Going about your day job while relaxing at the picturesque Smith Mountain Lake can be tricky, but best-selling author and part-time lake resident David Baldacci manages to make it work.
“I've written many novels there,” the Virginia native, who has owned property at the lake since 2001, wrote in an email last week. “I have an office there that purposely does not look at the lake — too distracting. Although I write down at the dock too and have had boaters come by and yell out for me to write faster.”
As an author who regularly releases two — sometimes even three — books a year, it might very well be impossible for Baldacci to work on his critically-acclaimed thrillers at more of a breakneck pace.
Since publishing his first novel, “Absolute Power,” in 1996, Baldacci has released 35 novels for adults and six for young readers.
His latest book, “The Fallen,” continues the story of Amos Decker, a detective turned FBI agent who, after suffering a football-related brain injury, experiences total recall down to the smallest detail.
Decker is “one of the most unusual detectives any novelist has dreamed up,” Patrick Anderson wrote in his Washington Post review of “Memory Man,” the first book in the Amos Decker series, in 2015.
The fourth in the series, “The Fallen” — which Baldacci will be signing copies of Saturday at The Little Gallery on Smith Mountain Lake — sees the FBI agent and his colleague investigating a series of murders in the rust belt town of Baronville, Pennsylvania, that may be a piece in a much larger puzzle. And for the first time since his injury, Decker is beginning to doubt his infallible memory.
As with previous Baldacci novels before it, “The Fallen,” which was released April 17, was at the top of The New York Times Best Sellers list last week.
“Mimicking the style of his Camel Club series of novels, [Baldacci] takes on small-town America, capturing both good and bad elements,” Jeff Ayers wrote for the AP when the book came out. “He demonstrates why these small towns are worth saving.”
Before his signing at The Little Gallery, Baldacci talked about the key to a great crime thriller, detective Amos Decker and “Long Road to Mercy,” the first book in his upcoming new crime series, which is set for release in November.
You've often spoken about your love of Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple and the Hardy Boys. What, in your opinion, is the key to a great crime thriller?
“Characters you care about wrapped around a high-stakes puzzle that will keep readers engaged until the end.”
When it comes to plot, do you map everything out or let it evolve as you write it?
“I never know the end of a novel before I sit down to write it; it organically evolves. I feel like if I know the ending all the fun is gone. It would be like a reader skipping to the end of the book first.”
What is the secret to hooking a reader in chapter one?
“Something interesting should happen early on. It doesn't have to be too dramatic, but it should engage the reader and let them feel on edge as to what might happen on the next page.”
Last month, you released book four of your Amos Decker series. What do you think has drawn readers to Decker in this overflowing world of literary detectives?
“He's a man who can't forget in a world where we all have things we'd rather not remember. He's in the same body but is a changed person, and he had no choice in the matter. He wants truth and justice. He's an underdog who struggles to survive. People can relate to that and cheer him on.”
You're known for the amount of in-depth research you put into your books. Did you do any for the "The Fallen?"
“I've visited many rust belt towns and my mother's family is from one. I did a lot of research on the opioid crisis and on the giant fulfillment centers where now so many Americans work.”
With so many books under your belt, how do you continue to find new, creative places to explore in the mystery and thriller genres?
“I challenge myself constantly by setting up new series with totally different characters. Or I go off and write in a new genre, like fantasy, that makes me get out of my comfort zone. Writers have to constantly reinvent who they are and how they approach their work. Otherwise, you drop into formula and you might as well hang it up.”
You have a new series and a new protagonist coming out later this year. What can you tell me about Atlee Pine and her first adventure in "Long Road to Mercy?"
“Atlee is the surviving twin. Her sister disappeared when they were 6. She's an FBI special agent who prefers the lonely terrain of the American west where there is no way to bother her or tell her how to do her job. She is relentless and conflicted and still mourning the loss of her twin.”
Finally, recent reports show crime and thrillers have outsold other forms of fiction in the U.K. for the first time. Why do you think we're seeing this boost in interest and do you think this trend will follow to the U.S.?
“I think it will continue here. People want champions and they want villains punished. Right winning out over wrong. If they can't get that in the real world, they will look for it in fiction. It allows them to believe that there is some sense of balance in life.”