7 vragen aan Lisa Gardner
Op dinsdag 7 maart verscheen Een stap te ver van Lisa Gardner, deel twee van een bloedstollende thrillerserie met de eigenzinnige Frankie Elkin in de hoofdrol. We stelden haar 7 vragen over haar nieuwe thriller, haar schrijverschap en vroegen haar een typische dag in haar leven te omschrijven.
1. What series of yours is your personal favorite and/or character?
That’s like asking a parent to choose their favorite child, LOL. I’m really enjoying Frankie Elkin, however. It’s fun to write about an everyday person doing edgy investigative work. She’s more a proxy for each of us. If we needed information or were suspicious about something, what would we do to get answers? I also love her determination to do better, to atone for her alcoholic past, even as she continues to immerse herself in case after case involving the worst that people can do. It’s so not easy to be her, and yet she can’t be anyone else.
2. What is your favorite crime series or movie?
I’m currently enamored with the new series, Will Trent, based on Karin Slaughter’s novels. I’m a huge fan of her thrillers, and he’s always been one of my favorite characters. It’s interesting to me how much lighter in tone the TV series is than the books, but any way of spending time with Will Trent works for me. And seeing Betty, of course. Leave it to a dog to steal the show.
3. Which of your books would you like to see on tv or in cinemas?
I’m incredibly excited that Hilary Swank has optioned the rights to Frankie Elkin for possible TV series adaption. I actually got to speak to her via zoom, a two-time Academy award winning actress! Honestly, there are days my job is too surreal for words. I love her and totally see her as Frankie. Plus she rescues dogs. Always comes back to dogs. Stay tuned for more details.
4. What does a typical day in your life look like?
I get up early. With my dogs. (See a theme?) I like to write first thing, get some pages done before the rest of the world wakes up and demands attention. By late morning/early afternoon I generally take my two not-so-patient canine companions for a hike (I live in the mountains of New Hampshire). This allows me to reflect on what I’ve just written, generally identifying several mistakes, but also allows me to brainstorm what should happen next. I don’t write with an outline, so each day I’m literally just making things up. When you finish one of my books and think, wow, I never saw that coming, truth is, neither did I.
5. If you could choose any genre besides thrillers, what genre would you like to write about?
I love reading historical fiction, sweeping sagas, that sort of thing. Kristin Hannah is one of my favorite novelists. But I’m not sure I could write one. Early on in my career I tried. In the words of my agent–enough already; you do much better with a dead body. So thrillers it is. Good news, I still love a good riddle and that whole complex question of what is the nature of evil. I’m not running out of ideas anytime soon.
6. What authors have inspired you to write books?
Huge, huge fan of Stephen King, of course. Not to mention Agatha Christie, Mary Higgins Clark and Patricia Cornwell. I devoured any book I could get my hands on as a kid. The more I read, the more I wanted to write. I still love to read–Karin Slaughter, Tess Gerritsen, Riley Sager, Harlan Coben, Lee Child, Lisa Unger, Lisa Scottoline, Robert Dugoni, Gregg Hurwitz. So many great books out there!
7. Are you already working on your next book?
Yes! Frankie Elkin returns, this time to a remote island in the Pacific that looks like paradise but might actually be a hub for human trafficking. She also meets her new nemesis–the coconut crab. I’m not kidding! I spent time on a sparsely populated atoll to write the novel, and coconut crabs terrified me. After that, the wolf spider is no big deal. Just ask Frankie.
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