I’m writing all the time. [Laughter].

I understand Netflix subscribers will be able to tune in to something you’ve written.

Yes. Netflix is featuring something called Harlan Coben’s The Five. It was a series that originally aired in Britain, and Netflix is bringing it over for the American and Canadian audiences.

Also, a TV show called Safe is being filmed. It stars Michael C. Hall of Dexter fame and Amanda Abbington from Sherlock.

Another show on Netflix is No Second Chance, a six-part thriller based on my novel.

What’s coming next from Harlan Coben?

I’m working on a new book, but I never talk about a work in progress. Even though I’m dying to tell people about it, I hold back because the only way I get satisfaction is by writing the book. It’s one of the pieces of writing advice I give to people: Don’t talk about your book until it’s done.

Congratulations on penning “Don’t Let Go,” a beautifully-crafted, multi-layered and powerful tale driven by grief, love, guilt, responsibility, searing emotions and everyday truths to which all readers can relate.

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‘The Salt Line,’ A talk with Holly Goddard Jones

September 18, 2017 by Mark Rubinstein Leave a Comment

Holly Goddard Jones, the author of The Next Time You See Me, received the Fellowship of Southern Writers’ Hillsdale Award for Fiction and the Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award. She received her BA from the University of Kentucky and her MFA from Ohio State University. She teaches creative writing at UNC Greensboro.

The Salt Line is set in an undisclosed future. The U.S. has been divided into zones with metropolitan areas behind “salt lines,” rings of scorched earth to protect people from a deadly disease-carrying tick. People behind massive walls inside the salt line live a safe and comfortable life. Only adrenaline junkies venture beyond the lines into the American wilderness. When one group of thrill seekers ventures beyond the line, they find themselves not only facing deadly ticks, but are held captive by a community of outer-zone survivors determined to protect their own existence.

What made you choose to make ticks such a deadly force in a dystopian novel?

I’d finished my last novel in the summer of 2012 and was between projects. I’d read Scott Smith’s novel, The Ruins, which is a horror novel. I’d never written in the horror genre, and thought it would be fun to do between more ‘serious’ projects. I was in Tennessee and spent a lot of time hiking the trails. I was trying to think of a monster that was small in scale and an everyday phenomenon—one that takes you by surprise. Ticks seemed like a good choice. The feeling I had when I suspected I had a tick on myself was probably the closest I’d ever gotten in real life to that of feeling a monster was behind the door.

The book started out as sort of horror story with four characters going into the woods. But, because I was inexperienced in horror fiction, I began writing in a more literary style. When I started going down that path, I began adding dystopian elements into the story. I really sort of backed into the notion of these ticks having such deadly powers because I was trying to justify the horror element of the novel. Then, the dystopian aspect of the novel took over.

One can’t help but think of real-life current events when reading “The Salt Line.” Will you talk about that?

I started the novel in 2012, and finished the rough draft in 2015. I was influenced by the events in the news at the time, such as the Ebola epidemic and the notion of protective walls, which go back to ancient times. There were discussions in the news about the relationship between Mexico and the U.S. and drug trafficking. I was looking at that long before Trump became a serious political candidate and the notion of building a wall became part of the news.

In 2016, while revising the novel, Trump became a viable candidate for president. There were already coincidental elements in the book that paralleled things playing out on the national stage, but as I revised the novel, I incorporated more current events into the story. Seeing Trump get the Republican nomination influenced my portrayal of the characters in the book.

Your previous novel, “The Next Time You See Me” is more of a thriller/suspense read as compared to “The Salt Line” which is more dystopian. How did writing this novel compare to or differ from your earlier work?

I’ve been creeping toward genre writing over the course of my writing career. My first book was a collection of short stories with some crime elements. They were somewhat literary with dark themes, but they were handled in a conventual literary way. When I was younger, I read a great deal of genre fiction, but in graduate school, literary fiction was emphasized, so I got away from genre fiction both as a reader and as a writer. With The Next Time You See Me, I still approached writing in a literary way, but when I wrote The Salt Line, I knew much more about the craft of writing speculative fiction. In both books, I enjoyed writing in the third person and doing ensemble points of view in the narratives. I love getting into the heads of characters who aren’t obviously like me—that remained the same in the two books.

