BIO

Kevin O'Brien grew up on Chicago’s North Shore, and studied Journalism at Marquette University in Milwaukee. Kevin lives in Seattle, loves Hitchcock movies, and is hard at work on his next novel. Readers can visit his website at www.kevinobrienbooks.com.

INTERVIEW

January 16, 2009

In this interview with Bookreporter.com's Joe Hartlaub, Kevin O'Brien --- author of 10 novels, including ONE LAST SCREAM, KILLING SPREE and THE LAST VICTIM --- credits his sister and brother-in-law for the inspiration and first-hand research behind his latest thriller, FINAL BREATH, and discusses how his childhood love for television series like "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" and "The Twilight Zone" helped shape his writing style. He also reveals the origins of some of his books' supernatural elements, describes why his hometown of Seattle is so conducive to creative endeavors, and shares details about his next project, tentatively titled VICIOUS.

SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't read FINAL BREATH yet, you may want to proceed with caution as some plot details are revealed in this interview.

Bookreporter.com: FINAL BREATH proceeds along a couple of very interesting and very different tracks. One concerns Sydney Jordan, who hosts “Movers & Shakers,” a television news feature that spotlights everyday people who have selflessly performed a heroic act, just as Sydney herself once did. A serial murderer is going after people who have been featured on “Movers & Shakers,” killing each of them in a way that bears a relationship to the manner in which they saved another’s life. This is a fascinating, if horrific, concept, and one that provides --- as you so often do --- a new twist on an old theme. Was there any particular incident, real-world or fictitious, that started you on this plot line?

Kevin O'Brien: At least once a week, someone tells me, “I have a terrific idea for a thriller novel and you should write it!” Some of those ideas are pretty good, too. But I can’t use them, even with the person’s written permission. It’s just too risky --- a lawsuit waiting to happen! But when a family member throws an idea my way, I figure that’s safe. My sister, Mary Lou, came up with the original idea for FINAL BREATH. [SPOILER ALERT HERE, FOLKS!] A friend of hers had saved a boy from drowning, and Mary Lou had a weird “what if” notion about the incident. What if that rescued boy had abusive parents, a thoroughly miserable life, and he’d been trying to drown himself? He’d wanted to die, and this “hero” ruined that. Several miserable years follow, and the boy --- now grown up --- has become more and more bitter toward his rescuer, and heroes in general. The boy’s rescuer becomes a police detective. When heroes start dying violently, it’s up to this detective to hunt down the “hero killer.” I really fell in love with the idea.

So, for FINAL BREATH, I took my sister’s notion and altered it a little. I made the hero a woman. Maybe it sounds sexist, but it’s always more compelling when a woman --- rather than a man --- is being stalked. Instead of having her be a police detective, I made her a correspondent for a prime time TV newsmagazine called “Movers & Shakers.” That’s where another one of my family members comes in. My brother-in-law, Mike Leonard, is a correspondent for NBC’s "Today Show." He creates fascinating, often quirky and funny vignettes about everyday people. I didn’t have to go far researching Sydney’s job and all it entailed. Anyway, most of the credit for the idea behind FINAL BREATH goes to my wonderful sister, Mary Lou, and for the TV connection setup, I can thank my brother-in-law, Mike. Here’s hoping neither of them sue me!

BRC: The second track you follow in FINAL BREATH involves Eli Jordan, Sydney’s son, who is disturbed and heartbroken over his parents’ separation and moving with his mother from Chicago to Seattle. Their new residence is reputed to be haunted, and indeed, Eli seems to be visited by the spirit of a boy his age who was murdered there. Eli doggedly begins to personally revive the long-dormant investigation for the boy’s killer. As I read that plot track, I was reminded of some of the boy detective stories I read when I was younger, such as The Hardy Boys and Ken Holt. Did you read any of these series? And did you intend that plot track of FINAL BREATH as an homage to them?

KO: I hate to admit it, but I never read The Hardy Boys when I was growing up! Until late high school, I didn’t do much pleasure reading at all. I was a TV lover, especially thrillers. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," "The Twilight Zone," "Thriller" and "One Step Beyond" were my favorites as a kid. They scared the hell out of me to the point that I slept with a baseball bat at my bedside. Still, I tuned in to these programs every week, and even switched off all the lights in the TV room to make it an even scarier experience! How sick and twisted was I?

