Author Thomas Perry
Rob Holden: Thomas Perry, Welcome to ReadersRoom.com. It’s a pleasure to have you with us today!
Thomas Perry: It's a pleasure to be here.
Rob Holden: I would like to start this off by talking about your latest novel Nightlife. Can you tell our readers a bit about it?
Thomas Perry: It's essentially a continuation of a topic I've considered before--the building of identities. There are two main characters, both women. Each, in her own way, is in the position of deciding who she wants to be. One has tried to have a nice husband, a career in financial services, etc., and had it fall apart. She (Catherine Hobbes) re-creates herself as a superior police officer, defeats her drinking problem, and keeps herself under tight control. The other (Charlene Buckner), shops for an identity throughout the book.
Rob Holden: Let's start with Charlene who, quite frankly, I think is one of the most fascinating characters I have come across in the last few years. Can you tell us a bit about where she came from, and how you created her?
Thomas Perry: She was brought up by a mother who was self-absorbed and irresponsible, but not spectacularly so. Because her looks were her most important asset, she trained Charlene to feel the same. She entered her in child beauty pageants and taught her to get pleasure out of a fantasy life as a fantasy creature. Later, when Charlene, who now calls herself Tanya, is dumped by her rich boyfriend, she has to go out and find another way to live. This means finding money somehow, and the simplest way for her to do it is to find another man. What she really wants is to live a fantasy that she has invented, which is a life that's glamorous and really exists most strongly at night. Each time a man discovers that she isn't who she says and has been using him, she can think of no better solution than to kill him and find someone else.
Rob Holden: In almost complete contrast to Charlene, you present your readers with Catherine Hobbes, who rather than searching for fantasy, has chosen a life of stark reality. Can you tell us a bit of how you created her?
Thomas Perry: I think she came about originally as a foil for Charlene, and as a way of making Charlene work. There's a kind of joke going on here. Charlene (now Tanya and other names) behaves like a serial killer. All of the other police officers believe she must be the usual sort, a male with sexual problems and a power fantasy. Only Catherine insists that she's not what they think. And Catherine is an expert on deciding who you will be.
Rob Holden: While certainly playing a fairly secondary role, the male "leads" in the novel were quite fascinating -- particularly Hugo Poole. Could you tell our readers how you got a handle on him?
Thomas Perry: Hugo is somebody I happened to think of as I was beginning this book, and I think the reason I included him was that he serves as a way of introducing the fact that people are often not who they appear to be. They can be much, much more dangerous and scary than they seem.
Rochelle Krich: Charlene doesn't have the tortured psychological background of the typical serial killer. Can you tell our readers why you made her more "ordinary"?
Thomas Perry: Part of the fun of the book was to invent a person who is, at bottom, an actress. She is a person who hasn't got a very satisfactory life, so she experiments with being other people. She invents women who are more glamorous and loved and pampered, figures out what they would think, say and do. But under it all, she's essentially without feeling for other people. I also wanted to write about a character who is simply evil in a practical, day-to-day way. She kills people, not because she's crazy, but because they're in her way.
Rochelle Krich: Sociopathic?
Thomas Perry: If I understand the term correctly, yes. For her there's one problem in the world, and that's getting herself what she wants. Nothing else is a concern.
Rochelle Krich: And if she'd had a different mother - more caring? Would nurture have affected nature?
Thomas Perry: I'm a nurture over nature fan, so probably yes. But I also think that evil isn't that simple. There's an opaque quality to really bad people. They can talk logically about terrible things they've done, but they don't feel what we feel. I don't often know why.
Rob Holden: Thomas, Random House -- your publisher -- has done something quite unique in that they have released two of your previous novels in trade paperback at the same time they released Nightlife. Can you tell us a bit about this?
Thomas Perry: Yes. It was their idea, and their decision. I've been very grateful to them over the years for keeping my books in print and available. A couple of years ago they re-issued my first two books, The Butcher's Boy and Metzger's Dog. It's a great thing to do for an author.
Rob Holden: Indeed it is. This time, they have re-issued Dead Aim and Pursuit in TPB. Can you tell our readers just a bit about each of those novels?
Thomas Perry: Pursuit is a book which has something in common with Nightlife. In it Roy Prescott, a detective, goes after a highly skilled, solitary hit man. Prescott is a specialist. He is hired by the families of murder victims to do whatever it takes to get the killer. What Prescott wants is not to go to a trial, but to get himself and the killer into a single place. Whoever wins, wins. It's essentially a duel, as is Nightlife. Dead Aim is a book in which a mild-mannered, retired contractor saves a woman who tries to drown herself, then finds out that she killed herself a few hours later. He wants to know why she did that. What he discovers is that she felt intense guilt because she
murdered someone. This, in turn, leads him to a self-defense camp which teaches people to shoot on combat ranges, etc., but also helps them kill the people in their lives that they've felt ought to die.
