BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR

The lists begin with the New York Times, none of which I've read!

10 best books of 2009
"after so many years, and so many lists, you might think the task of choosing the 10 Best Books would get easier. If only. The sublime story collections alone created agonies of indecision. So did the superb literary biographies we read--and deeply admired. But in the end the decisions had to be made."

Fiction

* Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It by Maile Meloy (Riverhead)
* Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem (Doubleday)
* A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore (Knopf)
* Half Broke Horses: A True-Life Novel by Jeannette Walls (Scribner)
* A Short History of Women by Kate Walbert (Scribner)

Nonfiction

* The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science by Richard Holmes (Pantheon)
* The Good Soldiers by David Finkel (Sarah Crichton Books/FSG)
* Lit: A Memoir by Mary Karr (Harper)
* Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World by Liaquat Ahamed (Penguin)
* Raymond Carver: A Writer's Life by Carol Sklenicka (Scribner)

Bad Sex in Fiction Award

Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Jonathan Littell won the Bad Sex in Fiction Award, the U.K.’s “most dreaded literary prize,” for his depiction of the sadomasochistic encounters between twin siblings in his World War II novel, “The Kindly Ones.”

The judges cited Littell for one incestuous scene that unfolds on the bed of a guillotine and another that invokes the myth of Cyclops, “whose single eye never blinks.” These marred what the judges called an impressive work.

“It is in part a work of genius,” the judges said in an e-mailed statement about the novel, which won the Prix Goncourt, France’s top book prize, in 2006.

Yet Littell clinched the Bad Sex award with one “mythologically inspired passage” and another that compared a sexual climax to “a jolt that emptied my head like a spoon scraping the inside of a soft-boiled egg.”

HOT, FLAT & CROWDED

If you missed this book when it first came out, now is your chance to buy the newly issued paperback of Hot, Flat & Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution - And How it Can Renew America by Thomas Friedman.

Friedman has updated and revised the book, which they are calling Version 2.0. Friedman has some excerpts from the first two chapters and an audio preview on his website, as well as a book discussion guide.

ThomasFriedman.com

As we delve into the holiday season of excess, it is a very good time to read this book.

Miami Book Fair 2009

I spent the day in Miami, hobnobbing with authors, librarians, booksellers, and of course readers. The weather was beautiful, but the pickings were slim. There were a lot of authors I wasn't familiar with, which is sometimes a nice way of finding new authors, but instead I went with authors somewhat more familiar.

We didn't get down there until after 10; I wasn't willing to get up before 7 on my day off to see Al Gore. I heard the room was packed so I'm sure I wasn't missed. Just wandering the street fair I ran into Carol Fitzgerald from The Book Report Network, owner of www.Bookreporter.com, www.ReadingGroupGuides.com, www.AuthorsOnTheWeb.com, and several other excellent, book related websites. She promised to email me the titles of two upcoming St. Martins/Minotaur books that sounded fabulous.

My first panel of the day featured funny thriller writers Paul Levine (pictured top) and Jeff Lindsay (pictured bottom.) Richard Belzer was scheduled to be with them but was a no-show. No great loss though, Levine and Lindsay were, as always, very entertaining. They were introduced by Chauncey Mabe, the long time book editor of the Sun Sentinel who informed us that he was no longer in that position, but was now a freelance writer. Note to self: check into that story...

Paul Levine opened by telling the audience that he was sure he was speaking for everyone in the room when he said, "Jeff, you are a sick puppy." Lindsay is the author of the Dexter series, the lovable serial killer that kills other serial killers that has since been made into the hit TV show on Showtime.

Levine then spoke a little about the Miami he remembered - he was a practicing lawyer for 17 years before going Hollywood and writing for TV shows, Jag and Lassiter, among others. He spoke about his latest book, Illegal, which is a really good thriller about a boy and his mother trying to move to the US from Mexico, illegally of course, and they get separated. It's a really good story and very suspenseful. Levine spoke about the opening, saying it "opens with something a lot of lawyers do; a lawyer trying to bribe a judge."

