Mark Rubinstein Blog

Just another WordPress site

  • Home
  • Books
    • Mad Dog House
    • Love Gone Mad
    • The Foot Soldier
    • Mad Dog Justice
    • Return to Sandara
    • The Lovers’ Tango
  • Meet Mark
  • FAQS
  • News & Reviews
  • Media Room
  • Blog
  • Book Clubs
    • Mad Dog House Reading Group Guide
    • Love Gone Mad Reading Group Guide
    • The Foot Soldier Reading Group Guide
    • Mad Dog Justice Reading Group Guide
    • The Lovers’ Tango Reading Group Guide
  • Contact

‘The Switch,’ A Conversation with Joseph Finder

June 13, 2017 by Mark Rubinstein Leave a Comment

Joseph Finder is the bestselling author of thirteen previous novels, including The Fixer and Suspicion. Two bestsellers, Paranoia and High Crimes, became major motion pictures. His awards include The Barry, Gumshoe, and The International Thriller Writers Award. His new novel is The Switch.

The Switch focuses on Michael Tanner, an ordinary guy whose marriage and business career are in trouble. Coming home to Boston from a business trip, he accidentally picks up the wrong Mac Book laptop after it passed through TSA screening. He doesn’t notice the mix-up until he arrives home, and when he sees its owner affixed a Post-It with a password, he opens the laptop, happy to be able to contact that person to correct the mix-up. But, by opening that laptop, his nightmare begins. He’s in possession of a U.S. senator’s laptop which contains “top secret” government files. Michael Tanner finds himself at the center of an extraordinary manhunt, and his entire life begins unraveling.

The Switch has a ‘ripped from the headlines’ quality, yet veers in its own unique direction. What role do current events play in your conception of thrillers?

I think thrillers play upon the ambient anxieties in our society. You can write a thriller having nothing to do with the headlines, but it will still have some relationship to what’s going on in our culture.

I was writing The Switch during the 2016 presidential campaign at the time Donald Trump was lambasting Hillary Clinton. I didn’t finish writing the book until after the election, and I suddenly realized I was writing a conspiracy novel during a conspiratorial age—with the issue of Russia having hacked into and having tried to interfere with our electoral process. While not all of my books are ‘ripped from the headlines,’ this one was and it felt like it was appropriately so.

How did this idea of a mistaken switch of laptops occur to you?

I was on a book tour and grabbed my Mac Book Air when it came out of the X-ray machine. I stopped and realized it was someone else’s. So, I thought, ‘What would have happened if I’d grabbed the wrong laptop?” Probably not much. It would have involved a hassle, but it wouldn’t have been a big deal. I then thought, ‘What if this was a laptop belonging to someone important and there was something on it? At that point, my twisted mind kicked in and I had a story.

You once said, ‘The daily news brings me stories I could never use in a book, because nobody would believe them. Fiction has to make sense. Real life doesn’t.’ Tell us more about that.

In our increasingly conspiratorial age, countless political conspiracy theories float everywhere. This is the kind of story I wouldn’t make up; it just seems too far-fetched. Basically, a thriller is about the restoration of order. There’s a tear in the fabric of someone’s life and it’s mended by the end of the novel. The story must make sense. It cannot be about an open-ended conspiracy. Reality doesn’t have to make sense in a way that fiction must make sense. That may be one of the reason we read fiction—it’s a way of processing our fears and worries, and coping with them.

Many of your novels deal with government agencies and corporate conspiracies. How did you develop an interest in these issues?

I came very close to joining the CIA. I have friends who work there—friends I really admire—and I must say, I always read Robert Ludlum novels, which helped foster my interest in these things. Robert Ludlum’s novels were always about large conspiracies. In general, I’m not a conspiracy theorist, I’m a conspiritologist. I’m interested in the study of conspiracy and what it does to people. I actually don’t believe in conspiracies to the extent that many people do because I think government people involved in conspiracies are unable to keep a secret. The notion of conspiracies is an interesting way of looking at the world. I was trained as a Sovietologist, and I think understanding the way the Kremlin works is an exercise in conspiracy theory.

Despite his flaws, Michael Tanner in The Switch is a very likable protagonist. What do you think makes him so appealing?

He’s an entrepreneur, yet he lacks the killer instinct. I set the novel up so that it’s Tanner versus someone in the government. One has too much ambition, and the other lacks the killer instinct. I think Michael Tanner is appealing because he’s a happy-go-lucky and easily-relatable person. He loves his work and wants to save his coffee business, even though he’s struggling to survive.

Another thing that makes him likable is he begins to adapt to his insane circumstances. He gets better and better at negotiating the rigors of the virtually impossible dilemma in which he finds himself immersed.

