I haven’t had anyone comment on that. Many very good writers use offensive language only sparingly - Lee Child, David Morrell, Thomas Perry. And because the suspense/thriller genre is fast-paced, in which the characters are under life-and-death pressure to accomplish some great feat within a set time, there’s often not much chance for them to have romantic flings. When they do, it seems forced and unreal, at least for me. Stephen King didn’t write a sex scene until Gerald’s Game, which was a decade into his career, and it was to show critics that he could pull it off. So there’s not a great difference between what I’m leaving out and what’s left out of most suspense/thriller fiction anyway. Of course there are exceptions - Chuck Palahniuk and Leonard Elmore come to mind. But most readers realize that’s their style, not the epitome of what this genre should be.
In the prologue of Comes A Horseman you describe the antagonist Luco Scaramuzzi’s weapon as 'a China Type 64 with its subsonic 7.65mm bullets'; and Luco is trained in the finer points of assassination, like in his need for “a moist washcloth in a Ziploc baggie because perspiration in your eyes is a disadvantage you can avoid.” How do you research details like these?
My experience in journalism taught me to research well and deeply. It’s often what you find just beyond where others would have stopped that turns out to be the gem that gets readers excited about your stories. I read voraciously. I subscribe to about two dozen magazines. I clip interesting articles. I go to specialty bookstores and publishers, like Paladin Press, which carries reprints of federal agent handbooks and things like that. I call experts to chat about what my characters are up to and what they need to fulfill the objective of the scene. In the case of the China Type 64, for example, I found it mentioned in a book about spies. I called my friend, Larry Hama. He’s a writer for Wolverine, X-Men and G.I. Joe comics, and he’s encyclopedic about firearms. He helped me through the details.
Luco Scaramuzzi is a dark character - he’s either a well-positioned thug or the Anti-Christ. In what way does your perception of the Anti-Christ color Luco’s character?
There is no shortage of literature on what people think the Antichrist will look like and be like. For example, handsome and charismatic, because he charms so many people. After a while, I got the picture of George Clooney. Now that’s one charismatic guy. Then I started thinking, what if George Clooney wasn’t a celebrity, but a hustler, someone who used his charisma to swindle and rob and cheat. That’s Luco.
Article comments
1 - Joe
Great informative read.
2 - Vicki
Thanks, Joe!