Lindsay spoke next, opening with "So much time, so little to say." Every time I see him I am reminded that he once tried his hand at stand-up comedy - lots of one liners. People got to ask questions at the end, and someone asked him if the Michael C. Hall character got into his head when he was trying to write the book. He says it doesn't affect him; he tries to keep away from Hollywood as much as possible. He doesn't write for the show and there are some discrepancies between the books and the show. One in particular he found confusing - the character Vince Masuoka in the book became Vince Masuka in the TV show. He wondered why Hollywood made Vince lose his "o".

One of the most interesting questions came from a librarian. She asked whether Dexter's name came from "dexterous", meaning left handed, and "sinister", meaning right handed. Lindsay was stunned, saying it was only the second time he's ever been asked this. She was correct - he said the book's original title was the "Left Hand of God".

After the mystery panel, it was time for politics so we headed over to see Taylor Branch. His new book, The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President offers unprecedented access to a sitting president. Branch spoke about how he met Clinton when they roomed together during the McGovern campaign in the 1970s. Branch decided he was too "cynical for politics" and became a journalist, but Clinton realized he had a gift for politics. Years later, Branch was invited to an inaugural party for newly elected President Clinton at Katherine Graham's house, where Clinton greeted him by saying in amazement, "Can you believe this?"

Shortly after that, Branch was summoned to the White House. Clinton told Branch that he was interested in recording history in the making, and asked Branch if he would be interested in helping. Branch said he was amazed at how idealistic Clinton still was, after twenty years in politics. Branch agreed, and they began meeting on a regular basis, usually late at night and in secret. Clinton would talk about whatever was going on, and Branch recorded it, asking questions along the way. Clinton offered almost unlimited access to a sitting president, all of it on the record, which was quite extraordinary. Branch says the book is not a biography, that he was too close to the subject and too close in time to create such a book. Instead, he views it as a "first hand record of being with a sitting president," recording his thoughts on events while they were happening.

Branch told some great stories. I especially loved the one about how President Clinton was awakened one night at 3:30 in the morning by the secret service. Apparently Boris Yeltsin was visiting and staying at Blair House, but he had "escaped" and was standing on the lawn, drunk and in his underwear, yelling for a pizza. The secret service wanted to know what to do. Suffice it to say Yeltsin got his pizza. He also talked about how Clinton had been invited to go to Japan for some conference, but refused to go because Chelsea had her junior year midterm exams, and he didn't want to leave her during that stressful time.

Branch also told a hilarious story about how there was some sort of summit, and Presidents Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush all ended up staying over at the White House. It was the first time ever that four presidents sat down and had breakfast together in the White House. It was a quiet meal, they didn't have much to say to one another until the subject of Ross Perot came up. It turned out that the one thing they all had in common was that they all hated Perot, especially Bush! They shared Perot stories all morning long.

Someone asked Branch if he wondered if Clinton was telling the truth, or just being a "storyteller", trying to make his own history. Branch pointed out that Clinton would have had to have been clairvoyant to do that, he was speaking on events as they happened, and would have no way of knowing how things would spin out later on. Being the Bill Clinton fan that I am, I was completely captivated and bought the book. I have to say that Branch seemed genuinely delighted to sign every book put in front of him. He shook hands, chatted, and was just his amiable self.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta was scheduled next for the hall where C-Span was recording all day for BookTV. However, he had cancelled, and Mike Farrell had agreed to fill in for him. At the closing of the Branch segment, it was announced that Farrell had cancelled as he had a death in the family the day before. So there was a gap in the schedule, just in time for lunch.

After lunch we headed back to see Gwen Ifill. She is always so calm and laidback on NPR, but was quite feisty and charming at this event. She spoke about her career, how she started in print journalism until Tim Russert dared her to do TV full time. She acquiesced, and was on NBC for years with her good friend and mentor, Russert. She is thrilled with her move to PBS however, and was asked about today's TV journalists. She said she feels like she needs to be just a conduit of the news, and that too many people prefer to use the media to just "confirm conclusions they've already reached."

