Book Review: Bedlam’s Door by Mark Rubinstein, M.D.

https://mark.markrubinstein-author.com/a-review-of-bedlams-door/

Bedlam’s Door – a review

Donald Ray Pollock worked as a laborer and truck driver until he was 50, when he enrolled in the English program at Ohio State University. While there, his debut short story collection Knockemstiff was published. His first novel, The Devil All the Time, was published when he was 57 years old. His work has appeared in various literary journals; and in 2009, he won the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize. In 2012, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship.

His second novel, The Heavenly Table, follows two interwoven stories. The first concerns the Jewett Brothers—Cane, Cob, and Chimney as they embark on a bank robbing spree from rural Georgia to Meade, Ohio. The other story follows Ellsworth and Eula Fiddler, an Ohio farming couple struggling to survive after Ellsworth is swindled out of their life’s savings.

Eventually, the paths of the Jewett Brothers and the Fiddlers cross as a huge ensemble of characters populate the pages of this sprawling novel.

The Heavenly Table is painted on an enormous canvas with two converging stories and multiple subplots.  Did you outline these adventures or did they arise spontaneously?  

I am a very messy writer.  I began the book with the intention of writing a novel set around Camp Sherman, an army training camp built in 1917 at the edge of Chillicothe, Ohio. However, because my own “creative process” is not governed by anything even close to rational thinking, I eventually ended up with a story centered mainly around three poor sharecropper brothers from Georgia who use a pulp novel about an outlaw named Bloody Bill Bucket as the inspirational guide to change their lives.  After I finally had those characters in place, I ditched the others, and then the episodes fell into place spontaneously, as I pushed the book forward.

When I sit at the desk long enough, things will happen, but I shouldn’t waste so much time, especially at my age.

Your writing style has been compared to those of Flannery O’Connor, Raymond Carver, and Cormac McCarthy.  Your work has been described as Southern Gothic horror.  How would you describe your style?  

I’ve been heavily influenced by Southern writers, that’s for sure, especially by the way they deal with place, religion, and poverty; and by their creating quirky characters. Probably the Carver comparison came about because I come from a blue collar background and write about people stuck on the bottom rung of the system.  As for ‘horror,’ it’s not the Shirley Jackson/Stephen King supernatural stuff, but rather, I write about the everyday and much, much worse real horror we see or read about in the media: murder, drug addiction, family abuse, insane religious beliefs, etc.

I think ‘Southern Ohio Gothic’ might be a more accurate label, just so people don’t get the wrong idea and figure I write about zombies or vampires. [Laughter].

You once said readers are much better at seeing themes in your work than you are.  Will you talk a bit about that? 

I don’t have any ‘themes’ in mind while I’m writing; and then after publication, I try not to think any more about the book than I have to.  I’m usually filled with doubts about my work, so that’s just an invitation to regret what I might have done better. Also, I figured out a long time ago that I’ll never be a critic, or an intellectual. My brain just can’t seem to make the connections necessary for critical thought. I’m proof that you don’t have to be all that smart to be a writer. [Laughter].

You worked as a laborer and truck driver until you were fifty.  You also once said if you had “quit drinking and started writing in my twenties as opposed to mid-forties” many things would have been different.  Will you tell us about your path to becoming a highly regarded author? 

One thing that’s common about people who’ve had addiction issues is we have a hard time being satisfied. After I got sober, even though I had a good job and was happily married, I still felt something was missing. Then around the time I was forty-five, I watched my father retire from the mil. It made me stop and think about my doing the same thing in another twenty years. I had this sudden urge to try to do something else with what was left of my life.

When I was in my thirties, I’d managed to get a degree in English through a program at the paper mill that paid most of the tuition for employees who wanted to take college courses. Since I’d always loved reading, I figured I’d try to learn to write. After flailing about for five years and publishing five or six short stories, I quit my job at fifty, and enrolled in the MFA program at Ohio State University.  It was one of the most difficult decisions I’ve ever made, but I knew by that time I wanted to be a writer.

As far as if I’d started writing earlier, who knows? Perhaps I’d have six or seven books out by now instead of three and reside in Vermont or Montana instead of Ohio; or maybe I’d have flamed out early and ended up living in a homeless shelter somewhere.  [More laughter].

