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BIO
Richard North Patterson is the author of fourteen previous bestselling and critically acclaimed novels. Formerly a trial lawyer, Patterson was the SEC liaison to the Watergate special prosecutor, has served on the boards of several Washington advocacy groups, and is currently the chairman of Common Cause, a grassroots citizens lobby. He lives in San Francisco and on Martha’s Vineyard with his partner, Dr. Nancy Clair.
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AUTHOR TALK
 January 12, 2007
International bestselling author Richard North Patterson takes his political and legal thrillers one step further by focusing his latest novel, EXILE, on the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In this interview, Patterson shares why he was inspired to write about this timely topic and discusses the extensive research he undertook in preparation for the book. He also describes some of his personal encounters with those experiencing these ordeals firsthand, and explains how his connections in Washington D.C. have aided him throughout the course of his career.
Question: You have had a very successful career and have written quite an impressive list of novels. In what ways does EXILE represent your exploring new territory as a writer? When and how did the idea for the story in EXILE develop? What might you say to your current fans about the direction you are taking, and in general what makes EXILE stand out from your body of work?
Richard North Patterson: EXILE represents what, to me, is an exciting fusion of my established territory --- legal and political drama --- with a new focus: the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, and the lethal politics of the Middle East, shadowed by the threat of a nuclear Iran. The result, I hope, is the most compelling fiction of my career.
The stimulus for EXILE is my friendship with two brilliant advocates and experts with very different perspectives. My close friend Alan Dershowitz has long engaged me with his impassioned defense of Israel --- whose survival as a nation I consider to be a moral imperative. And then Jim Zogby, head of the Arab-American Institute and a leader in promoting deeper understanding of Arab-Americans and the Arab world, issued me a challenge I could not resist: to write a novel which combines the absorbing qualities of good fiction with a nuanced portrayal of the tragic conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
While this may seem a quantum leap from my previous work, in a sense EXILE represents an extension of my belief that courtroom drama can illuminate the important controversies of our time. In EXILE, the engine that enables me to explore the geo-politics of the Middle East is a high-profile trial: the defense by its Jewish-American protagonist, David Wolfe, of his Palestinian ex-lover, Hana Arif, accused of complicity in the assassination of an Israeli Prime Minister who has proposed a last-ditch plan for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Because of the paramount importance of its subject, I hope the book will not only engage my current readers, but all readers of good fiction who also care to learn more about this terrible dilemma, and the role it plays in the Middle East as a whole.
Q: The research you did for EXILE is extensive, including your trip to the Middle East. For those of us who have not traveled to the region, what was most remarkable about your journey? What are a couple of major things in your opinion that most Americans relying on U.S. government reports and television don't know?
RNP: During my time in Israel and the occupied territories of the West Bank, I had many illuminating and sometimes harrowing experiences. Among them were meetings in Israel with the survivors of a suicide bombing in Haifa; with an Israeli general in charge of protecting Israel from terrorism; and, memorably, with Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres, twice Prime Minister of Israel. On the West Bank I experienced at first hand the incendiary fear and anger between the IDF, whose mission it is to protect Israel from violence, and the Palestinian civilians whose lives, and movements, are affected by checkpoints, raids, and the inevitable arbitrary behaviors of a military force that is both fearful and despised. And my meetings with Palestinians from all walks of life left me with indelible impressions. One of these events happened during a trip to Jenin where I met in secret with Mohammad Abu Hamad, the leader of the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigade --- who was, depending on one's point of view, a "terrorist," or a lynchpin of Palestinian "resistance" to Israeli occupation.
The meeting was remarkable for several reasons. Hamad was wanted by the IDF, and it dawned on me that the place where we met could be raided, or bombed. Hamad certainly acted as if this were a live possibility: he moved virtually every hour; was obviously fatigued; and, as I interviewed him, sat between two apprehensive bodyguards with an M-16 on his lap. Hamad was a man defined by war since he was fourteen, when he was jailed for lobbing a Molotov cocktail at an Israeli tank. But what struck me most was when I noted that the IDF asserted that the Jenin operation was in retaliation for a suicide bombing in Israel. Oh no, he answered without irony --- the suicide bombing in Israel was a reprisal for an earlier IDF operation in Jenin.
In general, all of my encounters in the Middle East made it clear that the most committed antagonists are incapable of seeing this tragedy for the complex thing it is, because they are all transfixed by their own narratives and paradigms.