Ifill also spoke about moderating the debate during the election, and even made reference to Queen Latifa - which was my first thought when I saw her on the schedule at the fair. She took a lot of flack about her, at the time, upcoming book, The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama, but she was protected from it as she prepared for the debate. The book didn't come out until long after the election, and she was vindicated when it did - it is not a biography of Obama. It is a book about black men in politics, and Obama is just one of several including Newark, N.J. Mayor Cory Booker, Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts and the Reverend Jesse Jackson. Ifill says "the good thing about writing about race - something is always happening."

Something that is dear to Ifill's heart is The History Makers Project. This is a website that archives interviews of famous African Americans as a way to preserve their history. Ifill has done several interviews, including Quincy Jones and Eartha Kitt, shortly before she passed away.

Wally Lamb was scheduled after Ifill, but I'd seen him before and didn't care to see him again. The only other author I would have liked to see was John Hodgeman, but he wasn't scheduled until 5, which would have had me driving around Miami (and frankly, not the nicest part of Miami) after dark, so I passed.

MIAMI BOOK FAIR!

Events have been going on every night, but for me the fair is the street fair, which begins tomorrow.

TOP CONFIRMED AUTHORS
Many of the world’s top authors are already confirmed for this year’s Fair. These include Sherman Alexie, Margaret Atwood, Roy Blount Jr., Robert Olen Butler, Meg Cabot, Alan Cheuse, Susie Essman, Mary Karr, Mike Farrell, Nobel Laureate and former Vice President Al Gore, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Barbara Kingsolver, Jonathan Lethem, Jacquelyn Mitchard, Ralph Nader, Richard Powers, Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk, Francine Prose, Ruth Reichl, Senator Bob Graham, Wally Lamb, musician and performer Iggy Pop, Melvin Van Peebles, Jeannette Walls and many others.

Confirmed Spanish-language authors include Roberto Ampuero, José María Aznar, Carmen Posadas, Alvaro Vargas-Llosa, Boris Izaguirre, Angela Becerra, Juanita Castro, Edmundo Paz-Soldán, Jorge Ramos, Fabiola Santiago, Jaime Bayly and others.

Please visit www.miamibookfair.com for the complete list of authors and the schedule.

Hope to see you there!

Win books in a bag

Travel around the globe without leaving home...Enter to win an Elliott Lucca Casares Drawstring bag filled with HarperCollins books!
http://www.elliottlucca.com/bookinabag

Oprah.com, CNN.com and Facebook Collaborate for Book Club Webcast

Next Monday, Oprah.com, CNN.com and Facebook will present a live Oprah's Book Club webcast for the current selection, Say You’re One of Them by Uwem Akpan (Back Bay). During the 90-minute event, readers will be able to submit questions for the author and may be featured during the live discussion. The proceedings will be streamed live simultaneously from CNN.com's video player on Oprah.com. Additionally, CNN.com will utilize Facebook Connect, which will allow users to comment through their Facebook profiles without leaving the live webcast.

Sleuthfest!

SleuthFest 2010, “Lights! Camera! Write!”, will be held in the Deerfield Beach Hilton in north Broward County from Thursday, February 25 through Sunday, February 28. The hotel sits just off I-95 and features beautifully renovated rooms and FREE parking. Driving or flying, you can't beat the rate and location. And don’t forget, this is South Florida in the Winter—sun, more sun, and beaches.

David Morrell and Stephen J. Cannell are our Guests of Honor. David Morrell is the award-winning author of First Blood, the novel in which Rambo was created. That "father" of all modern action novels was published in 1972 while Morrell was a professor in the English department at the University of Iowa. He taught there from 1970 to 1986, simultaneously writing other novels, many of them national bestsellers, such as The Brotherhood of the Rose (the basis for a highly rated NBC miniseries starring Robert Mitchum). Eventually wearying of two professions, he gave up his tenure in order to write full time. Stephen J. Cannell is the bestselling author of twelve novels, including the critically acclaimed Shane Scully series, which includes Three Shirt Deal, White Sister, Cold Hit, Vertical Coffin, Hollywood Tough, The Viking Funeral, and The Tin Collectors. The newest installment, On The Grind, was published by St. Martin’s Press in January 2009. In addition, Cannell is the author of At First Sight, Runaway Heart, The Devil’s Workshop, Riding the Snake, King Con, Final Victim, and The Plan.