Your prose is quite lyrical. Who are your literary influences?

Margaret Atwood, who tries many different modes of writing, inspires me as a writer. From one novel to another, she may write speculative fiction, a thriller, or historical literary fiction. She’s one of my biggest inspirations. I love her work.

I grew up reading a lot of Stephen King’s books, and he’s also influenced my work.

Who are the novelists you enjoy reading these days?

Lately, I’ve been gulping down books. I’ve read all of Tana French’s books. I’ve enjoyed Fiona Barton’s two novels. I feel she has something of a Kate Atkinson vibe. I’ve been reading Ruth Ware’s books and loved Otessa Moshsegh’s book, Eileen.

If you could re-read any one novel as though reading it for the first time, which one would it be?

There are books you read when you’re young and unformed, like Stephen King’s The Stand. I adored it, but I think if I read it for the first time now, some of its magic would not work for me—especially the portrayals of women. I think the book I’d want to re-read would be either Cat’s Eye or Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood.

What’s coming next from Holly Goddard Jones?

I have a contract for a book connected to The Salt Line. It’s not a sequel, but it’s set in the same world, with a different set of characters.

Congratulations on writing “The Salt Line,” a deeply imagined, dystopian novel with beautiful prose and a superb understanding of human psychology.

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‘The Hangman’s Sonnet,’ A Ta;l with Reed Farrel Coleman

September 13, 2017 by Mark Rubinstein Leave a Comment

Reed Farrel Coleman, a bestselling author of many novels, has penned the popular Moe Prager series, the Gus Murphy novels, and other well-received books. He’s a three-time winner of the Shamus Award, and has won the Macavity and Barry Awards, among others.

Robert Parker, considered by many to have been the dean of American crime fiction, was the author of seventy books, including the series featuring Chief Jesse Stone.

After Parker’s death in 2010, Reed Farrel Coleman was chosen by the Parker estate to keep this immensely popular series alive.

In The Hangman’s Sonnet, Jesse Stone, Paradise’s police chief, is still reeling from the murder of his fiancée by the crazed assassin Dr. Peepers. Jesse learns a gala 75^th birthday party will be held in Paradise for folk singer Terry Jester, who has spent the last forty years in seclusion after the mysterious disappearance of a recording of the ballad, The Hangman’s Sonnet.

Suddenly, an elderly Paradise woman dies while her house is being ransacked. What were the thieves looking for? And what, if any, is the connection to Terry Jester and the missing recording? The bodies begin piling up and the town’s mayor fears a PR nightmare. Jesse must connect the cases before more deaths occur, and the town of Paradise becomes a killing ground.

In “The Hangman’s Sonnet” Jesse is mourning the death of his fiancée, which connects thematically to Gus Murphy’s plight in that series. You write about bereavement quite vividly. Will you talk about that?

Putting myself in other people’s shoes and imagining situations different from those in my life are exercises I enjoy.

I’m quite sanguine and philosophical about life and death, although I’m sure I’d be devastated if a child of mine died. Intense grief leaves a person at their most vulnerable point, and renders them off-balance and without emotional reserve.

This heightened state is what good thriller writing is all about, and I try to capture the intensity of emotions my characters feel when they’re distraught.

“The Hangman’s Sonnet” has Jesse going to Boston to meet with a PI named Spenser, the protagonist of a Robert B. Parker series being continued by Ace Atkins. Did you confer with Ace about that portion of the book?

Yes, I did. Ace and I write about Robert B. Parker characters who are in overlapping universes. Also, Mike Lupica, the sportswriter, has been signed to write Sunny Randall novels. That means three of us who’re writing Bob Parker characters, have protagonists who exist in roughly the same universe. We must talk to each other because anything I do in a Jesse Stone novel might affect Ace’s writing of a Spenser novel. And I’ll be talking with Mike if our characters overlap.

