Thriller Instinct

With 75 million copies in print worldwide since he began publishing in 1996,David Baldacci,writer of political thriller,knows how to pen a page-turner

With 75 million copies in print worldwide since he began publishing in 1996,David Baldacci,writer of political thriller,knows how to pen a page-turner
David Baldacci needed to figure out a way to kill the head of the Rare Book and Special Collections Division at the Library of Congress. In the past,hed turned to MP5 submachine guns,knives,pistols,lethal injections and a custom-built semi-automatic SR75 rifle. But inside the vaults of the Library of Congress,guns and daggers were hard to come by,and so Baldacci had to be creative. He followed Mark Dimunation,the librarys head of rare books to the mezzanine,where childrens books are housed. Suddenly,he spotted a gas nozzle on the wall between the tall,tightly packed shelves. Whats that? he asked.

The nozzle did its dastardly deed on page 38 of The Collectors,one of Baldaccis immensely successful political thrillers. Baldacci tells this story,three years later,with a boyish delight. The Collectors,the second book in Baldaccis Camel Club series,was a bestseller. All 16 of his novels have been New York Times bestsellers. His latest,Divine Justice,debuted at No. 1,six months after The Whole Truth did,too.

Critics rarely take Baldaccis novels seriously. Many people dont take Baldacci seriously,either. For the most part,mass-market thrillers are treated like fast food: tasty,perhaps,but banal and bad for the heart. If I spent 10 years on a book,could I be as good as x? I dont know, he says. The only thing I regret is that people set this up into warring camps.

In these stressful times,Baldacci offers a break. In any given week,about a third of the top-selling books are thrillers. Baldaccis prose might be clumsy a typical Baldacci line: As with scissors,one should avoid running with a loaded gun while the safety was off,but if anyone could do it,more people would. A thriller works if it can persuade the reader to turn the pages as fast as possible. The easiest way to get someone to keep reading is to withhold information expertly. Baldacci depends on a mixture of inventive plotting,appealing characters,luck and consistency. Unlike others,his books rely more on characters relationships than whiz-bang technology or procedural twists.

With 75 million copies in print worldwide since he began publishing in 1996,its clear that Baldacci appeals to a common denominator with a common touch. Baldacci writes a book every seven months or so. His working style is intense. I had this mentor,a trial lawyer, Baldacci says. Before every trial,hed go into the bathroom and throw up. But when the time came,he was so eloquent. And for me,its a similar thing. Im scattered,and then that last hundred pages,bam,Im a laser.

Baldacci is insistent that he writes for more than money. He wants to get inside a terrorists head,or to keep people vigilant to abuses of power. He suggests that his novels offer a kind of reworking of justice. You see a lot of people who should have been punished and are not, he says. Fiction is a way to set the record straight.

Baldaccis audience extends across the world. There are framed fan letters from several first ladies,the former South African president F. W. de Klerk,Dolly Parton and a couple of US presidents. In 1999,Bill Clinton called Baldaccis The Simple Truth his favoUrite book of the year.

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Hes proud that hes been contacted by contractors to the government to imagine doomsday scenarios and by agencies lobbying him to be featured in his books. But he still projects the air of a regular guy who just happened to be thrust into extraordinary circumstances. Then again,in Baldaccis world,where everything is a conspiracy,nothing is really accidental.
_Louisa Thomas,Newsweek