Come in on Thursday for a line up not equaled by any conference in the country. We have instructors who can teach anyone anything they didn't know about writing or the writing business. That evening, the Sleuthfest 101 Dinner will take place, as well as our annual Reader’s Corner.

Friday and Saturday will be filled with talented , including P J Parrish, Paul Levine, James W. Hall, Les Standiford, C J Lyons, Elaine Viets, Diana Snell, John DuFresne, and N. M. Kelby.

Our Friday luncheon speaker will be David Morrell, who on Friday evening, will introduce a showing of “Rambo”, and speak about how what’s on the page does or does not end up on the screen.

Saturday’s luncheon speaker is Stephen J. Cannell, along with our annual Author Auction. That evening is the Agents and Editors Cocktail party, including the silent auction results and the crowning of the new Flamango 2010.

On Sunday morning, we'll have a special treat. You'll have to attend to find out what it is.

As proof we're always improving SleuthFest, we're sponsoring the Short Story Contest again this year. The feedback last year was all positive, especially from the winner whose story was published in the SleuthFest program. And, she's attending SF 2010 as our guest this year. You could be the lucky winner this year.

There's more info at the web site (www.sleuthfest.com) and we'll be adding right up to the last moment. So check the site now and check back often. Registration is up on the website, as well as a link for room reservations. Be sure to click on the Sleuthfest 2010 link, and if you reserve your rooms over the phone, be sure to mention you are attending SleuthFest 2010, in order to get our great room rates.

We’re looking forward to seeing you at Sleuthfest 2010.

Guest Blogger: MARK ARSENAULT

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2009 Nation Book Festival fast approaching!

Just wanted to give out some updates on the National Book Festival. It's Saturday, September 26th in Washington DC and will be featuring fabulous authors like Baldacci, Grisham, Picoult, Alvarez, Blue, Burns, and Irving. Sadly, I can't go but I can get text messages updating me on all the events and so can you. By texting BOOK to 61399, book lovers can receive text updates and news for the Festival straight to their mobile device.

Also, the LOC has been releasing some great new podcast interviews with some of this year’s participating authors. Podcasts, images, author schedule and other goodies at www.loc.gov/bookfest.

Finally, LOC is also tweeting away at @librarycongress, as well, and planning to host an NBF Tweet Up on the National Mall.


pictured: John Irving

Guest Blogger: JERI WESTERSON

Keeping it Clean in the Middle Ages

By Jeri Westerson

My medieval mystery series is styled a “medieval noir;” hard-boiled detective fiction set in the middle ages. The second in the series, SERPENT IN THE THORNS (featuring my ex-knight turned detective, Crispin Guest), will be in bookstores on September 29th.

Back in the day before I was published and I was trying to peddle my own brand of medieval mysteries to agents, I came upon an astonishing bias. One agent rejected my manuscript because she couldn’t get past the notion that my protagonist would be intimate with someone with all that “lack of hygiene.” She said it made her skin crawl.

Wha?

But she wasn’t the only one. Seems that if you aren’t a regular reader of things medieval, you are stuck in the rut of thinking that medievals never bathed or brushed their teeth. In which case, I might agree with that agent that rejected it. In a word, “Eww.”

So what about it? Without indoor plumbing were medieval people stinkier? Were they, in fact, the Great Unwashed?

Well, no. They rather enjoyed bathing. While it’s true that the average person did not have the servants to provide for heated water to be hauled into a tub for a full immersion bath (and these were great occasions for noshing. Think of sipping wine with nibblies as you sit in your Jacuzzi), there were certainly bath houses for this purpose, which also served as a social meeting place. Both men and women. And yes, naked! Because they were religious people, we tend to give them a Victorian sense of their bodies, but this was not true. They had a pragmatic approach. And though no woman would dream of wearing a gown at calf-length, they weren’t afraid to bare a little. Everyone was certainly aware of bodily functions. And anatomy.