Did your experiences as a factory worker and truck driver end up informing your writing? 

I think what I got most out of my years working in a factory was a sense of how people talked and developed a feeling for black humor. Some of the men I worked with could joke about anything, the most terrible event, and somehow make it funny; and when you live in a world as messed-up as ours, that’s really not a bad thing to be able to do.  Also, when you punch a clock for thirty-two years, you become accustomed to living by a fairly rigorous schedule, which probably makes things easier as far as showing up at the desk every day and trying to write.

The Heavenly Table captures the atmosphere of 1917 Georgia and Ohio.  Did you do a great deal of research before writing the novel? 

Not really. I’d already read enough history over the years about the first decades of the 20th Century to have an idea of what everyday life was like then.  I did read quite a bit about America’s entry into WWI before I decided that wasn’t really my story; but other than looking up a few historical facts about automobiles and the prices of goods, I just used my imagination.

The Heavenly Table and The Devil All the Time concern people trapped in situations where there seems to be no escape.  Will you talk about that in regard to storytelling? 

Probably because of my own personal troubles when I was younger, I have always had some empathy or understanding for people living sad, terrible, even worthless lives; and I find it a subject worth writing about because it’s really an almost universal feeling.

While my focus is mainly on poor, uneducated people who can’t seem to catch a break or just act stupidly, you can also be beautiful and smart and well-off, and get caught in a situation from which there is no escape: a loveless marriage, a job you hate, or a dream you didn’t pursue. For some people, this feeling might last only a short while, and for others it might last forever, but I’d say most of us experience it at some point in our lives.

I found The Heavenly Table to be remarkably adroit at weaving multiple subplots and backstories into the main narrative.  That seems to be part of your storytelling style. 

As I’m working on the principal characters and trying to figure out the plot of a story, ideas for other characters and their backstories appear. Some are easily dismissed, but others feel like keepers, and I turn them into subplots. The big problem is how to make all this stuff fit without it appearing forced.  I realize this is a simplified version of what really goes down, but it’s the best I can do.  I honestly have no idea where this stuff comes from.

What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned about writing?   

Probably that writing is a job that you have to work at just like any other, and waiting for ‘inspiration’ before you sit down at the desk isn’t going to get you anywhere.

You’re hosting a dinner and you can invite five people, living or dead, from any walk of life.  Who would they be?  

This is one of those questions I tend to overthink, so I’m just going to go with my first inclinations. My grandfather, Ray Pollock, who died in 1959 from a heart attack while working on the railroad when I was five years old.  John Keats, my favorite poet. The writer William Gay, whose life story was a big inspiration to me when I was starting out and whom I never got to meet before he passed.  Lastly, just for kicks, I’ll throw in Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy because I’m told my grandfather laughed his ass off the one and only time he saw one of their films.

What’s coming next from Donald Ray Pollock? 

I am working on a novel set in Ohio in 1959 called “Rainsboro.”

Congratulations on penning The Heavenly Table, a compulsively readable, multi-tiered and picaresque literary novel that stands alone in the current crop of popular fiction.

 

 

 

Scott Pratt is the bestselling author of the Joe Dillard series of legal thrillers. He was a criminal defense attorney before becoming a full-time novelist.

In Judgment Cometh, the eighth Joe Dillard novel, Joe is hired to defend a man who was driving a pick-up, which when stopped for a traffic violation, was found to have containers with body-parts in the truck’s bed. They are the remains of a judge who had gone missing. As Joe explores the case, he comes to believe his client is not guilty. But then, who is kidnapping and killing judges all over the state of Tennessee? Joe and his friend, Sheriff Leon Bates, follow the case to a dark and life-threatening conclusion.

Judgment Cometh begins with a quote from Thomas Carlyle, ‘Judgment for an evil thing is many times delayed, for some a day or two, some a century or two, but it is sure as life, it is sure as death.’ Tell us your thoughts about that.

I ran across that quote and it struck me as being so appropriate for the beginning of this book. You can commit a terrible act and “get away with it” for some period of time—it might be a day, a year, or a century—but eventually, something will happen to right the universe, to get things back to where they were or should be before you committed this moral transgression.