Anyway, in answer to your question, I created Eli’s story because I’ve always enjoyed writing about teenagers and their growing pains. Nearly all of my books have a main character who is a teenager --- feeling alienated from his parents, struggling at school, worried about his sexuality or whatever. They’re usually my favorite characters, too: from Sam in ONLY SON (realizing that his loving dad had abducted him from his true parents when he was an infant) to Eli in FINAL BREATH. I’m always happy when I receive emails from teenage readers who relate to these characters. It’s especially gratifying when they tell me that I helped them get more interested in reading.

BRC: On a related note, Eli solves the mystery with dogged detective work and a bit of deceit. Many of your earliest influences were in the science-fiction/fantasy and horror genres. What mystery writers and/or characters have influenced and continue to influence you?

KO: I didn’t know it when I was a kid, propped in front of the TV, but those shows were penned by some of the best authors of the 20th century: Ray Bradbury, Evan Hunter (aka Ed McBain), Roald Dahl, Robert Block, Sterling Silliphant, Cornell Woolrich, Phillip Roth, John Cheever, Richard Levinson and William Link, and of course, Rod Serling. Their work still influences me today. As for contemporary thriller/mystery authors, I’m a big fan of Stephen King, John Grisham, Harlan Coben, Tess Gerritsen and Lisa Jackson. And of course, there are a ton of wonderful fantasy/thriller/horror authors here in Seattle, and many are friends of mine, including Terry Brooks, John Saul and Gregg Olsen.

BRC: The supernatural aspects of FINAL BREATH beg the question: Do you believe in spirits? Have you had any personal encounters? Does Seattle have any well-known haunted residences?

KO: I’m a sucker for a good ghost story. I’ve never had any ghostly encounters myself, but when people start swapping stories about their brushes with the supernatural, I’m all ears. I’m especially intrigued by the more subtle, spooky stuff. When I was researching MAKE THEM CRY, I spoke with an ex-priest, who in his travels, had stayed overnight at another rectory. While trying to sleep, he heard a woman’s muffled crying in the empty bedroom next door on the first floor. When he asked the host priests about it the next morning, they nonchalantly told him the other bedroom was haunted. Years before, the priests had allowed a young, homeless woman to stay the night, and she’d killed herself in that bedroom. Ever since, guests who stayed in the rectory’s first floor bedrooms mentioned the mysterious sobbing. That story gave me the idea for the “haunted” room in the boys’ dorm in MAKE THEM CRY.

For FINAL BREATH, I borrowed ghost stories from several friends. So those disturbing, otherworldly sensations Eli experiences at night in his bedroom (the feeling that someone sat down on the side of his bed while he was in it; the weird disturbances next door in the bathroom, etc.) are all based on actual incidents.

In answer to your other question, yes, there are some well-known Seattle spots that are allegedly haunted. One of the more famous is the Harvard Exit Theater, only a few blocks from where I live, and the location for the first murder in FINAL BREATH. It’s a terrific, old three-story brick building that houses two movie theaters. They show a lot of independent and foreign features. But apparently, it’s also haunted. According to this acquaintance of mine, her boyfriend used to work there, but found it too creepy closing the place at night because of the “ghosts.” The Harvard Exit is included in a “Haunted Seattle” tour, and you can check it out on www.spookedinseattle.com.

BRC: Part of FINAL BREATH takes place in Chicago, your original hometown, but the majority of the book takes place in Seattle, where you now reside. Why do you think that so many authors find Seattle attractive as a place of residence, in general? And what, specifically, do you find attractive about the city?

KO: I moved to Seattle in 1980. I’d been working as a clerk for the Association of American Railroads in Washington, DC, and writing Hitchcock rip-off screenplays at night. I had it pretty cushy, living with my folks in my own little suite in the basement (we’d moved from Chicago to Fairfax, Virginia in 1974). But I was 24, the only child still living with Mom and Dad, and afraid of becoming the block’s Boo Radley. So when they told me at work about an opening for a transportation inspector in Seattle, I bid for it. I fell in love with Seattle right away. It has a gorgeous landscape, relatively mild weather and a liberal attitude. Everywhere you go in Seattle, there are beautiful views --- of the mountains, the water or the cityscape. As for the attitude, my niece, Kate, had an experience here that sums it all up. During one of her visits, she was at the supermarket, standing in the checkout line behind a young mother with her toddler, who was dressed in a pink ballet outfit, complete with tutu and a princess crown. My niece smiled at the child and said, “My, that’s a very pretty outfit!” The mother gave Kate a wry smile. “Yes, he loves it. He wears it all the time.” As Kate said later, “Welcome to Seattle!” Could you ask for a better environment to encourage creativity and individuality? Plus, there are so many colorful Seattle locations that can be weaved into fiction --- especially thrillers. I think the rain inspires a lot of writing, reading and movie-going, too.