In England, the City of Bath was built because of the natural hot springs. Bath was considered a very holy place by the early Celtic people. Think about it. It’s bloody cold in England and here is hot water simply bubbling out of the ground. It’s a miracle! Hallelujah! The Romans added buildings and the innovation of pipes to fill many bath spaces at once.

But even if you didn’t travel to Bath, there were streams and rivers and a good old-fashioned bucket in which to wash yourself. In the winter when fuel was scarce and heating water for the purpose of spit baths would be wasteful, it was done cold. Brr.

Teeth were brushed with fingers, hazel sprigs, or cloth rubbed across the teeth. Bad breath was certainly noticed so the chewing of parsley and other herbs might be used to sweeten the breath.

Deodorants were not invented yet, but for wealthier patrons, there were perfumes and flower water to staunch some of the smellier aspects of life.

Foul odors were associated with evil and evil-doing and preventing them or masking them was important in society, though the lowlier you were the harder this was, foisting an unfair disadvantage on the poorer classes.

In the opposite end of the spectrum is the sweet-smelling, often attributed to the saintly person, their “odor of sanctity.” Indeed, a few saints were said to give off a sweet smell to show to the world their holiness. Incense in churches sweetens. Garlic does not.

So the next time you read about medieval protagonists in a clinch, remember that they might be hot and bothered, but they also probably did their best to smell good and stay clean.

You can read more about SERPENT IN THE THORNS on Jeri’s website www.JeriWesterson.com; or read her blog about history and mystery at www.Getting-Medieval.com

Guest Blogger: DAVID MORRELL

Rising Above it All: How Rambo's Creator Earned His Pilot's License
By David Morrell,
Author of The Shimmer

Readers familiar with my fiction know how much I love doing research. For Testament, I enrolled in an outdoor wilderness survival course and lived above timberline in the Wyoming mountains for 30 days. For The Protector, I spent a week at the Bill Scott raceway in West Virginia, learning offensive-defensive driving maneuvers, such as the 180-degree spins you see in the movies. I once broke my collarbone in a two-day knife-fighting class designed for military and law enforcement personnel.

Two years ago, I began the longest research project of my career. I was preparing to write a novel called The Shimmer, a fictional dramatization of the mysterious lights that appear on many nights outside the small town of Marfa in west Texas. When the first settlers passed through that area in the 1800s, they saw the lights, and people have been drawn to those lights ever since, including James Dean who became fascinated by them when he filmed his final movie Giant near Marfa in 1955.

The lights float, bob, and weave. They combine and change colors. They seem far away and yet so close that people think they can reach out and touch them. In the 1970s, the citizens of Marfa organized what they called a Ghost Light Hunt and pursued the lights, using horses, vehicles, and an airplane, but the lights had no difficulty eluding them.

Because an airplane was used, I decided to include one in The Shimmer. I'd never written about a pilot, and the idea of trying something new always appeals to me. The dramatic possibilities were intriguing. But a minute's thought warned me about the monumental task I was planning. As a novelist version of a Method actor, I couldn't just cram an airplane into my novel. First, I would need to learn how airplanes worked so that real pilots wouldn't be annoyed by inaccuracies. Real pilots. That's when I realized that it wouldn't be enough to learn how airplanes worked. I would need to take pilot training.

I live in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Our small airport has a flight school: Sierra Aviation. I made an appointment with one of the instructors, Larry Haight, who took me up in a Cessna 172 on what's called a "discovery" flight. The idea was to "discover" whether I enjoyed the sensation of being in the cockpit and peering several thousand feet down at the ground. Flying in a small aircraft is a much more immediate and visceral experience than sitting in the cabin of a commercial airliner. Even in a Cessna, the canopy is huge compared to the tiny windows on an airliner. The horizon stretches forever.

It turned out that I more than enjoyed the experience. It was exhilarating and fulfilling. I realized that this was something I wanted to do not only for research but also to broaden my life. As a consequence, I eventually earned my private pilot's license and bought a 2003 172SP. The plane was based near Dallas, and my longest cross-country flight to date (600 miles) involved piloting it from there to Santa Fe. Truly, nothing can equal controlling an aircraft, making it do safely whatever I want while seeing the world as if I were an eagle.