Talking about moral transgressions, Joe Dillard is a very moral man, isn’t he?

He is, or I should say, he tries to be moral. His definition of morality may be different from some people’s. His morality isn’t based on religion, but on his own conscience. His has an individual morality, an inner code. He tends to look at things as being black or white with very little in between. When he finds himself in a gray area, he feels uncomfortable and may react violently, or even irrationally. When his moral code is violated, he may not always know how best to handle the situation, but he will handle it. He always acts to right a wrong.

When Joe Dillard meets with his new client, David Craig, he doesn’t want any details about the death of Judge Fletcher Bryant, the man whose body parts were found in the bed of David’s pick-up truck. Why is that?

At the outset of the representation, a lawyer wants to be very careful with a defendant. If the defendant admits to a crime and says, “I chopped the victim up and put his body parts in the back of the truck,” that limits the lawyer’s options going forward with the case. If the attorney knows the client has confessed to the murder, and puts him on the stand to testify, if the client lies on the stand, the attorney must abandon the case. The attorney is suborning perjury if he knowingly put a client on the stand and allows him to say he didn’t commit the crime. So, the attorney dances around the issue until he or she gets a sense of the facts and evidence and truly thinks the client did not commit the crime; then, he may ask the client whether or not he did so.

Judgment Cometh initially focuses on the police search of David Craig’s truck and the suspect’s interrogation. Tell us about the legal principles involved.

There are two kinds of searches involved in a case like this one.

One is an inventory search where the police impound a vehicle and go through it, logging everything in the car so the suspect can’t later claim things were stolen. Every police department has a procedure for an inventory search.

But there are limits to such a search. Let’s say there’s a closed container in the vehicle—a suitcase—they can inventory the item. But if they have reason to believe there’s something like contraband or something dangerous in that suitcase, they are permitted by law to open it. It’s a Fourth Amendment issue regarding unreasonable search and seizure. Different states interpret it differently. The police officer must have some reasonable and easily articulated suspicion that something inside the suitcase is going to be evidence of a crime. If there is no such reasonable suspicion, he cannot, by law, just open the suitcase.

In the book, the police officer was a rookie and testified that he opened the container on a hunch.

In a courtroom, a hunch doesn’t cut it. Evidence found under such circumstances comes under the exclusionary rule and is thrown out.

Joe Dillard is getting older and is now working with his son, Jack, and daughter-in-law, Charlie. Where do you see the series going?

I’ll probably put Joe in a less active role, more of a supervisory position. Jack and Charlie will handle most of the action from here on out. Joe will be the legal guru. It will be a way for me to revitalize the series by injecting these young lawyers into the stories.

You’ve written eight Joe Dillard novels. What are the advantages and disadvantages of a series?

The advantages of the Dillard novels are important. For me, writing about Joe is like putting on an old coat. It’s so comfortable knowing the main players, but it becomes a matter of trying to always keep it fresh.

The disadvantage is the level of vigilance I must maintain to ensure the series doesn’t get stale; that can happen if a writer gets lazy. The series is now a little darker than it was in the earlier books, but that’s because I’ve been in a darker place because my wife has been battling breast cancer. Some of my own anger and frustration has bled through into the novels.

In that vein, Scott, it’s clear Joe is going through some of the same difficulties you’ve been facing in your own life. He’s something of a fictional stand-in for you.

Yes, he is. I’ve talked to my wife, Kristy, about this. I asked if she minds my letting the world know she’s got metastatic breast cancer. More than a million and a half people are looking in on our personal lives through the books. Kristy’s thought and mine are the same: if we can help anyone understand and deal better with cancer, it’s worthwhile. It’s difficult and we want women and their families to know they’re not alone in the battle.

It’s also important for readers to see Joe’s wife, Caroline, survive and continue to thrive. She tries living as well as she possibly can. You can’t imagine how many e-mails I get from readers telling me, ‘Don’t you dare let Caroline die.’

Looking at your writing career, has your writing process changed over the years?