The authors I’ve meet in Seattle are incredibly helpful to one another --- at least, in my experience. When my first novel, ACTORS, was published in 1986, I met Terry Brooks and his wife, Judine. Judine got me my first author’s gig. I was one of seven authors at a Waldenbooks Convention in San Francisco. I sat at the authors’ banquet table --- right beside Anne Rice. My first author event, and there I was, chatting away with Anne Rice. How cool is that? Through Terry and Judine, I also met John Saul, who in turn introduced me to his agent (now my agent, too). Thanks to writers’ conventions and author parties, I’ve gotten to know Ann Rule, Gregg Olsen, Donna Anders, Debbie Macomber, Susan Wiggs, Earl Emerson and Mary Daheim. I’m in the same writers group with Garth Stein, whose novel, THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN, was on The New York Times Bestseller list for most of the summer. Through Garth, I’ve recently met Stephanie Kallos, Randy Sue Coburn, Jennie Shortridge and Mark Lindquist. Several of the writers here show up at each others’ book signings to show their support. It’s really very nice. From time to time, I’ve considered moving away from Seattle, but then I tell myself: I can’t leave here, I’m a Seattle author.

BRC: FINAL BREATH, as readers have seen with your other novels, follows a complex plot. Have you ever found yourself to be working on two separate novels and decided that the direction in which they were going worked better as one, longer novel? Conversely, have you ever found that you had plot lines in a novel that seemed to diverge from each other and worked better as separate novels?

KO: Well, I’ve never tried working on two novels at the same time. I don’t think I could handle the pressure! I have a tough enough time getting one 400-page thriller written by the publisher’s deadline every year. Plus, my books seem to get longer and more complex as I go along. I always start out thinking, “I need to make the next book shorter, and keep it simple, for God’s sake!” But then things usually get more complicated as I develop the characters and create their backstories. But that’s the fun part --- all the baggage these characters bring to the overall story. It helps explain how they get in the jams they’re in. So I’ve never meshed two separate novels into one. But I’ve taken scenes, side stories and even character idiosyncrasies that were dropped from one book and then used them in another. In ONE LAST SCREAM, Karen, the therapist who got dumped by her longtime boyfriend, went through a bitter phase in which she resented every happy couple she set eyes on. She loathed stepping aside for them on the sidewalk, and she sneered at them in the supermarket checkout line, thinking: “Go ahead and get your stupid boyfriend to pick up eleven more last-minute items while you stand in line in front of me. I really don’t mind…” I liked that little bit of characterization, but it just didn’t work for Karen. So I dropped it. Then when I was writing about the suicidal, severely-burned-in-love Chloe Finch, in FINAL BREATH, that brand of bitterness was perfect for her character. So I used it there. I realized early: Never throw anything out!

BRC: You mentioned that you were a huge fan of such shows as “The Twilight Zone,” “Thriller,” “One Step Beyond” and “Alfred Hitchcock Presents.” What elements of these shows have most influenced your own work?

KO: I recently watched online an episode from "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour" called An Unlocked Window, written by James Bridges. (If you Google: “hulu, an unlocked window,” you can watch the whole thing). It’s about two nurses stranded in an old, dark house (actually, the Psycho house) on a rainy night while a nurse-strangler is at large in the neighborhood. The show is a bit dated, and today’s sophisticated viewers will probably figure out early the surprise twist in the horrifying finale. But, when I saw An Unlocked Window in my family’s darkened TV room in 1964, it scared the hell out of me and left a lasting impression.

Watching it again recently, I realized how similar my writing style is to this TV program! The show opened with a nurse walking home alone late at night from a house call, and she’s attacked and murdered. I almost always open my thrillers with a murder --- or the discovery of a dead body. The show then introduced the two nurses in their patient’s bedroom in this creepy old house. They’re watching a TV news broadcast about the latest nurse murder. We get the background on them, and the threat slowly builds. Every commercial break left the viewer hanging --- usually with a shot of an unlocked basement window flapping in the rainstorm. This is the only unlocked entry into that old, dark house where the two nurses are stranded. I must have learned from TV shows like this how to keep the reader wanting more at every chapter end. The story built to a very scary climax --- with a sudden twist. I try to deliver that in my books, too. Of course, this is all classic thriller-writing stuff, but I learned it from TV. By the way, after watching An Unlocked Window back in 1964, I slept with the lights on and a bat at my bedside that night. The program was the talk of the school playground the next day.