The prose in The Switch is straightforward, very readable, and quite powerful. How would you describe your writing style?

I find prose very important when I read. It’s difficult for me to read badly-written novels. I feel that just because I’m writing something considered popular entertainment, doesn’t mean the prose can be lazy or predictable. I write as directly as possible, yet I try to make sure the words I choose are apt, the expressions are not clichés. I’m telling a story but I don’t want the prose to get in the way. I don’t want the reader to notice how ‘beautiful’ it is. I want it to be invisible, but good.

Your first novel, The Moscow Club, was published when you were twenty-three years old and still a student at Harvard. I know there’s an interesting story behind it. Will you share it with us?

The Moscow Club began as a non-fiction book. I’d learned Armand Hammer, the CEO of Occidental Petroleum, had connections with Russia’s KGB. But there were things I couldn’t put in a non-fiction book because I couldn’t completely nail down the facts. So instead, I decided to write a novel in which an Armand Hammer-like character was featured. As fiction, I could say whatever I wanted.

Armand Hammer was very unhappy about the book. His lawyer, Louis Nizer, published an Op-Ed piece in the New York Times threatening a libel lawsuit against the publisher. But Hammer couldn’t sue because he would never want to go through the discovery process. Instead, he called Harvard and tried to have me expelled. He really went after me. It was very scary.

When the book came out, Hammer bought up as many copies as he could to take the book off the market. So, thanks to him, in the end, the book sold very well. [Laughter].

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

I spend a lot of time doing research. While I’m talking to people as part of my research, I get plot ideas from talking to them. So, even though I’m doing research, I’m also plotting the narrative arc at the same time. My discussion with a CIA or an ex-CIA operative may generate a good idea for a scene or plot twist. In a sense, I come up with my characters by talking to real characters.

What’s coming next from Joseph Finder?

I’ll be writing a Boston-based standalone with a female protagonist.

 Congratulations on writing The Switch, a gripping thriller that makes you feel every emotion and rams home the realization of how flimsy the predictability of life can be.

 

 

Please share...Share on FacebookShare on Google+Tweet about this on TwitterShare on LinkedInPin on Pinterest

Filed Under: crime, Huffington Post Column Tagged With: current events, fiction, protagonists, suspense, thrillers, Writing Style

‘Fool Me Once,’ A Conversation with Harlan Coben

April 3, 2016 by Mark Rubinstein Leave a Comment

Harlan Coben is known to millions of readers. His books appear regularly on the New York Harlan Coben 1Times bestseller list, and more than 60 million have been sold internationally. He was the first writer to receive the Edgar, Shamus and Anthony Awards.

Fool Me Once, his 28th novel, features Captain Maya Stern, a former Army special-ops helicopter pilot. While grieving the death of her sister during a home invasion, Maya witnesses her husband Joe’s murder during an attempted robbery. Left to care for her daughter alone, Maya sets up a nanny cam, and though nearly impossible to believe, sees footage of her dead husband playing with her daughter. What is going on? Is Joe still alive, or is Maya losing her mind?  And who is in the car following her? The novel rockets to a stunning conclusion so unpredictable, Kirkus Reviews described it as “a tale guaranteed to fool even the craftiest readers more than once.”

The opening lines of your novels are often startling. The first sentence of Fool Me Once is, ‘They buried Joe three days after his murder.’ And, the first sentence of The Stranger is, ‘The stranger didn’t shatter Adam’s world all at once.’ Tell us your thoughts about the importance of a novel’s first sentence.

I want to hook the reader as fast as possible. If I can accomplish that with the first sentence, that’s what I want to do, but it’s a heck of a challenge. I think the first sentence sets the tone for the rest of the novel. It’s like I’m saying to the reader, ‘Strap yourself in; we’re going on a very fast rollercoaster ride.’

Maya Stern is a fascinating character. Tell us a bit about her.

I think she’s my favorite protagonist outside of my series’ character, Myron Bolitar. She’s strong, stoic, independent, and very damaged. She’s brave and realistic, but she’s not terribly warm or cuddly. She’s not classically maternal, yet you sense her love and devotion perhaps even more because of that trait.

As a former helicopter pilot in a war zone, Maya suffers from a psychological condition. Tell us about that.

Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for those who served in combat to suffer some form of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. Part of being a good writer means being empathetic; the writer must get into where the character is really at emotionally. After finishing the manuscript, I sent it to several veterans I know who suffer from PTSD. Their responses told me I had nailed it. Maya’s psychological condition isn’t a major part of the book, but it shapes many things about her.

And, because of her condition, Maya is vulnerable to doubting her own perceptions when she sees her dead husband on the nanny cam, isn’t she?