Not really. It’s all about discipline and getting into the chair at the same time each day; going to bed at the same time; getting plenty of exercise and staying mentally sharp. I don’t outline my books. I start with a small idea, and keep going. About half way through the book, I decide how I’m going to end the story. I build a foundation and then head for the end.

What, if anything, do you read when you’re busy writing a novel?

When I’m writing, I don’t read anything other than research. If I were to read Dennis Lehane when I’m writing, I’d start writing like he does. That goes for any other author. If I read them while I’m actively writing, I’ll find myself subconsciously mimicking them. While I’m writing, I don’t read. In between novels, I read voraciously.

Speaking of voracious reading, which authors do you enjoy reading?

Dennis Lehane is one. I love reading Mike Royko’s columns. I read Mark Twain and Ernest Hemingway. As for reading genre fiction, I love John Grisham’s novels as well as all kinds of thrillers.

What’s coming next from Scott Pratt?

I contracted to write a trilogy for Thomas & Mercer. It’s called Justice Burning. It’s something of a Breaking Bad lawyer novel where something bad happens to an attorney who then goes off the deep end.

Congratulations on writing Judgment Cometh, another gripping novel putting you in the company of John Grisham, Steve Martini, John Lescroart, and Scott Turow.

Linda Fairstein is known to millions of readers. Her Alexandra Cooper novels are international and New York Times bestsellers and have been translated into more than a dozen languages.

In Killer Look, the 18th novel featuring Alex Cooper, Linda takes the reader into the rarified and glamorous world of high fashion. But high fashion means ultra-high stakes. When murder rocks New York City’s Fashion Week, Alex, along with Detectives Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace, strives to expose the culprit lurking among the media, strutting supermodels and celebrity attendees. It’s a beauty-driven, tension-filled game involving the ruthless denizens of billion dollar empires with far-flung tentacles in Paris, Milan, and London.

As usual, this Alex Cooper novel, like its predecessors, explores an iconic New York City feature or landmark. In Killer Look, you focus on the New York fashion scene. Tell us a little about it.

I’m known for doing research such as when I explore an institution or some aspect of New York City, but this was so different because I’d never known the high-end fashion world or its fiercely competitive business component. This novel isn’t based on a specific building or landmark, but rather it takes place in a special section of the city. Actually, there’s very little left of the one square mile of the garment district. Many of the businesses have been outsourced, so I didn’t have many physical structures in which to set the story. I ended up using other places connected to the fashion industry, such as the Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Those are two of the places where glamorous fashion shows take place.

Nowadays, fashion shows are attempts by the companies to outdo each other. Some take place on the Chelsea piers, others opt for museums or some quirky venue. It’s more freewheeling now, so I was able to create my own timetable and use my own locations for this fictional fashion world.

 I was struck by the cutthroat nature of the fashion industry as depicted in the novel.

I did a great deal of research about it. I always looked at the glamor end of the fashion industry, but it’s become far more cutthroat, especially with the global aspect of the industry. It’s such rich material for a crime novelist to explore and was a perfect setting for the novel.

 In Killer Look, Alex is suffering the aftereffects of events from the previous novel, Devil’s Bridge. Tell us about that.

In Devil’s Bridge, Alex was kidnapped. That book begins through Alex’s eyes but after 50 pages, Mike Chapman takes over as the protagonist. Alex has spent her career prosecuting criminals who committed sexual and domestic violence, and that involved her being sensitive to victims’ recoveries. However, in Killer Look, Alex herself is recovering from having been a victim, so the reader can see that Alex, who’s been very strong throughout the first seventeen books, has been profoundly impacted by an experience similar to those of victims with whom she dealt in the earlier books. I wanted readers to see how vulnerable Alex was after her traumatic experience in Devil’s Bridge. I wanted her to be much more than some kind of unidimensional “super-woman.”

In Killer Look, a fascinating method of either murder or suicide is described. Tell us about that.

I’m smiling because if you’re writing crime novels, you always struggle with how best to kill someone. [Laughter] I’ve used many of the traditional methods, and I’m always looking for something different. A great friend, Fern Mallis, the head of Fashion Designers of America was my guide through the fashion world.