BRC: You dedicate FINAL BREATH to your brother-in-law. Can you share why you did that?

KO: Denny Kinsella is a teacher, and a very cool guy. He’s been married to my sister for 40 years. My parents moved from Chicago’s North Shore to Fairfax, Virgina two weeks before I started at Marquette University in Milwaukee. I used to take occasional weekend breaks from school and catch the train (a two-hour trip) to the Glenview station to visit Denny, Mary Lou and their two daughters, so their house became my home away from home. I still stay there whenever I visit the Chicago area. I figured the least I could do for Denny was dedicate a book to him --- after he has put me up and put up with me all these years. Plus, he helped me figure out a lot of the Chicago locations for FINAL BREATH. And he reads about three mystery-thrillers a week. How could a thriller writer not love a guy like that?

BRC: Are there any novels, in any genre, that you have read in the last six months that you would recommend to our readers?

KO: Well, I’d be a total jerk not to plug my friends’ books. In the case of THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN by Garth Stein, it’s such a good book --- so heartfelt, smart and involving --- I can’t even be jealous of the tremendous success Garth has had with it. I loved this book. Garth introduced me to Jennie Shortridge a while back, and she’s a hoot. So I had to check out her new novel, LOVE AND BIOLOGY AT THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE, about a devoted, 45-year-old wife and mother making a fresh start after her husband dumps her. It’s a delicious book, and I fell in love with Mira, the main character. John Connolly’s THE BOOK OF LOST THINGS is wonderful. I also gobbled up John Saul’s latest thrill ride, FACES OF FEAR. I recently talked at length with author Mark Lindquist at a party at Garth and Drella Stein’s house. Mark’s wife, Chelsea, was telling me how my last thriller, ONE LAST SCREAM, terrified her. How much did I love hearing that? So the next day, I went out and bought Mark’s book, THE KING OF METHLEHEM. That’s next on my reading list.

BRC: What are you currently working on?

KO: The tentative title for this next one is VICIOUS (my wonderful editor, John Scognamiglio, comes up with all my book titles). It’s about a serial killer who terrorized Seattle for two years. The police called him Mama’s Boy, because his victims were all mothers --- abducted in front of their sons. In every case, the women were later found dead. Then in 2005, the killing stopped. Or at least, it appeared to have stopped. Four years later, Susan Blanchette, a widow with a toddler son, has come to a rustic resort town in the San Juan Islands, north of Seattle, for a weekend getaway with her fiancé. When her fiancé suddenly disappears, Susan suspects that the trio of seemingly nice college students in the cabin a mile down the road might have something to do with it. And you can bet that Mama’s Boy has something to do with it, too. That’s all I’m going to say for now.

Thanks so much for all those terrific questions. It’s always a pleasure to talk with Bookreporter.com.

• Click here now to buy this book from Amazon.

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INTERVIEW

January 4, 2008

The author of eight novels, Kevin O'Brien is best known for his contributions to the thriller genre, such as THE NEXT TO DIE, LEFT FOR DEAD, KILLING SPREE and his most recent release, ONE LAST SCREAM. In this interview with Bookreporter.com's Joe Hartlaub, O'Brien talks about what inspired the concept behind his latest chilling tale and discusses how he gave the book's details such an air of authenticity regarding his characters' backgrounds and behavior. He also explains why he turned to writing thrillers after publishing two works of mainstream fiction, shares advice with aspiring writers and names some of the authors who have influenced his own work over the years.

Bookreporter.com: ONE LAST SCREAM is a very complex story, a thriller that at its heart is a mystery concerning a series of murders that occurred in the past but that have very important, and dangerous, consequences in the present. Was there any particular incident --- past or present --- that inspired you to write this book?

Kevin O'Brien: That’s a great question, but a hard one to answer without a “Spoiler Alert” for folks who haven’t read ONE LAST SCREAM yet. So --- Spoiler Ahead!