Yes, to some degree. She knows she’s seen Joe on the nanny cam, but she has enough insight to recognize there’s the possibility she’s being played. She’s savvy enough to be able to step back and think maybe things aren’t quite what they seem.

You once said ‘Almost all my ideas come from something that happens in my regular life.’ Did that happen with Fool Me Once?

Yes, in two different ways.

One was when I went on the International Thriller Writers Organization’s USO Tour. We went overseas to meet the troops, talk about books, and do book signings. While there, I met an enthusiastic reader who was a combat pilot. She was nothing like Maya, but the idea of someone with her background stuck with me.

The second was when I began noticing more and more parents using nanny cams. I thought, ‘What would mess up my mind if I was looking at a nanny cam?’

So, those are two examples of how my regular life inspired elements in this novel.

Speaking of ‘messing with your mind,’ Fool Me Once may have the most mind-boggling twists of all your novels. What makes twists so important in thrillers?

I think we all love the ‘gasp’ moment in a book—that instant when we literally see everything from an entirely different perspective. If done correctly, we enjoy being fooled.  But there’s more to it than simply being misdirected; it must work on an emotional level. A sleight of hand is fine—it’s like watching a card trick, but I hope the book emotionally blindsides you as well, so you feel something. I’m not satisfied with simply writing a fast-moving plot, if the book lacks real emotional impact.

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

It’s a cliché, but you have to write. You have to turn off that voice in your head telling you it’s not working, or you need more time to get this novel right. You have to put words down on paper, and remember, you can always change them. You can always fix bad pages; you can’t fix no pages.

Looking back, is there anything you would do differently in your career as an author?

I would do nothing differently because if I had back then, I might have ended up in an entirely different spot from where I am right now; and I’m in a really good spot.

When you’re a new writer, it’s good to be a little naïve.

When I was starting out, there were no Amazon rankings, so I was wonderfully naïve, even benighted. I had two books published by a very small house; then I was a Dell paperback original author. My print-runs were small as were the advances. I had had no idea I was just a tiny pimple on the publishing world’s behind.

I stayed that way for four books. If Amazon sales figures were available back then, I probably would have panicked and stopped writing altogether rather than keeping at it.

It wasn’t until my tenth novel that I hit the New York Times bestseller list. I’m glad I kept writing.

What, if anything, keeps you awake at night?

I sleep pretty well. I have four kids, and like any parent, I worry about them all the time. But I’ve learned to not take it to bed. I worry about things I can control, and have stopped worrying about those I cannot.

Speaking of kids, you now write YA novels in addition to adult thrillers. Did you have to change gears to do that?

No, it’s pretty much the opposite. I’ve kept the same gears in motion. The difference is your lead character is sixteen years old instead of being thirty or forty. I try not changing anything else. You have to be a little careful around certain themes, but if you dumb it down, you’re dead. Interestingly, fans of the adult Myron Bolitar novels have liked the YA books about Mickey Bolitar as much as the kids do.

What’s coming next for Harlan Coben?

For British fans, I have a TV series coming on Sky1, and I’m now writing another Myron Bolitar novel.

Congratulations on writing Fool Me Once, a novel receiving a starred review from Publishers Weekly which also said, ‘Coben is like a skilled magician saving the best, most stunning trick for the very end.’

Mark Rubinstein’s latest novel is The Lovers’ Tango a finalist for the Benjamin Franklin Gold Award in Popular Fiction

 

 

 

 

 

Please share...Share on FacebookShare on Google+Tweet about this on TwitterShare on LinkedInPin on Pinterest

Filed Under: About Books, crime, Huffington Post Column Tagged With: Myron Bolitar, protagonists, twists in a novel

Connect:

Follow Us on FacebookFollow Us on TwitterFollow Us on LinkedInFollow Us on GoodreadsFollow Us on Scribd

Recent Posts

  • Adrian McKinty Had Given Up On Writing: A Late Night Phone Call Changed Everything
  • David Morrell: Finding Inspiration, Transcending Genres, and Going the Distance
  • Don Winslow and the Making of a Drug War Epic
  • My talk with Lee Child about his “contract” with readers
  • C.J. Box on the Modern Western & Crime Thrillers

Archives

  • August 2019
  • June 2019
  • February 2019
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012

Categories

  • About Books
  • Aging
  • Awards
  • book launch
  • bookstores
  • courtroom drama
  • creativity
  • crime
  • doctor
  • Dog Tales
  • health
  • Huffington Post Column
  • Interviews
  • library
  • Love Gone Mad
  • Mark Rubinstein
  • medial thriller
  • novel
  • On Writing
  • Podcast
  • psychological thriller
  • Psychology Today Columns
  • Reviews
  • The Foot Soldier
  • thriller
  • Uncategorized
  • war

Copyright © 2015 Mark Rubinstein