As for homicide methods, I have a friend who’s now retired from the NYPD, but who was a young lieutenant when I was a prosecutor. He’s the smartest cop I’ve ever known. He helped me with police procedures in Devil’s Bridge. For Killer Look, Jimmy told me about a method of assisted suicide using a plastic bag filled with helium or other inert gases such as nitrogen, argon or methane. It’s a popular method in various states where assisted suicide is permitted because it’s painless and fast. It in a disturbing development, it could also be used in a homicide if it’s staged correctly.

After eighteen novels, has your writing process changed?

For the first few books, I began writing in longhand. I had a romantic notion to write with a pen and pad while I was sitting and looking out at the ocean. When I began using a computer, the process changed dramatically.

My actual writing process has evolved over time. I’ve learned how much of an outline to do, and I discovered that mornings are my best time of day to write. On certain writing days, my friends know not to telephone me before four o’clock in the afternoon because I’m busy writing.

Do you ever re-read your earlier novels? If so, how do they strike you now?

They strike me, quite honestly, as unpolished compared to what I write now. Final Jeopardy was my first novel and I love it the way a parent loves a first child. But I would so love to be able to go back and polish it up a bit. While writing the first five novels in the series, I was still a prosecutor. Writing back then was part-time, and took place between five and seven in the morning, or on weekends. In some ways, the fact that I was writing in my spare time is reflected in the earlier books.

I also learned things by reading many books, especially those by David Baldacci—for instance, ending every chapter on a suspenseful note, a cliffhanger. Now, in my own books, I try to end each chapter with a level of tension to propel the reader on to the next one.

Do you have a favorite among your novels?

I always think it’s the one I’m writing at the moment. [Laughter] I think that’s because I’m always excited about the novel I’m writing. The new baby is always the favorite.

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

Wow! That’s a great question. For me, it would be Anna Karenina. I love the drama and tragedy of the storytelling. I first read it in high school, again in college, and two more times in my adult life. That’s the one I’d love to return to.

 What, if anything, keeps you awake at night?

A good book. [Laughter] I end almost every evening reading a good book.

 What’s coming next from Linda Fairstein?

Two things. Killer Look has a dramatic ending and I already know the opening of the next Alex Cooper book.

The other new development is this: as a kid, I grew up reading Nancy Drew books. My homage to Nancy Drew is a series I’ve begun writing for middle-grade children. The first book, Into the Lion’s Den is coming out in November. The sleuth is a twelve-year-old girl named Devlin Quick, whose mother is New York City’s first woman police commissioner, which gives Devlin access to various police resources.

Congratulations on writing Killer Look, a truly suspenseful novel rich in atmosphere and revealing the underbelly beneath the glitz and glamor of the New York and international fashion industry. It’s a fine example of why Nelson DeMille called you ‘One of the best crime fiction writers in America today.’

I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the most acclaimed authors on the planet. I enjoy asking them questions often tailored to their unique writing styles or fictional characters. There are some questions that apply almost universally to writers. One of my favorites is:

Do you procrastinate? And how do you deal with the nearly universal tendency to procrastinate?

Here are excerpted responses from very successful and prolific authors.

 Don Winslow: If I procrastinate or don’t write, I feel guilty. (Laughter). I should be home writing. I feel as though I’m shirking…it’s a strange kind of dysphoria. I try take Sundays off. I sort of get away with that because I feel like I’m improving myself (More laughter). ~ Talking about The Cartel

 Patricia Cornwell: I most certainly procrastinate. I absolutely have days where I’ll find every excuse under the sun not to sit at that desk and write. The reason is: writing scares me. It’s hard. And if the characters are being uncooperative, I just move words around uselessly. At times like that, I wonder who stole my characters. Or, I think they’ve gone on vacation. Talking about Depraved Heart

 Linwood Barclay: I’ve never been a procrastinator. Once I’m working on a project, I just want to get it finished. I find if I take too long writing a novel, I lose my sense of continuity and the flow suffers. I prefer to get immersed in it and keep going until it’s done. ~ Talking about Broken Promise