I’ve always been fascinated by twin telepathy, stories for example about how one twin feels a terrible, unexplainable pain in his arm while his twin brother --- hundreds of miles away --- accidentally burns his arm. I’ve always wanted to write a thriller exploring that phenomenon. Years ago, when I worked as a railroad inspector, a clerk at a freight station I periodically inspected told me this story about how friends claimed they’d seen her at this or that mall, or in this or that Seattle neighborhood --- only she’d ignored them. This woman didn’t remember any of these incidents. I recall her telling me: “You know, Kevin, I was adopted. And now I’m wondering if I have a twin sister I don’t know about.” Well, the next time I inspected that station, the woman told me about how she tracked down her twin sister, who had recently moved to the Seattle area. They shared a lot of the same idiosyncrasies, and her birth-twin had also been puzzled when friends claimed they’d seen her certain places she hadn’t been. That situation stuck in my head, and I used it as the springboard for the Amelia character in my book.

Of course, as a thriller writer, I needed to throw some murder and mayhem into that story. When I was working on my last thriller, KILLING SPREE, I wrote a scene with my heroine, a struggling author, walking through a darkened and nearly deserted parking lot after a book signing. A van starts to follow her, then it stops, and a man with his arm in a cast steps out of the vehicle. My heroine remembers how Ted Bundy wore a fake cast on his arm or leg to make his victims think he was stranded. She’s wary of this guy --- until his cute little daughter hops out of the minivan’s passenger side and joins her father. My heroine suddenly realizes that this guy isn’t dangerous. She ends up chatting with him and his little girl, and signs a book for his wife. But it dawned on me while I was writing the scene: What if this man is still a serial killer? What if he brings his cute daughter with him while he hunts for his victims? No one would suspect him. He uses his own daughter the same way Bundy used a fake cast --- as bait when he preys upon his victims.

To tell you the truth, it kind of creeped me out that I was capable of coming up with such a concept! Anyway, I decided this serial killer should have two daughters, twins.

Then I decided the twins should be separated at an early age --- and the one twin we follow, Amelia, has no memory of anything before she was adopted at age four. And that’s how I started ONE LAST SCREAM.

BRC: One of the more interesting elements of the novel is the research that one of the characters undertakes in order to ascertain the background and ultimate identity of a young woman who had been adopted while still a small child. How did you research this to give your description the authenticity it has?

KO: In the book, Amelia’s therapist has a hard time tracking down Amelia’s birth parents, because there was a shooting at the adoption agency and the place was burned to the ground. I really struggled with the adoption issue, because how I wanted things to unfold wasn’t how it would realistically happen. A four-year-old with living parents wouldn’t end up at an adoption agency. The child would probably be placed in foster care. I talked to a friend who has a Masters in Social Work, and also interviewed a woman at an adoption agency here in Seattle. I kept asking them how a four-year-old in this situation could end up as Amelia did --- with records at an adoption agency. The woman I spoke with at the adoption place was incredibly helpful, and the scenario we discussed is pretty much what I used. But you might notice, I never really did explain exactly how Amelia was given up for adoption. I had a law professor friend of Amelia’s uncle explain to him possible scenarios for the situation --- and then I let my readers draw their own conclusions about what actually happened. I deliberately kept it vague. When you leave it up to the reader to fill in the blanks, what they come up with is always more solid and unshakable than any detailed (and often boring) explanation I could give as a writer.

By the way, that’s why I rarely give a blow-by-blow description of the actual murders in my books. I always take it up to a point, then pull back or cut to the next scene. I let the reader imagine what happens next. It’s far scarier than anything I could describe. When you make the reader work a little, it’s always more satisfying, intriguing and real to them.

BRC: Given the complexity of ONE LAST SCREAM, it would seem that you almost certainly created an outline of the story you wished to tell before you began writing. If that was indeed the case, how did you begin your outlining? Did you start with a synopsis, or with a description of the characters, or perhaps with something else?

KO: The outline for ONE LAST SCREAM was 82 pages long! My editor is a very patient man. Most editors want a general idea thrown at them --- no more than 10 pages, please. But I need to hatch everything out and know how the book will end before I actually begin writing it. I start out with one or a few general ideas --- like twin telepathy, the situation that happened to my friend at the railroads, and a serial killer using his sweet little girl as bait to trap his victims. It’s weird how the “obstacles” can force you to become creative.