In The Shimmer, I wanted the main character's attitude toward flying ("getting above it all") to help develop the book's theme. The following passage shows what I mean. You only need to know that Dan Page is a police officer. When I started pilot training, I figured that one day I'd be relaxing in the sky, listening to an iPod and glancing dreamily around. As we learn in this section, the actuality is quite different and more substantial.

"Non-pilots often assumed that the appeal of flying involved appreciating the scenery. But Page had become a pilot because he enjoyed the sensation of moving in three dimensions. The truth was that maintaining altitude and speed while staying on course, monitoring radio transmissions, and comparing a sectional map to actual features on the ground required so much concentration that a pilot had little time for sightseeing.

"There was another element to flying, though. It helped Page not to think about the terrible pain people inflicted on one another. He'd seen too many lives destroyed by guns, knives, beer bottles, screwdrivers, baseball bats, and even a nail gun. Six months earlier, he'd been the first officer to arrive at the scene of a car accident in which a drunken driver had hit an oncoming vehicle and killed five children along with the woman who was taking them to a birthday party. There'd been so much blood that Page still had nightmares about it.

"His friends thought he was joking when he said that the reward of flying was 'getting above it all,' but he was serious. The various activities involved in controlling an aircraft shut out what he was determined not to remember.

"That helped Page now. His confusion, his urgency, his need to have answers -- on the ground, these emotions had thrown him off balance, but once he was in the air, the discipline of controlling the Cessna forced him to feel as level as the aircraft. In the calm sky, amid the monotonous, muffled drone of the engine, the plane created a floating sensation. He welcomed it yet couldn't help dreading what he might discover on the ground. "

At one point a character asks Page, how high he intends to fly.

"Enough to get above everything," he answers.

"Sounds like the way to run a life."

That's an important lesson I learned from flying.

©2009 David Morrell, author of The Shimmer


Author Bio: David Morrell, author of The Shimmer, is the award-winning author of numerous New York Times bestsellers, including Creepers and Scavenger. Co-founder of the International Thriller Writers organization and author of the classic Brotherhood of the Rose spy trilogy, Morrell is considered by many to be the father of the modern action novel.


For more information please visit www.davidmorrell.net


Learn more about The Shimmer at www.shimmerbook.com

Win a signed Level 26: Dark Origins book jacket!

Anthony Zuiker, creator of CSI-franchise and the author of Level 26: Dark Origins is giving away 500 hand-signed book jackets to people who pre-order the book now on Level26.com.

Level26.com, created by Web serial pioneers EQAL (lonelygirl15, Harper’s Globe), is the online counterpart to the upcoming 'digi-novel' thriller Level 26: Dark Origins. The site is now live and features daily blog posts by Anthony Zuiker, who gives a unique insider look to his experiences in the entertainment industry.

The entry is simple: pre-order the book online, email the proof of purchase to promotion@level26.com, and readers will receive a limited-edition, hand-signed book jacket from Anthony. Simple as that.


Good luck!

No Blurb from Blago

One of my favorite authors, David Ellis, has a new book coming out September 3. THE HIDDEN MAN is the first book of a series, and it's terrific. I'm not the only one who thinks so; it got a starred review from Publisher's Weekly too. But a certain ex-governor is refusing to blurb the book...

Impeachment trial believed to have soured relationship with House Prosecutor

Chicago, IL (AP)--Former Governor Rod Blagojevich (D-IL), fresh off a media campaign to promote himself and influence his potential jury pool, has thus far refused to provide a favorable review of THE HIDDEN MAN, the new novel by the man who convicted him in the Illinois Senate, House Prosecutor David Ellis.
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"I'm sure he'd like a blurb," said Mr. Blagojevich. "But you just don't give it away for nothing."

Reached for comment, David Ellis expressed "disappointment" at the former governor's silence. "A blurb from him would have been f***ing golden," he conceded.