Jesse attracts many different women. What about him is so alluring to them?

First of all, he looks like a young Tom Selleck. [Laughter]. Secondly, he’s the classic self-contained man who is very much to himself. And, he’s wounded. There’s a long tradition in literature of women trying to heal the wounded man. There’s a real pain in his soul and that’s very appealing to women.

There are elements of dark humor in your renderings of Jesse Stone. Will you talk about the role of humor in suspense/thriller fiction?

I have a somewhat cynical take on the world and that attitude is just part of hardboiled fiction. For me, when there’s no humor in a mystery or thriller, the book becomes turgid. It’s important to have humor in a story, even if it’s dark or cynical. There was always some humor in Bob Parker’s books—especially in the banter between Jesse and Molly. I’ve expanded it a bit because I’m not Bob Parker.

Jesse was a minor league baseball player until a shoulder injury cut short his career. Your descriptions of baseball are spot on. Is there a connection to your own athletic background?

There’s a connection to my own athletic dreams. [Laughter]. I was a jock; I played high school football and played a lot of organized sports. To this day, I play basketball five days a week. I feel that connection and understand how a guy like Jesse would judge himself by his athletic prowess. Many of the guys I grew up with judged themselves that way. I’m still an avid sports fan.

It was easy for me to imagine what it would be like for Jesse Stone to have been a great athlete and have an athletic future projected for you—to be one phone call away from becoming a Dodger—and then, suddenly, within a second, it’s all gone due to an injury.

The dialogue in “The Hangman’s Sonnet” is very realistic. Talk to us about dialogue in your novels.

Dialogue in novels is a kind of para-reality. No one really speaks like they do in books. People talk over each other; they go off on different tangents, and they repeat themselves all the time. I try to create dialogue as close to reality as possible, which is really a pseudo-reality. When you boil it down, no one would want to read an actual conversation between people.

My idea of dialogue is a kind of short-hand reality. You must move the plot along. No one wants to read a real, unedited conversation [Laughter].

What’s coming next from Reed Farrel Coleman?

I’ve already written the 2018 Jesse Stone novel. It’s called Robert B. Parker’s Colorblind. I wrote it before the last election, but it addresses a situation just like the one that happened in Charlottesville.

The next big project is this: I was hired by the film director, Michael Mann, to write a prequel novel to his magnum opus film, Heat. We hope it will generate a screenplay and a film.

Congratulations on writing “The Hangman’s Sonnet,” another high-octane and suspenseful Jesse Stone novel that keeps this engaging character alive for the enjoyment of millions of readers.

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‘I Know A Secret,’ A Conversation with Tess Gerritsen

September 5, 2017 by Mark Rubinstein Leave a Comment

Tess Gerritsen was a physician and Board-certified internist before turning her talents to writing. The Rizzoli and Isles series, featuring a homicide detective and medical examiner, propelled Tess to the status of an internationally bestselling author; and was the foundation for the popular television series of the same name.

Tess has written standalone medical and crime thrillers; and her books have been published in 40 countries.

I know A Secret involves two separate homicides with unrelated victims. In both cases, the bodies bear strange wounds, yet the actual causes of death are unknown. Concurrently, Jane is struggling to save her mother from a marriage that threatens to bury her, while Maura is grappling with the imminent death of her own mother—the infamous serial killer Amalthea Link.

The investigation of the two homicides leads to a secretive young woman and just when Rizzoli and Isles think they’ve cornered a fiendish predator, the long-buried past surfaces and threatens to engulf everyone.

When we last talked, you described how your standalone novel “Playing with Fire” arose from an unusual experience you had. What led to the idea for “I Know A Secret”?

This book was also based on a trip to Italy, during which I visited a number of art museums and saw many Renaissance paintings. I had read the book, How to Read a Painting, which taught me how to look at a painting and recognize the characters depicted.

For example, Saint Sebastian was always depicted with arrows in his chest; Saint Lucy with her eyes in her hands. These symbols denote who these figures are.