This woman with the railroads realized she had a twin pretty early. I wondered how my character (Amelia) couldn’t arrive at the same conclusion. Here’s where I start to develop character. I figured if Amelia is young, screwed up, alcoholic and suffers from blackouts, she might interpret these episodes of twin telepathy as “lost time” during her blackouts. She wouldn’t think she might have a twin --- and neither would the reader. Instead, Amelia (and the reader) would assume that she is responsible for everything she has felt and envisioned through twin telepathy. So early plot strategizing usually helps me develop characters that will realistically push that plot forward. Then I write biographies of all the major characters to explain their present condition --- as well as their strengths, weaknesses, hang-ups and fears. A lot of stuff from these mini-biographies never makes it to the book, but it helps me understand the characters. With Amelia, I figured early on that readers would have a difficult time relating to an unsteady, unreliable central character. They’d need to latch onto someone else, and so I created Karen, a steady, reliable heroine, and Amelia’s therapist. So one thing leads to another and another, and so on.

BRC: ONE LAST SCREAM explicitly and implicitly explores some of the undercurrents, both good and bad, that exist in familial relationships as well as the psychological problems that can result from childhood abuse. Given that your vocational background is very different from medical or psychological study, how did you begin researching this field? Did you encounter any surprises? And did your research result in any change to the story by the time the book was completed?

KO: That’s a great question! Actually, I was a psychology minor in college; but that was 30 years ago. So, I needed a little help jogging my memory. My friend with the Masters in Social Work is a therapist, and I pumped him with a lot of questions. I also read a few books about twins, one of which was specifically about twin telepathy. Finally, you’ve got to love Google.com! I remember typing in “Multiple Personality” and reading several articles. Then I was able to confirm what the articles said with my therapist friend.

The only surprise for me --- and change I had to make --- was after I let a dear friend of mine, Cate Goethals, read the first draft. Cate has read the first draft (or parts of the first draft) of every book I’ve written. She is a writer and was once a reporter, covering the health beat. She told me that Karen --- in her first therapy session with Amelia --- was too aggressive and confrontational. In the original draft, Karen was practically interrogating her. But thanks to Cate, I toned it down a lot, and that gave a dose of compassion to the therapy session, which made the reader care more about both women in the scene. That scene set the tone for their relationship for the rest of the book, and I almost botched it! Anyone who thinks writers do it all by themselves is crazy. I’m very lucky to have such generous, intelligent friends helping me realize my vision for this book.

BRC: Like your previous books, ONE LAST SCREAM is a stand-alone title. Have you ever had the inclination to start a series?

KO: I really enjoy creating new characters every time I start a book. In most thriller series, the hero or heroine is a detective, private investigator, forensics expert or something along those lines. But that doesn’t interest me much. I like to write about the ordinary Joe or Jane whose life is suddenly in danger. This “amateur” detective must rise to the occasion to solve a murder or series of murders. It ups the ante for both the main character and the reader if this person is a fish out of water. In LEFT FOR DEAD, my hero, Tim, was a cop. Well, I didn’t want your standard expert cop there to solve his latest murder case. So, I made Tim a desk jockey on the police force. He got the job to put his kid brother through school. He’s far more interested in a comic strip he works on at night for a series of independent weekly newspapers. The comic has a small cult following, but isn’t making him enough money so he can quit the police force. Then suddenly, it’s up to this moonlighting comic strip writer/artist to solve the notorious Rembrandt Murders. I’ve had readers ask me to bring Tim back in another thriller. We’ll see. Never say never!

BRC: Your first two books, ACTORS and ONLY SON, were mainstream fiction works and not thrillers. What made you turn to thriller writing?

KO: In a word, money! My agent had a tough time getting ONLY SON sold. Mainstream fiction is a very, very tough market. Once Kensington Books bought ONLY SON, my agent suggested I try writing a thriller, because that genre is quite popular. I’ve always loved thrillers and was a huge Hitchcock fan growing up, so she didn’t have to make the suggestion more than once. I wrote THE NEXT TO DIE (2001), and it became a USA Today bestseller. I’ve been writing thrillers ever since, about one a year.

BRC: I have read elsewhere that for many years you had worked as a railroad inspector during the day and wrote at night. What would you be doing now if you weren’t writing for a living? And what advice would you give to readers who are splitting their time between working and writing, hoping to get published?