Q: In addition to Israel and the Palestinians, your book spotlights Iran as a major regional threat to peace. What made you expand the scope of EXILE?
RNP: From the beginning of my research in 2000, my inquiry into the Israeli-Palestinian tragedy was open-ended. And as I interviewed expert upon expert in the Middle East --- including former Secretary of Defense William Cohen, former National Security Director Sandy Berger, former Chief Middle East Negotiator Dennis Ross, and former U.S. Ambassadors to Israel Martin Indyk and Dan Kurtzer --- the shadow of Iran loomed ever larger over my story.
The reasons are now much more widely known than they were in 2000: that elements of the Iranian regime are fanatically dedicated to the erasure of Israel, and to the assertion of Iran as the region's dominant power --- a tendency since confirmed by the accession as President of a fanatic Holocaust denier. For reasons of its own, Iran funds extremist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, as was vividly illustrated by events that have occurred since the completion of EXILE, including those in Gaza and Lebanon which led to the outbreak of war. Plainly, the Israeli-Palestinian impasse is part of a regional conflict that serves as a distraction from Iran's ambition. And, regrettably, the failure of U.S. policy in Iraq has dramatically strengthened Iran's position.
Q: In EXILE there is a suicide bombing in San Francisco. What is your opinion about how likely this is to happen, if not in San Francisco, then elsewhere in the U.S.? How is the "climate" in the U.S. different from a place like Israel, where they deal with real life suicide bombings everyday? In your opinion do all of our efforts to prepare for such attacks make us feel safer than those in the Middle East? How so?
RNP: To me, suicide bombings in the United States are definitely possible --- indeed, the events of 9/11 can be viewed as suicide bombings on a massive scale. All that is required is for a few terrorists to scale down their ambitions from mass disasters to the more random, perhaps targeted, bombings that plague Israel.
Obviously, Israelis feel much less safe than Americans --- they are, geographically, a tiny country, and their enemies are close at hand. But America's very size is a problem of its own: we are full of "soft" targets, and we cannot protect them all. So even if our security efforts help us fend off another 9/11 --- about which we can hardly feel sanguine --- they certainly do not render us secure.
Q: Politically you are well connected, and you follow American politics very closely. Where did your ties to Washington politicians originate? Do you ever rely on any of your friends on the Hill for information when writing your books? Did you use any notable sources for EXILE? How does your knowledge of how our government and the justice system really works play into the story in EXILE?
RNP: My friendship with American political figures began with the first President and Mrs. Bush, who were gracious enough to write me a kind note about my first bestseller, DEGREE OF GUILT, and who later helped me with my first explicitly political novel, NO SAFE PLACE. Shortly thereafter, I met then-Senator and soon to be Secretary of Defense, William Cohen, a political leader --- and writer --- I had long admired; Bill became a close personal friend and someone whose advice was instrumental in NO SAFE PLACE (1998) and the political novels which followed: PROTECT AND DEFEND (2000), about Supreme Court politics and so-called "partial birth abortion," and BALANCE OF POWER (2002), in which my fictional president, Kerry Kilcannon, takes on the American gun lobby.
These novels depended on extensive research: as one example, in a single remarkable day of researching for PROTECT AND DEFEND, in 1999 I interviewed then-President Clinton and his 1996 opponent, former Majority Leader Bob Dole, concerning the ins-and-outs of my imagined Senate confirmation fight over abortion and my fictional Supreme Court nominee, Judge Caroline Masters. And in the course of all this research, I have formed continuing personal friendships with senators Edward Kennedy, John McCain, and Barbara Boxer; former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger; and several congressmen, journalists, and consultants. This has given me a particular perspective on politics and politicians: while I deplore our polarized, gerrymandered and money-driven electoral process, I think that a number of our elected officials are far better than we generally appreciate. Public life is hard --- it is not merely a job, but a way of life.
Certainly, I could not have portrayed the political world realistically without knowing politicians, consultants, journalists, and appointed officials. In addition to the Israelis, Palestinians, and Middle East experts I interviewed for EXILE, I consulted numerous other Washington-based experts. In order to understand the ins and outs of a murder trial where the defense seeks to expose information bearing on Israeli and American national security, I interviewed Professors Philip Heymann, former Deputy Attorney General; and Jeff Smith, former General Counsel of the CIA. Others whom I interviewed included a former Assistant Director of the Secret Service, and experts on Hamas, counter-terrorism, and internal security.
