What can you tell us about the two criminal empires your mob-war trilogy will follow? One is Irish American, the other is Italian American, and the important part is the American because both are the descendants of groups who struggled to find a foothold here, and unlike most of their peoples, have done it through organized criminality. They’re the exception rather than the rule, but it’s just that exceptionality that makes them interesting. The Murphys run the docks, the Morettis run gambling and other rackets, and they both hijack trucks. In fact, they cooperate on some jobs. Together, they control organized crime in New England. That is, until things fall apart and they start fighting each other. What about their stories will hook readers? That the two syndicates start the story as allies—actually close friends—who work together, vacation together, celebrate births and weddings together, mourn at funerals together. They identify with each other’s struggles against the old established New England WASPs. We actually meet them hanging out with each other on the beach. Then something happens that touches off a war that lasts for years and costs dozens of lives. It’s intensely personal, and I think that will grab the reader. You’ve written City on Fire to parallel Homer’s Iliad—themes of honor, loyalty, betrayal, tragedy. What or who were your favorite similarities to write? Once I went back and read the classics, I realized that all the great themes we deal with in contemporary crime fiction were present in the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Aeneid and in Greek dramas. You can read them as crime stories, even thrillers. So when I came up with the character of Danny Ryan, whom we follow throughout three books, I saw him as sort of an Aeneas, a common man forced to fight in a war, to become a leader and then to build an empire. He does all this because he feels that it’s his duty to his family and his friends, and I found that to be deeply compelling. What do you find most intriguing about Danny Ryan’s character? That he starts as a bit of an outsider, a guy who marries into the ruling family of the Irish syndicate but is not really accepted into the inner circle. He’s always looked down on a little. I also like the outsider’s perspective—it has an objectivity and a slant that I find more interesting. Danny’s always questioning what he’s doing. He has doubts and regrets. He has a real soul. You know, I’ve been working on these books for over 20 years, so I’ve spent some time with Danny. I know the guy. I like him. What is it about the mob that entices our society? I think it’s about power. We all have frustrations in our lives, from the large to the small. Unlike most of us, the characters in mob stories go outside the law to get quick fixes. Don Corleone can give a nod and “make it thus.” Tony Soprano can give an order and get a problem fixed. It’s as attractive as a fantasy. The gangster genre also ties us in with the great themes of literature—loyalty, honor, betrayal. Most of them are tragedies that deal with life and death. Those themes are always compelling to the human soul. As a Rhode Island native, why was Providence the ideal setting for this story? I grew up there during an era of mob wars, so it was the stuff of my childhood and adolescence. I can remember picking up the morning newspaper and seeing stories about another “hit.” And the locale lent itself nicely to a retelling of the Iliad. On a deeper level, I suppose that it was just time for me to go home as a writer. I’d never written about Rhode Island before. I think I needed the distance—both in time and space—to gain enough perspective to write it well. I hope I did. What are you most excited for readers to take away from City on Fire? I want the readers to become immersed in that world, to get a sense that they’re seeing that world through the characters’ eyes, that they’re being taken on a trip that they otherwise couldn’t go on. I want the readers to feel that they really know these people, that they’re close to them, that they understand them. And, like any crime novel, I want the readers to be in suspense. I want them to turn the pages to find out what happens. Because they care. What’s the mark of a good crime novel? Great characters, to begin with. If readers don’t care about the characters, they’re not going to care about what happens to them, no matter how intriguing the plot. I think that too often we’re under such pressure to get to the story quickly—like, page one—that we forget to establish character, to let the reader get to know the people and become interested in them. The other thing, and I don’t know how else to put it, is simply great writing. As a reader, I care more about that than plot or story. When I read Raymond Chandler or ElmoreLeonard—and there are many other examples—I’m delighting in the words, the wit, the humor, the pathos. If you read the first chapter of Chandler’s The Long Goodbye out loud, you’ll hear the pure poetry of it. It’s beautiful. I don’t think I could recount the plot of a single Spenser novel, for instance—and this is not to disparage the plots—I just like hearing [Robert B.] Parker’s voice and spending time with those characters. What’s the last great crime novel that you read? You know, I just re-read The Godfather, and as great as the film is, we shouldn’t forget how great [Mario] Puzo’s novel is. Are there any classics that you return to? A lot of them, all the time. Anything by Chandler, RossMacdonald, Elmore Leonard, LawrenceBlock. I could go on and on. Has one book or writer especially influenced you as an author? This is going to sound pretentious, but WilliamShakespeare. I read him constantly as a kid, made my living for a while directing his plays, and go back to him all the time. What book do you recommend most to friends and family? The Friends of Eddie Coyle by George V. Higgins. Who is one author you wish more readers knew about? CharlesWilleford, author of the Hoke Moseley novels [Miami Blues, New Hope for the Dead, Sideswipe, The Way We Die Now]. Is there a book that readers might be surprised to find on your shelf? I think they might be surprised to know that I have Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice there. And that I’ve read it. Several times. What have you read recently that you’d recommend?
The Island (May 17, Little, Brown and Company), a soon-to-be Hulu series by AdrianMcKinty. “Because McKinty is just a great writer and because this book is one of the scariest, most suspenseful books I’ve ever read.”Heat 2 (August 9, William Morrow) by MegGardiner and Oscar-nominated MichaelMann. “Heat is such an iconic film that it belongs on every crime lover’s shelf. So the chance to expand on it, with such a fine writer as Meg Gardiner, is a treat—make that a treasure.”A Thousand Steps (Forge Books), a thriller meets coming-of-age story about a desperate teen trying to save his sister by T. Jefferson Parker. “Talk about great writing. This novel, set in Southern California in 1968, is evocative, elegiac, extraordinary.”
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