Interview With Thriller Author Robert Crais About His New Book, Chasing The Darkness

Robert Crais is one of the masters when it comes to writing crime thrillers. He's up there with Michael Connelly and George Pelecanos writing thrillers on a level higher and better than old (but good) standards like Robert Parker and Elmore Leonard and Donald Westlake.

When you read a Crais book you're stepping into a story with the kind of twists and intensity of Dennis Lehane's classic Mystic River but with the kind of insights of a good police procedural, such as those penned by Joseph Wambaugh.

He's part of what I call a hip new generation of crime writers (Lehane, Connell, Pelecanos are the first three that come to mind, with perhaps Richard Price as well) who have digested and learned from the masters – Raymond Chandler, Dashell Hammett, James Cain – but taken crime novels to a higher level where the stories are not just about the characters but also often offering insight as well about the human mind and our society and culture. Patrick Anderson, the Washington Post's book reviewer of thrillers, wrote a great book about all of this.
His review of Crais book is here.

I was pleased to interview Crais again. I previously interviewed him for the Watchmen. In that book he wrote from the point of view of Joe Pike, while normally his books are from the perspective of Elvis Cole. For The Watchman he was awarded the 2008 GumShoe Award for Best Thriller and was nominated for the International Thriller Writer's Thriller Award, The Anthony Award from the World Mystery Convention, The Strand's Critic Award, among other awards.

His new novel, Chasing the Darkness, is about an alleged serial killer who Cole helped skate out of some murder charges. Now the man is dead of a suicide, leaving evidence suggesting he was indeed the killer of people both before and after Cole's actions helped him.

The book comes out today and is, as usual, a roller coaster of a ride.

Scott: Have you ever rejected a plot twist or scene description as too dark?

Robert: No. Hey, I showed Pike torturing a guy in The Watchman. I write what feels right for the story.

Similarly, do you think there IS such a thing as something too dark? I ask partially because some books I've read lately – not yours so much as the one by Karin Slaughter and the one by Colin Harrison – were among the darkest things I've ever read.

This is something each writer decides for him- or herself. And each reader decides this, too. When I wrote the dim mak scene in The Watchman, I would be lying if I told you it didn't cross my mind that some readers might be turned off, but it was right for Pike, and for the story, so there it is. The first thing you learn in this business is that you can't be all things to all people. You cannot please everybody. So you had damn well please yourself.

Your dialogue is exceptional. How do you get it so tight?

Thanks. If there's any trick to this, and I'm not sure there is, I would have to say I read it aloud. The ear can pick up mistakes the eye will pass over.

Last time I talked to you it was after your book from Joe Pike's perspective was published. Do you have any plans for other books written from his perspective or do you plan to stick with writing from Elvis Cole's perspective? Do you think you gained something by writing from another characters' perspective?

I loved writing the Pike book--The Watchman. Chasing Darkness is an Elvis book. Pike is in it, but it's definitely Elvis Cole's book. My next book will be another Pike book.

What was it like to win awards and be nominated for awards for the Watchman? Or do you pay attention to such stuff?

It's a blast, man. Listen, you can't write for this kind of thing, and you must always ALWAYS keep it in perspective, but when people appreciate what you do enough to give you these kudos, it really is rewarding.

How does one go about researching a book like this? Do you, for example, go with cops to crime scenes? I know some writers who would say they can't describe, say, the suicide in the preface without seeing one first?

Research is more fun than writing. I do as much research as I can--I put myself in situations where I will learn something.

Do you have cops or others in a field of expertise who read your stories before you publish them?

No. Nobody reads my work before it's finished. I ask research questions, of course, but I don't ask people to read my work for veracity. My wife is my first reader, then it goes to my editor. The only time I've allowed anyone else to read my work prior to publication was The Last Detective. The combat scene when Elvis was in Vietnam. I had some guys who were LRRP/Rangers in Vietnam read that scene to help me make it as real as possible. When those guys said I had it right, then I knew it was right.

What is your goal when you write each book?

To meet whatever task I set for myself. Each time out, I set a task I feel will expand my work as a writer. I have a goal. The goals are different for each book.

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