My Newsvine Interview With Thriller Writer Craig Holden

This is the first part of a two part interview.

When I received this book in December I had never heard of Craig Holden and I came close to offering this book up to other Newsviners to read and review, figuring I have plenty of other books on my plate to review.

But then I noticed a blurb on the back of the book from Patrick Anderson, a Washington Post reporter assigned to reviewing thrillers. I'd interviewed Anderson earlier in the year about his book on thrillers and found that he and I seem to agree on about 90 percent of mysteries and thrillers.

In response to an email, Anderson told me to give Holden's book a chance. I said I would give it a try and set up this interview. I packed the book for a trip on the holidays.

As the book begins Darcy, described as "a beautiful young American," is in Europe on a school-sponsored trip when she meets a guy. The guy, working with a female accomplish, gain her trust and then start running a series of cons and scams on her.

I'll start the interview by explaining what happened next.

Scott:I have to make a confession: I was hating this book for the first 50 pages. I seriously considered throwing the book across the room in disgust, tired of the formula of young girl as victim of cons. This would have been problematic since I was on an airplane at the time and I would have been hauled off by Homeland Security

Was that change – switching from a formulaic book to one that makes the reader both change expectations and re-think what he's read so far – something that was desired and planned?

I don't really plan much about my books. I let them unfold, and for them to surprise me. That way I'm sure they'll surprise you too. With this book, I knew it involved a trip from Rome to Matala, and that at least a young man and woman were involved, and that they meet on a bridge. But all of my books kind of play off this formula -- beginning what seems like a typical genre novel, and then letting it evolve out of character rather than plot, so that it turns into something else. I think every book has been like that to some degree.

Scott: Did you outline this book? Did you have to add or change any of the twists?? It seems to have so many twists that it couldn't be just written easily on the first draft and published as is.

As implied above, I don't outline. But I'm never, ever a first draft writer, nor do I think anyone should be. When I teach I have my students go over and over their stories. Same with my books. The first draft is really just for me to figure out where the book wants to go. Once I know that, then I can go back and make it really work.

Scott: How does this book compare to your earlier books, in terms of topics, style, quality?

Well, stylistically, it feels lighter to me. A little humorous even. When I read from it I always get a few laughs. And I like that about it. I originally wrote a much darker ending but it just didn't fit with the tone of the rest of the book, so I changed it. Topic-wise, it's similar in that it begins with a crime and evolves into a character examination. Quality -- I hope it's up with the others. I think it is. It's much shorter, though, which is something I've really been working on -- tightening, streamlining, cutting every word that doesn't need to be there. This book is very tight, and I like that a lot.

Scott: What was your goal with this book? Did you accomplish it?

Well, one goal as I said was to write a very tight book, and I did that. Otherwise, the goal is always just to figure out what the story is, and tell it well. It took 2 years, but I did it.

Scott:Who do you consider the best thriller writers – you can name up to 5 – writing today?

Let me go back a little in time, and explain something about thrillers or noir or whatever you want to call it. Most books in these categories are plot-driven drivel. I don't like to read them. The characters are flat and pro forma and the plots go pretty much where you expect them to. But there have been writers over the last half century or so who have taken these kinds of genres and gone way beyond them. At the top of the list is Graham Greene. He started out writing what he called entertainments -- crime novels. But when he got to his later, greater works, he brought that structural knowledge with him -- so The Power and the Glory is a chase thriller;

The End of the Affair is a detective novel; Brighton Rock is a gang novel; The Quiet American is a murder mystery. But they're all profoundly deep and moving stories. To me, that is the pinnacle. Some other writers who are, or were, capable of that -- E.L. Doctorow (Billy Bathgate, for instance); Martin Smith Cruz (Gorky Park); Scott Smith (The Simple Plan); Susanna Moore (In the Cut); James Dickey (Deliverance); Ian McEwan (especially his earlier works). Most of the very contemporary stuff I read is not genre. Oh, I'm reading Motherless Brooklyn, though, which is wonderful.

Scott: If you could get readers to read any book at all, author alive or dead, what would it be?

The Book of Daniel by E.L. Doctorow. One of the top 10 novels of the 20th Century.

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