A: My favorite past-times seem to revolve around music, both listening to, and performing it. I grew up playing the piano and violin, and I'm lucky that in the small town where I live, there are many other amateur musicians like me. We spend hours each month jamming together, usually playing Irish/Celtic or American fiddle tunes. I think music uses a completely different part of the brain than writing does, so I often feel that, after a demanding jam session, I've had a refreshing vacation from the demands of my book. In the summertime, my other past-time is gardening. I've grown a wide variety of roses, which isn't so easy here in Zone 5 Maine!

Q: Your thrillers are remarkable for depth of detail in character and plot as well as the complexities of medicine. How much time do you typically take to research the background for your novels, and is there a routine investigative path you take?

A: I tailor my research to the demands of the story -- not the other way around. What's most important to me is that there's an emotional core to the plot that compels me to keep writing, just to find out what happens to these people I've come to care so much about. The medical and forensic details are there to give the story authenticity -- to make you really believe that these things COULD happen, that these characters DO know what they're doing and talking about. I tend to research topics as they come up in the plot. Since I don't outline my stories ahead of time, I never know what I need to research until I actually come to that point in the story. For instance, in BODY DOUBLE, I had to stop writing halfway through the book to find out about ground penetrating radar as a means of locating buried bodies -- a bit of science I hadn't realized I'd need to know when I started the book.

Certain books, though, do require some background research before I even start writing. GRAVITY, my book about the International Space Station, required months of reading and NASA interviews before I felt comfortable enough with the material to even begin formulating the plot, simply because I couldn't come up with plausible plot crises until I knew all the things that realistically COULD go wrong in space.

Q: If you could choose to have dinner with anyone, past or present, who would that be, and why?

A: Cleopatra. I've always been fascinated by ancient Egypt, and by her in particular, because she was said to be such a wily, brilliant woman. I'd like to know how she managed to beguile such powerful men. I'd like to know if she was beautiful or (as historians seem to think) merely an ordinary-looking woman blessed with extraordinary intelligence.

Q: Genetic engineering and bioterrorism are big topics in the news today. How important are these topics in the the genre of medical thrillers do you think?

A: These are certainly hot topics that could be used in a medical thriller. But I don't usually start off my books with a scientific premise -- rather, I launch them with a personal and emotional premise. For instance, the scientific premise behind GRAVITY had to do with the behavior of micro-organisms in zero gravity. Doesn't sound too exciting in and of itself, does it? Because divorced from the characters, from the human element, pure science doesn't get my thriller-writer's heart pounding. The premise that launched GRAVITY actually had to do with a husband and wife, separated across the vacuum of space, while the wife is dying. And the husband will do anything, risk anything, to reach her. That's the story started off with, those emotions of grief and desperation. The mico-organism part of it, in the end, was just the means to reach that plot crisis.

Q: What is your greatest ambition at this point in your life, and how would you characterize any future challenges both professionally and personally?

A: I just want to keep writing books that entertain and enthrall. I'm happy if I can manage to keep my readers happy. The real challenge is to out-do myself. Every book raises the bar a little more, and this constant drive to write an even better book every year can exhaust a writer. I think that's when writers burn out -- when they realize that they are their own worst competition. I've come to the conclusion that a writer can't hit every ball out of the park. We all produce some good books and some not-so-good books, and we have to take the long view -- that there's a lifetime of novels ahead of us, and it's our overall body of work that matters. Not the one dud you produced five years ago.

Q: Can you share with us some of the aspects of the author-publisher relationship?

A: I have had the great fortune to work with wonderful editors throughout my career, in four different publishing houses. (I've also written romantic suspense.) I respect every single one of those editors, and have always taken their advice to heart. In almost every case, the changes they suggested were the right ones. Because so much of publishing involves women at every level -- women agents, publicists, editors -- I feel as if it's one friendly girls' club, and this is perhaps one reason I feel so comfortable in this world.

Q: Do you have a favorite literary character(s)? Has any book made an indelible impression on your mind and heart?

A: I grew up with so many fine books that it's hard to come up with just a few favorites. But I would have to say that the most memorable character for me was Scarlett O'Hara from GONE WITH THE WIND. Not because she was particularly beautiful or admirable or even likable -- but because she was so vivid. Saintly characters don't stay with us. It's the flawed ones who do!

Interview Date: November 2004
Profile and questions compiled by Rosanne L., Matthews Branch Library