 Linda Fairstein: I’m a world class procrastinator. I can find things to do that boggle the mind. The hardest point in the process of writing a book is the beginning—the first hundred pages. There are so many diversions. I become more attached to the work about a quarter of the way in. Then I really get into it and it’s a race to the finish for the last three-quarters. ~ Talking about Devil’s Bridge

Jon Land: Everyone procrastinates to some extent. But creative procrastination is a positive thing. Some of my best ideas have come when I wasn’t sitting at the computer. I might be at the gym; or watching a movie; but these connect-the-dot moments arise from creative procrastination. ~ Taking about Strong Light of Day

Tess Gerritsen: I procrastinate all the time. It’s human nature. I write and stick to my schedule because I have a contract. If I didn’t have a book under contract, I would take my time. You know, there are so many distractions for a novelist, especially for those of us who are pulled in many directions by multiple passions. I could spend an entire year doing nothing but learning fiddle tunes. ~ Talking about Playing with Fire

 Barry Eisler: Procrastination is a continuous struggle. I have a good rationalization for it: I’m obsessed with political issues. There’s so much good commentary and discussion on the matters that interest me: politics, the rule of law, the media, government transparency, civil rights, and other issues. I read and blog about them. It takes a lot of time away from what would otherwise be my day-job—writing fiction. So, my rationalization for procrastinating is built in. My novels are so driven by real world events, I tell myself I’m really doing research. (Laughter). Talking about The God’s Eye View

Robert Crais: Yes, I procrastinate. The reality is—especially on a bad day, but really, on all days—writing is a job like any other. Only, you’re your own boss, and the boss, meaning you, must keep you the chair, focused and committed to getting the task accomplished. You have to consistently force yourself to keep writing. Talking about The Promise

Lisa Gardner: If I procrastinate, I get anxious and I feel I may not meet my deadline. I’m a very structured writer. I draft a novel in about six months. Then, I re-write. If I get behind schedule, my husband and daughter will tell you I’m not fun to live with. (Laughter). ~ Talking about Find Her

Alafair Burke: If procrastination were a competitive sport, I would get lots of medals. (Laughter). I try to keep enough structure in my life so I don’t miss deadlines. My idea of goofing off is going on Facebook to look at friends’ pictures. (Laughter). It helps that I still have a job as an attorney. I have a schedule and am forced to be mindful of time. Sometimes, I just have to compel myself write the next book. ~ Talking about The Ex

Reed Farrel Coleman: Procrastination is against my religion. (Laughter). Even as an undisciplined kid, I never procrastinated. I was always the first kid in class to give a speech when no one wanted to do it. I always felt waiting caused me more anxiety than doing something I didn’t want to do. I’m still that way. ~ Talking about Where it Hurts

 

Allison Gaylin: Procrastination can absolutely be a problem. (Laughter). That’s especially true with social media. I can fall into a hole on Facebook or looking at news stories online. I have to discipline myself. ~ Talking about What Remains of Me

 

Ace Atkins, while working as a crime reporter for the Tampa Tribune, earned a Pulitzer Prize nomination for his coverage of a cold case from the 1950s. At age 27, his first novel, Crossroad Blues, was published and be became a full-time novelist at age 30.

The Innocents is the sixth installment of his critically acclaimed Quinn Colson series. After a stint in Afghanistan where he trained local police, Quinn returns to his hometown of Jericho, Mississippi. Along a country road, an eighteen-year-old former high school cheerleader is found engulfed in flames; and there’s no shortage of suspects in her murder. Working with Lillie Virgil, the first woman sheriff in the state, Quinn and others sort through a web of intrigue and secrets, trying to bring justice to the town of Jericho.

One of the striking things about The Innocents and the other books in the series is how the town of Jericho almost becomes a character. Will you talk about setting?

I’m always struck by how many novels today focus on international intrigue and involve white-knight superheroes. While I enjoy reading them, I try to write a different kind of novel. I write about ordinary people living in a small town such as Jericho, Mississippi. I love capturing the atmosphere of Southern life with its unique ambience and everything that goes on—the good, the bad and the unexpected.

I also think one of the advantages of a series is the author can elaborate on the setting and the characters with each successive novel. I can expand and dig deeper with each novel. Six books into the series, Quinn Colson has become a more complex character, and Jericho’s corrupt underbelly has been more vividly exposed.