Guest Blogger: JEFF ABBOTT

Which Comes First?
By Jeff Abbott

It is the literary version of egg and chicken.

One of the questions I get asked the most as a writer is “which comes first, plot or character”? And I have to say I admire those writers who are so consistent in their answers that it’s always one or the other. I love their certainty how one element must pop the neurons of the brain first. My brain doesn’t work that way, though. I’ve had books grow from a seed of either: a character I can’t shake or a plot that promises to intrigue.

With Panic, I thought of the book while in the shower (no laughs as to why I might be “panicking” in the shower), and its plot could be summed up in one sentence: what if everything in your life was a lie? It’s not exactly a plot, it’s a premise, but that is the first step. I thought first, well, that’s an interesting question, what would the ramifications be? And for the next day or so I doodled, thinking out what the emotional ramifications, at a most basic human level, would be of a lifetime of deception. But at that point, it’s just brainstorming with no spine: the next question toward a book is saying who would be in this situation, and how does he or she get into this mess? To whom does this horror happen? And I decided the hero of this story would be a younger-than-typical suspense protagonist, a documentary filmmaker, someone dedicated to telling the truth about difficult subjects—until he must face the truth of a lifetime of lies. At that point, character begins to drive plot: a hero like Evan Casher is going to react to situations in his own way, guided by his own personality and his limited life experience as a 24-year old film maker who has been cocooned by his family. His choices as a hero drive the plot.

An opposite effect occurred with my next book, Fear. The character of Miles Kendrick came into my head full-blown: a good, decent man who blamed himself for the death of his closest friend, and was beset by the demons of post-traumatic stress disorder, to the point that his dead friend haunts most of his waking moments. I wrote down a lot of notes about Miles, unsure how to use him in a story. He would not let me go. Then asking myself a simple dramatic question opened the doors to a plot: what would be Miles’s greatest wish? To be mentally whole again. What if a new medicine offered this wish, but said medicine was worth billions to a pharmaceutical—and people were willing to kill to get the formula? From there, I knew the kind of action that Miles—haunted by his friend, hunted by killers—would have to take, and the book’s plot, born from the heart of Miles’s character, drove forward.

With my latest book, Trust Me, plot and character nearly arrived together. I thought first of writing a book where a young character, his father murdered in a random bombing, tries to answer the unanswerable: why do people commit evil acts? At the same time, I thought of a new kind of character for suspense fiction: a psychological profiler of extremists. (There have been so many profilers in books and film who solve serial killings, but I wanted to drive onto new ground.) Luke Dantry is determined to find a way to identify and stop the next Timothy McVeigh, the next Unabomber, the next suicide bomber. So he would come into conflict, somehow, with people on the verge of turning to terrorism and violence.

The avenue for him came from research. Facebook and Twitter aren’t the only sites having explosive growth: there are now over 50,000 sites tied to extremist and terrorist content. 50,000 videos—showing everything from indoctrination speeches to how to forge documents to how to build a bomb—have been uploaded to the web. These sites provide a place for the socialization that is so critical to extremism to blossom. McVeigh wandered the country for three years, talking with fellow extremists, hardening his positions, until he parked the Ryder truck in front of the Murrah building. Now extremist groups need not worry about establishing cells in distant cities—they only need the web site to reach those who feel marginalized and powerless.

Luke, working undercover, goes after these groups. He thinks he’s safe: until he’s kidnapped and it’s clear that the people he has targeted have now targeted him. Every element of the plot is driven by Luke’s character: he’s a quiet academic, ill-equipped for a violent world, but driven by a burning need to stop the kind of pointless violence that killed his dad. Every choice in the book is influenced by who he is.

I don’t think it matters if plot or character arrive first in a writer’s brain; I think it matters far more that they arrive together at the end of the story, seamlessly joined, walking (or preferably running) in lockstep.

Jeff Abbott’s eleven suspense novels include the national bestsellers Panic, Fear, and Collision. He is a three-time nominee for the Edgar Award and a two-time nominee for the Anthony Award. Two of his novels are in development at major film studios. Abbott lives in Austin , Texas , with his family.