What’s the story behind the story? What inspired you to write this book?
The Zone of Deceit trilogy of character-driven thrillers began as one book centered on the question of whether we can ever fully know someone. It turned into a trilogy that expanded that idea to whether we can ever know what is really going on in our lives. There’s a Hitchcockian element to both, where people who are living “normal” lives are pulled into exceptional circumstances. How do we make our choices under pressure? What is the binding principle behind our lives (see: love)? What’s it like to live within a conspiracy without any idea of what is going on? The more time I spent looking back on the ’80s/’90s in the US, the more I felt it informed where we are today. That’s the inspiration for me. For my characters, the Sanders family, it is the background of their lives until it becomes the inescapable foreground, like skies that suddenly become opaque with smoke.
If you had to pick theme songs for the main characters of your book, what would they be?
I actually have playlists for all three books (Book Three, Beyond the Beyond, comes out September 1 of this year). All ’80s/’90s songs from the pop charts. Philip ends up with a pop anthem by Foreigner, “I Want to Know What Love Is.” Ellie’s is harder because she’s absent in the present, but U2’s “Where the Streets Have No Name” and Sting’s “If You Love Somebody Set Them Free” fit her. And for Chris, growing from four to twelve in the trilogy, his later listen is “Wonderwall” by Oasis. All songs that are key to this era of the Walkman.
What’s your favorite genre to read? Is it the same as your favorite genre to write?
I want writers who are struggling to follow their characters through complex challenges. Plot is important, but real people are a must. Stories I really care for (and stories I want to write) tend to be hard-edged but with an emotional core. Close to the thriller/crime genres, I would think of Dennis Lehane, Karin Slaughter, some of Chris Bohjalian, John le Carré, and Michael Connelly. Further out on the genre edge, and considering the full arc of the trilogy, I love big, immersive reads that stand outside genre definitions: The Crimson Petal and the White by Michael Faber, Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts, and Endless Love by Scott Spencer.
What books are on your TBR pile right now?
I read all the time, widely in my genres. When I’m writing (finishing a final edit on Book Three as we speak), I move more toward nonfiction, especially history: 1929 by Andrew Ross Sorkin and Nexus by Yuval Noah Harari (my next trilogy will revolve around early AI). Next up is my daughter Kate Foster’s fantastic debut, The End of the World Tour (she’s presenting this weekend at the Southampton Book Festival as part of the BookEnds Fellowship).
What scene in your book was your favorite to write?
One challenge was writing the chapter in which Iran-Contra is fully laid out. Making sure that it came from the characters and was not an infomercial was critical to me. For sheer pleasure, the two scenes with the General (and his blackboard) were my favorite to write. No spoilers here—you’ll have to read to get to this unexpected destination. The first draft of the final one hundred pages of The Cover Up was written in one night.
Do you have any quirky writing habits? (lucky mugs, cats on laps, etc.)
Music: soft, hard, background, loud.
Do you have a motto, quote or philosophy you live by?
“Accept These Gifts.” From a time when my job required regular travel to the Middle East, with some risk and very little routine. On one twelve-hour flight, two mantras came to me: Patience and Forgiveness and Accept These Gifts. We’re on a journey, and everything is always in transit. It’s important to help ourselves accept where we are.
If you could choose one thing for readers to remember after reading your book, what would it be?
One is the way that love drives so much of what we do, whether that makes us resentful, puts us into a state of denial, or makes us feel too vulnerable. A trilogy tagline would have to be: Love Is the Final Truth. The other is: Read the Zone of Deceit trilogy! Cliffhanger is on Amazon this week for $0.99, and the conclusion will be available September 1!