As a crime writer, I began thinking: What if a killer set up his crime scenes the way a Renaissance painter would have arranged his paintings? It struck me as a fascinating modus operandi—a killer would leave symbols for somebody to interpret.

While “I Know A Secret” isn’t a horror story, there’s a good deal about horror stories and movies in the narrative. Tell us about that.

When I was growing up, I loved horror stories. My mother loved them, too, and she took me to every horror movie ever made.

My son and I made a horror film, Island Zero, and it’s currently making the rounds of the film festivals. Being involved in indie-film making with a horror movie, combined with a life-long enjoyment of the genre, gave me the idea for Jane Rizzoli to be faced with the first victim being a horror-film producer; and the final clue leading to the identity of the killer deriving from a horror film.

In addition to medical forensics, “I know A Secret” involves plenty of psychology about child abuse and memories. Will you talk about that?

I became interested in false memory syndrome—a condition in which someone believes something happened when it didn’t. Yet, it’s “remembered” vividly. Elizabeth Loftus did research which showed you can implant false memories in about twenty-five percent of adults.

She gave the subjects three real memories based on what their families had told her, and then provided them with one false memory. She asked the subjects to describe these four incidents from their childhoods in greater and greater detail as the weeks went on. By the end of the experiment, some of the subjects couldn’t tell which were the true memories and which one was false.

In the late eighties and early nineties, there was a widespread belief that satanic circles were committing sexual abuse of children. People were being put on trial for nothing. I wanted to explore that issue in the novel.

Near the end of “I know A Secret,” Maura and Daniel are getting together once again. Do you have plans for them in the future?

I think I’ve set it up as an imperfect love. But, it is love, and that’s the way so many relationships are. Nothing is perfect. This is the happiest they’re going to be.

Which character in “I know A Secret” was most compelling to write?

Holly was very challenging for me to write. I’d never before delved into the psychopathic side of a character’s personality. Holly just views other people as being usable and disposable. She has no sense of empathy for anyone, and I found that difficult to write.

How do you manage to keep the Rizzoli and Isles series fresh after so many books?

I think what keeps it fresh is the two main characters are always evolving. Things happen to them and to their families, and they keep moving forward. For Jane, it’s to see what’s happening with her brother and parents. I also love the fact that her mom—who’s not a spring chicken—can still have a romance, despite her age.

The other thing that keeps it fresh is that every mystery comes from a different place—from an inspiration that’s unique. As I said, this one arose from Italian Renaissance paintings.

If you could read any novel again as though reading it for the first time, which one would it be?

One of the books I remember so well is Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove. I was so immersed in that story, I wish I could read it again as though it were for the first time. There are several books like that. I wish I could re-read The Lord of the Rings, as though for the first time. It’s an interesting thought: maybe if I reread some of these books, I’d probably discover new things about them.

For me it would have been “Watership Down.”

Oh yes. What a creative book. Can you imagine getting into the head of a rabbit? It was a fantastic book.

Will you complete this sentence: Writing novels has taught me________________?

It’s taught me to pay attention to my emotions. For me, what keeps a book going forward is the fact that characters aren’t settled. There’s something distressing about whatever situation they’re in. In order to write a well-paced novel, you must be cognizant of what’s bothering these people. Or, if I were in that situation—what would be bothering me? What would make me want to fix something?

In order to be in touch with my characters’ emotions, I have to be in touch with my own.

What’s coming next from Tess Gerritsen?

I’m working on a weird and different book. It’s an erotic ghost story.

It often drives my publisher crazy that I’ll jump from one genre to another. The book business wants an author to write in a single genre—the one in which you’re best known.

Well, when you’re Tess Gerritsen, you’ve earned the right to write what you want.

[Laughter] When you’re as old as I am, you realize there’s only a certain amount of time left to tell the stories you want to tell. [More laughter].

Congratulations on writing “I Know a Secret,” a fast-paced, dark, edgy mystery/thriller filled with unremitting suspense.

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