Finally, I'm particularly indebted to David Siegel, spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, for his extensive advice, and for making my trip to Washington as rewarding as it was, and to Jim Zogby for his ceaseless advice and support.
My aim, as always, is to present fiction which is so thoroughly grounded in reality that the story both engages and informs. There is always a first time, but I've yet to be challenged with respect to authenticity of background or material errors of fact --- although given the vehement feelings on all sides with respect to events in the Middle East, it is inevitable that EXILE will stimulate controversy.
Q: What fictional elements of EXILE were, for you, the most challenging and engaging?
RNP: I was immersed in the story of EXILE from start to finish. But a particular challenge was creating the complex romantic relationship between two characters whose backgrounds are very different from my own: the secular Jewish-American lawyer David Wolfe, and the Palestinian militant Hana Arif. Of the two, David was easier for me --- with Hana, I benefited from the sensitive advice of Palestinians, observant Muslims, and other Arabs or Arab-Americans who took an interest in my project. While I'm not the ultimate judge, I'm proud of the nuanced, often wrenching, relationship I portrayed.
A secondary challenge was my portrayal of the failed suicide bomber, Ibrahim Jefar --- particularly in the prologue, which portrays Jefar's thoughts and emotions. It's a myth that suicide bombers are drawn almost exclusively from the poor and less well-educated, and I'm very grateful to several experts who helped me to construct the possible inner landscape of a suicide bomber.
Q: How has the experience of writing EXILE affected you as a person?
RNP: Because of EXILE, I feel deeply connected to the Israeli-Palestinian question, and friends on both sides. This has only intensified my concern, and sadness, about the continuing adverse developments in the region since I completed the novel.
This experience has also deepened my interest in --- and, I believe, my understanding of --- U.S. foreign policy and the complex dynamics of the Middle East. Although I have yet to work out how, I hope to maintain a connection to the region, the Israeli-Palestinian dilemma, and larger questions regarding America's role in the Middle East.
Copyright © 2007 by Richard North Patterson. All rights reserved.
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PAST INTERVIEW
 October 17, 2003
Richard North Patterson likes to grapple with controversial topics, and his new novel, BALANCE OF POWER, is no exception --- this time, he takes on gun control. His timing couldn't be better; the book was published just as the suspects in the DC sniper shootings went on trial and as the Senate was moving toward a vote on a bill that would give gun manufacturers and dealers immunity from civil lawsuits. So as he talked with Jesse Kornbluth, he often left the book behind to deal with politics --- and the political agenda of the National Rifle Association.
BRC: You note that gun shows are a great place for gun dealers to call themselves "collectors" and sell weapons to almost anyone --- with no background checks. As part of your research, you went to a gun show in Nevada. How much of what you saw there did you use in the book?
RNP: Everything. I saw people pushing baby carriages near grenades. I saw bumper stickers that said "You can't shoot if you can't breathe." It was a room filled with raging paranoia --- but that's what the gun culture does: raise fear. One thing wasn't in Vegas --- a cardboard cut-out of President and Mrs. Clinton, with a target circled on them. That I borrowed from a gun store in New Hampshire.
BRC: How did it feel to be doing this research surrounded by people selling guns?
RNP: You feel pretty weird being the only one with a pad and paper. But what's really weird is the sense of being in an alternate reality. These people see themselves fighting King George. They're more like kids in tree forts --- except their guns are real.
BRC: In your novel, the president of a gun company makes the argument that guns never wear out if you treat them right. So gun companies invent more powerful weapons and deadlier bullets not because they want to appeal to criminals, wife abusers and the like, but for a much simpler reason: They want to stay in business. Is there another way for gun manufacturers to prosper?
RNP: Absolutely --- just make safer, smarter guns. Develop technology that responds to fingerprints. Let's be clear: "Anti-gun" groups have no problem with guns that are used for lawful purposes. But there's a big difference between sporting rifles and handguns and sniper rifles, which can kill at 1.5 miles.
BRC: But if you modernize guns and they don't become obsolete, the gun manufacturers will still be unhappy --- their profits will be smaller.
RNP: Sure, if Americans have an alternative to arming themselves, they'll sell fewer guns. But gun companies prospered for 100 years --- they can survive.
BRC: An "alternative" to guns sure sounds scary to more than gunmakers. Could some Americans want to make sure we're at each other's throats?
RNP: Guns and a right wing agenda are first cousins. We're in a culture war. The right says our troubles come from the '60s: women's lib, hippies, drugs. Now, that line of thinking goes, only white males are targeted. So guns take on totemic importance for those men. Create that level of hatred, it's easier to demonize than explore common sense measures.