KO: Back when I was in college, and I started writing short stories and screenplays (a couple of Hitchcock rip-off thrillers that never sold), I made a vow to myself to get published by the time I turned 30. My short stories --- like my two screenplays --- never sold, despite about 120 attempts at every magazine from the New Yorker to obscure little literary monthlies. I wrote my first book, ACTORS, in a creative writing class at a community college. I found my first agent through someone in that class, but she wasn’t having much luck selling the book. All the while, I was working for the railroads. The day after my 30th birthday, I got a call at 7 in the morning. I thought it was someone from the railroads and let the answering machine pick it up. I heard my agent singing “Happy Birthday” to me --- à la Marilyn Monroe to JFK. “For your birthday,” she said, after her serenading, “I’d like to tell you that we’ve sold ACTORS. And we have! Give me a call, honey…” So I was very glad I hadn’t thrown out my typewriter the day before.

When ACTORS was released (1986), I got to know Terry Brooks (THE SWORD OF SHANNARA) and his wife, Judine. They’ve been so generous and supportive throughout my career. Terry and Judine gave me some terrific advice, too: “Don’t quit your day job until you’ve made enough money from your writing to live comfortably for two years.” In the next 10 years, I wrote a second book, which didn’t sell (I ended up shelving it), and ONLY SON. I was never crazy about my railroad job, but I did it well and the schedule (lots of hours driving around in my car, working alone, staying at hotels in little railroad towns, walking up and down between the tracks in rail yards) allowed me ample time to think and write.

I remember reading an interview with Lawrence Kasdan (BODY HEAT, THE BIG CHILL, etc.). He was asked what kind of job an aspiring screenwriter should seek --- for rent money --- while pursuing a writing career. Mr. Kasdan said they shouldn’t go for a job in advertising or public relations, because the aspiring screenwriter was bound to become creatively tapped in such a field --- with no energy to work on their screenplay or book. He said the aspiring writer will stay far more motivated if s/he parked cars for a living. My railroad job was like a glorified parking attendant job with perks: it paid well; I got to travel around the Pacific Northwest; I really enjoyed working with most of the people; and I was pretty good at the job. But I never stopped writing. So it’s hard to imagine what I’d be doing now if I weren't a writer. It’s a very scary thought! In 1997, I was offered a buy-out from the railroads. I had some money saved and had recently sold ONLY SON --- to my publisher, the movies, and Reader’s Digest for their various US and foreign Select Editions (they put me with John Grisham and John Nance in the US edition --- pretty good company). It was a nice chunk of change, enough to live on for almost two years. (The movie version of ONLY SON never got made, but I got to keep the option money). So I echo Lawrence Kasdan’s advice to aspiring writers. Believe in yourself, keep writing and don’t get a fall-back job that you’ll fall back on.

BRC: On a somewhat related note, an author’s daily writing schedule is always of interest to our readers. What sort of schedule did you follow while you were plotting and writing ONE LAST SCREAM? Did it differ in any appreciable way from the one(s) that you followed while you were writing your other works?

KO: I’ve always been a night owl. It’s my best, most creative time. Right-brain time. In the early stages, when I’m working out the plot and characterizations for a new book, I tend to take a lot of rambling notes late at night (usually until 4 or 5 AM). Then the next day, I’ll drag myself out of bed at the crack of noon, pour a cup of coffee and revise/refine what I’ve written. This is my left-brain time. As I get closer to a deadline, I start working longer hours during the day and almost the entire night. By the last month, I’m always working like a maniac to get the book finished. It’s no mistake that the heroes and/or heroines in my books are usually sleep-deprived, frayed and haggard in the final few chapters. Those climactic chapters are always the most intense, too. It’s all a reflection of what I’m going through as I finish up a book. To keep from going completely insane, I’ll rent a season from a TV series and take a break from each night-time writing marathon, rewarding myself with an episode or two of "Seinfeld" or "Sex and the City." "My Name is Earl" was the breather/reward during the hellish last two weeks when I was writing the conclusion to ONE LAST SCREAM. I even gave the show a plug in my book.

BRC: What are you working on currently? Do you have a number of ideas for novels that you keep in reserve, or do you consider only one book at a time?

KO: After recently reading another one of my marathon outlines (86 pages), my editor has given the thumbs up for my next book. So I’m working on that right now. It’s about a correspondent for a TV newsmagazine. She does a human interest segment called “Movers & Shakers,” each week focusing on an intriguing character. Maybe it’s an inventor or an eccentric, a hero or a rebel. When some of the people she has profiled in the past start to turn up dead, our heroine realizes someone has a grudge against her and the heroes in her segments. I can’t say any more without giving it away. I always have a few ideas brewing, but I haven’t bounced any of them off my editor yet. So they’ll stay on the back burner while I work on this new book.

