Interview with BellaOnline

Carolyn Chambers Clark
BellaOnline's Mystery Books Editor

CCC: Tell me about your new thriller, David, where it's set, what it's about, who's publishing it.
David Farris: The easy stuff first: I kind of stumbled into one of the hottest agents in the business. He loves the story for it's literary qualities and that's been huge. We got William Morrow and Co. as the publisher. The bookis set in Arizona and Nebraska. It's really a morality story disguised as a medical thriller. Our hero is a surgery resident who gets off on the wrong foot with a beautiful professor -- that is, they have a secret affair. When he learns exactly why she's been having certain professional problems, his scruples take over and the fight is on.

CCC: What obstacles did you have to overcome to write this story and how did you do it?
DF: I wasn't interested in writing just another tale of a psychopathic doctor. That might have been easier to sell, but to me, it's not as scary. I wanted the story to hinge entirely on reality, or at least real possibilities. And I never believe anybody is all good or all bad. If you put that kind of a character in a book it's instantly suspect. So, as a reader, if I want reality, I want it all gray and murky, like life.

CCC: How do you breathe life into your characters and make them seem real?
DF: I've worked in all kinds of hospitals with all kinds of people. It's usually easy to call up somebody's voice and posture from someplace else and transpose them to just where I need them, then write down what they say and what they do. It's like auditions: If the first one isn't working out, call in a replacement. Naturally, I get to turn a few things on their heads, but that's the fun.

CCC: So all the medical detail in the book is real?
DF: Absolutely. I confess I personally haven't treated asthma in an ER in a few years, so there may be some new thing I didn't include there, but the physiology doesn't change. And I had a neurosurgeon check me on all that. A beautiful female one, by the way.

CCC: She wasn't the model for Mimi?
DF: I'd written all of Mimi's parts well before I had even met her.

CCC: Will readers get lost in the medical detail?
DF: No. In fact, a lot of non-medical readers have complimented me on keeping it all understandable.

CCC: What is it about writing thrillers that appeals to you?
DF: A thriller, if it's any good, has a hook. That sense that, 'I can't put this down yet!' That's what will make somebody carry around a book for a few days and tell everyone else to go away and leave them alone. That's fun.

CCC: What else would you like to tell readers about your book?
DF: I'm not Malcolm, and there isn't a real Mimi. A lot of people have asked about a sequel: Maybe. But only if I come up with another story. Finally, remember, it's all about doing what's right for the patient.