You anticipated my next question. In the Quinn Colson novels, is Jericho a microcosm of the larger world?

Yes, absolutely it is. You don’t have to be in Paris, London or New York, and you don’t have to write international thrillers to experience corruption, intrigue, brutality, and criminality. It’s as much a part of life in a small town as anywhere else.

So, as you said, the fictional town of Jericho is a microcosm of the larger world. And a protagonist like Quinn Colson has all the flaws and warts you would expect to find in people anywhere: he’s had a problematic off-again-on-again relationship with a married woman; has issues with work; and must sort out complicated relationships with his father and sister.

 The Innocents, as are all your other Quinn Colson novels, is peppered with authentic dialogue. Tell us how you approach writing dialogue.

I think dialogue is the engine driving a novel. It propels the story and bespeaks character. A novel’s characters are made real by their dialogue more than by anything else. I’ve always felt dialogue is not just what people say to each other; it’s what they do to each other with words. I love walking around and jotting down little bits of dialogue I overhear, whether it’s at the general store, standing in a supermarket line, or sitting in a restaurant.

Without trying to eavesdrop, I hear the most amazing bits and pieces of conversation, some of which I can fit in a novel.

A short while ago, while walking around, I heard a man and woman talking. From their conversation and the tones of their voices, it was clear they knew each other very well. She gave him a gentle punch on the shoulder and said, ‘How dare you sleep with another woman.’ He laughed and said, ‘What can you expect? I was in jail for a month.’ [Laughter]

By listening to conversations taking place anywhere, a writer can find a treasure trove of dialogue that might wind up in a novel.

 The Born Losers, a motorcycle gang, plays a significant role in The Innocents. Is any of this based on your observations of real-life people?

Some of what I try to capture in my writing is the way the South was back in the Seventies—motorcycle gangs, overt prejudice, and things like that. And I’ve always loved films like Easy Rider and I’ve done research on motorcycle gangs; but most of what appears in the Quinn Colson books is a product of my imagination.

 Quinn’s relationship with his father, Jason, is interesting. Tell us about that.

In the previous Quinn Colson novel, I decided to bring Jason Colson back. He was something of a ghost in Quinn’s life, having been largely absent when Quinn was growing up—Jason was a Hollywood stuntman living the fast life.

When I reintroduced Jason, I wasn’t really sure what to do with him. I didn’t have him sketched out as well as I’d have liked. I gave the script to a psychologist friend who made a very perceptive observation: he felt that as a Hollywood stuntman, Jason Colson had a risk-taking personality and that trait would permeate his lifestyle. So, Jason is a risk-taker, and gets immersed in various high-stakes ventures. True to form, in The Innocents, Jason wants to get involved in a huge land deal.

Because of Jason Colson’s absence all those years, he and Quinn don’t have a close relationship. In fact, it’s quite strained, as are many father-son relationships in real life.

 As a successful novelist, what’s the most important lesson you’ve learned about writing?

The most important thing is to work, work, work.

I work on my books every day except when I’m on vacation. To be a professional novelist means you want to improve with each project, and there’s no substitute for always working and trying to write better prose.

I’ve been doing this for almost twenty years, and it’s a constant struggle to keep at it and grow as a writer.

 What do you love most about the writing life?

Sometimes I love it and sometimes I hate it [Laughter].

I do love the freedom the writing life allows, but as a professional writer, I’ve got to make deadlines. I have to deliver a manuscript on time and it has to be good, sharp, and right. My editors expect a solid book, not a rough draft. So, while I love being my own boss, and having independence, the writing life also confers responsibilities.

 What’s coming next from Ace Atkins?

I’m working on my twentieth novel. It’s going to be my sixth Spenser novel. I’m overwhelmed by how accepting readers have been of my taking over the series after Robert B. Parker’s passing. Writing those books has been very satisfying.

 

Congratulations on penning The Innocents, another compelling and atmospheric Quinn Colson novel in a series about which John Sandford said, ‘With terrific, inflected characters and a dark, subtle sense of place and history, these are exceptional novels.’