BRC: Your acknowledgments in ONE LAST SCREAM refer to your editors, John Scognamiglio and Doug Mendini, as your friends. How closely did you work with them in getting the book completed? Were there any changes they suggested along the way that may be of interest to our readers?

KO: I’m very lucky to be friends with my editor, John, and with my publisher’s sales and marketing guru, Doug. Aside from the fact that they’re wonderful, classy guys, they also look after my career. I always bounce my story ideas off them in the early stages, and John usually finds some way to tweak the idea, make it more compelling and page-turning. He also seems to know when I need a kick in the pants, motivating me to go into overdrive to finish a book. “Kevin, I’m putting on my editor’s cap here, and reminding you that you promised to have this manuscript done three weeks ago…” If it weren’t for John, I’d never get any of my books finished. Once I submit the book, John always comes back with helpful suggestions.

In KILLING SPREE, I have a scene with the killer picking up a hitchhiker. Then they stop at a roadside diner. I faded out later in the car, with the hitchhiker realizing he’d been drugged. Next thing you know, someone finds the hitchhiker’s body with his heart surgically removed. Well, after reading the manuscript, John suggested that I show the reader how and where the killer performed this surgery. He felt --- as written --- the murder was too vague. I added a sequence in which the villain has moved this unconscious man onto a picnic table in a closed campsite area late at night, and he’s setting out the tools and lights to perform surgery. It was one of the creepiest scenes I’ve ever written --- and yet I never described any of the cutting or bloodletting. John seems to know whenever a scene can be milked for more suspense or chills. And when something rings untrue to him, he tells me about it and saves me from making a fool out of myself.

As for Doug, he often lets me know early on if an idea is marketable. He also gives me tips about when to schedule book signings and trips. He gives me a lot of encouragement, and he busts his chops to make sure my book is in all the stores. I often hear from bookstore owners or managers, “Oh, we love Doug Mendini here.” I dedicated ONE LAST SCREAM to Doug. THE LAST VICTIM was dedicated to John. If it weren’t for them, I’d still be inspecting railroad cars.

BRC: A number of our readers maintain lists of authors who they “must read” whenever such an author publishes a new novel. Does Kevin O’Brien have a “must read” list? If so, who is on it? And what authors have influenced your own work in the thriller genre or otherwise?

KO: My agent turned me on to Tess Gerritsen three years ago, and I’ve gobbled up most of her thrillers. So a few months back, when my agent emailed me a review quote from Tess for ONE LAST SCREAM, I was honored and flabbergasted.

I’ve always been a big Pat Conroy fan and met him at a signing about 20 years ago. He was the coolest, nicest guy. My first book, ACTORS, had recently been published when I met him. To my amazement, the signing wasn’t very well attended, and Mr. Conroy spent a half-hour telling me about the ups and downs of publishing a first novel. As I was ready to take my autographed copy of THE PRINCE OF TIDES to the register, he grabbed my book off the store shelf, slapped down his money on the front counter and asked me to sign it for him. How classy can you get?

I read a lot of Anne Tyler before starting to write ONLY SON. I had to be inside my characters’ heads quite a lot through the book, and Anne Tyler is so darn good at that. Several John Grisham books, Truman Capote’s IN COLD BLOOD and Ira Levin were very influential in my early thrillers. For ONE LAST SCREAM, I read a lot of true crime, Ann Rule’s THE STRANGER BESIDE ME, in particular. Ann is one of several wonderful writers I’ve gotten to know here in Seattle, and she’s a total doll. Terry Brooks is another, and John Saul is yet another. They’ve been very supportive and encouraging. So of course, they’re always on my “must read” list.

I’m also in a “Writers Group.” There are only three of us: Soyon Im, Garth Stein and myself. They’re on my “must read” list, too. With Soyon and Garth, I have the privilege of reading their first drafts and getting their feedback on my own first drafts. Soyon has published several stories, and I predict she’ll have her book (about an Asian girl growing up in Mississippi) published within two years. Garth has already published two books; his latest, THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN, is due in stores this May and destined to be a mega-bestseller. It’s brilliant, and his publisher is giving it a very-justified, big build-up.

The writing process can be pretty lonely at times. But no writer does it alone. As I mentioned before, I’m very lucky to have friends and colleagues who are so talented and generous. I’m also grateful to all those terrific people who have put me on their “must read” list. I hope they enjoy ONE LAST SCREAM.

And on the subject of gratitude, thanks very much for talking with me!

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