BRC: The NRA uses the Second Amendment as the basis for all its lobbying. What doesn't it understand about the right to bear arms?
RNP: The right to form a militia does not mean, 200 years later, we need gun show loopholes so a criminal can own an AK-47. Even in the Constitution, no right is absolute. Nothing in the Second Amendment bars us from making laws that keep guns out of the hands of criminals.
BRC: Of the 3 million members of the NRA, how many do you think will read your book?
RNP: Very few. It's too bad. Because the problem is not sensible gun owners --- it's the extremists.
BRC: Do you expect BALANCE OF POWER will be reviewed by America's First Freedom, the NRA magazine?
RNP: No. And while I'm at it, I was devastated I wasn't on the NRA's "enemies list." I hope they'll correct this in whatever way they deem appropriate.
BRC: In the book, there's nothing the gun lobby won't do to win. And in real life. Do you fear that a crazed gun owner will come looking for you?
RNP: In fairness to this debate, the dangerous book was about partial-birth abortion. Pro-choice folks do get killed. I've talked at clinics and met people who have been shot at. Anything that alarms people who aren't rational adds risk --- but I hope people have better things to do than shoot writers!
BRC: You cite some terrifying statistics: half the states have entered less than 60% of all criminal convictions into the computer systems. If we had a state-of-the-art database of criminals, would that make a real difference in weapons sales?
RNP: It would certainly impact the number of situations in which we have a gun sale because three days have passed without negative information about the buyer. And that's just the tip of the iceberg --- 40% of gun transfers occur without background checks because it's not required in the secondary market. This sounds crazy, but you can shoot your wife, go to jail for manslaughter, get out of jail, cross the street and get an AK-47.
BRC: You note that "in over half our domestic violence murders last year, the murderer killed himself." Himself --- it's always guys. What is it with men and guns?
RNP: I don't know. Some say women would be empowered if they carried weapons. But if you take a toy gun from a boy, he goes "kew kew kew" and points his finger. Girls don't.
BRC: What's the case against background checks?
RNP: The NRA says they're an invasion of privacy. They offer a sentimental example: What about a guy who wants to give his 15 year-old his first hunting rifle? I say: when you give a car to your son, he needs a license. Why not when you give him a gun?
BRC: Attorney General Ashcroft is so wedded to the NRA interpretation of the 2nd Amendment he's been protecting the "rights" of dead 9/11 terrorists. Why?
RNP: I don't understand why. But there's so much about John Ashcroft I don't understand. Under the Patriot Act, he's obsessed with reading habits, yet he wants to destroy instantly the record of purchasing habits of gun-buyers. Is "Harry Potter" really more dangerous than a terrorist?
BRC: Do you think that those who have grown up in a home where they knew fear --- like Kerry Kilcannon in your novel --- have a different view of guns and their usefulness than those who do not?
RNP: Those who grew up in those homes do see guns differently --- because they've seen for themselves how a gun in hand can lead to irreversible tragedy. Our problem as a nation is that we suffer from huge doses of failure of imagination; if we don't see gun violence for ourselves, it doesn't register.
BRC: Ohio has just legalized carrying concealed weapons. What's the logic?
RNP: These laws mean you can take guns to hospitals, churches, stadiums, parks and schools. I guess the idea is to pop off your priest before he gets you. What's scary is that this is sheer opportunity theory --- the more of anything, the more it's likely to be abused. I was on a panel recently. And someone on the panel was shocked by a scene in my book in which the President's in-laws are shot at the baggage claim of the San Francisco airport. Her point wasn't the savagery of the shootings. It was: These women could have been armed. But I ask you: In what world do people at airports pack heat?
BRC: When did you first begin preparing to write a book on gun control? What made you sit up and say, "I HAVE to write about this"?
RNP: 1968 changed our history, with the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. But I didn't feel the need to write about guns until the early '90s. Down the street from me is a law firm where a gunman killed eight people, including the wife of a friend.
BRC: Out of all of the political/social topics you have covered over your writing career, which issue is the most important to you personally? Why?
RNP: Hard to chose among babies. Women's choice and guns --- both are compelling. Right now, I'm most disturbed by media intrusion into the private lives of public figures. Call me silly, but oral sex strikes me as less of a problem than the use of preemptive force for reasons that turn out to be pretexts.
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