Rochelle Krich: Thomas, in Nightlife, and in your other books, do you feel any sympathy for the killer? Do you want your reader to have complicated emotions toward her or him?
Thomas Perry: Wonderful question. I do feel a kind of sympathy for the killer, as well as for the other characters. I think that's what novelists do. It's a common assumption that a writer has the role of God in his little universe, but I think that we're something else. We become each of the characters while we write about them. In other words, we're not God, we're every microbe at once.
Rochelle Krich: I love your answer.
Thomas Perry: I thought you would recognize the feeling.
Rob Holden: Thomas, Nightlife is your first book in almost four years, and while doing my research for this chat, I ran across a statement you made to the effect that you took this time off to learn how to write better books. I think our readers who are also writers would like to know how
you set about doing that?
Thomas Perry: It isn't that I took any time off from writing. It's been about twenty-five years since I did that. It's that I took time off from publishing. I wrote a book that never seemed to come together right. I kept doing drafts, and each one was different, but none was right. I realized that there are times when the trees are more valuable than the book. I believe in revision, but just as it's much cheaper to build a new house than to remodel an old one, once in a while you should set a project aside and start fresh on a new one.
Rob Holden: Well, on a personal note, I'm delighted the one you started anew was Nightlife. One of the questions our readers who are also writers like us to ask is what kind of writing schedule our guests keep. Do you have a set page or word count? Set times you write -- that kind of thing?
Thomas Perry: I try to see writing as my job. I take my kids to school in the morning, sit down to work, and stop when my wife brings them home. If I have a pressing deadline or something, I'll work very long hours. But I try not to do that.
Rob Holden: And so what is next, writing-wise, for Thomas Perry?
Thomas Perry: I've finished the next book. It's accepted, but I don't have a publication date yet. I'm now working on the one after that. Both are stand-alone novels with no characters from earlier books.
Rob Holden: And is there a Web site where your fans can keep up with the latest news on you?
Thomas Perry: Yes. It's www.thomasperryauthor.com
Rob Holden: Finally, Thomas, is there anything you would like to say to your fans who might read this chat at ReadersRoom.com?
Thomas Perry: Yes. Being able to live as a writer is an enormous privilege. I thank readers for having supported my efforts all these years.
Rochelle Krich: And we thank you for your wonderful books!
Thomas Perry: I also thank them for being patient and open to new characters and situations, even though series might be more comforting.
Rob Holden: Thomas Perry -- thank you for joining us here to today. Best of success with Nightlife, and all your future projects!
Thomas Perry: Thank you both. This was fun.
Thomas Perry: It's a pleasure to be here.
Rob Holden: I would like to start this off by talking about your latest novel Nightlife. Can you tell our readers a bit about it?
Thomas Perry: It's essentially a continuation of a topic I've considered before--the building of identities. There are two main characters, both women. Each, in her own way, is in the position of deciding who she wants to be. One has tried to have a nice husband, a career in financial services, etc., and had it fall apart. She (Catherine Hobbes) re-creates herself as a superior police officer, defeats her drinking problem, and keeps herself under tight control. The other (Charlene Buckner), shops for an identity throughout the book.
Rob Holden: Let's start with Charlene who, quite frankly, I think is one of the most fascinating characters I have come across in the last few years. Can you tell us a bit about where she came from, and how you created her?
Thomas Perry: She was brought up by a mother who was self-absorbed and irresponsible, but not spectacularly so. Because her looks were her most important asset, she trained Charlene to feel the same. She entered her in child beauty pageants and taught her to get pleasure out of a fantasy life as a fantasy creature. Later, when Charlene, who now calls herself Tanya, is dumped by her rich boyfriend, she has to go out and find another way to live. This means finding money somehow, and the simplest way for her to do it is to find another man. What she really wants is to live a fantasy that she has invented, which is a life that's glamorous and really exists most strongly at night. Each time a man discovers that she isn't who she says and has been using him, she can think of no better solution than to kill him and find someone else.
Rob Holden: In almost complete contrast to Charlene, you present your readers with Catherine Hobbes, who rather than searching for fantasy, has chosen a life of stark reality. Can you tell us a bit of how you created her?
Thomas Perry: I think she came about originally as a foil for Charlene, and as a way of making Charlene work. There's a kind of joke going on here. Charlene (now Tanya and other names) behaves like a serial killer. All of the other police officers believe she must be the usual sort, a male with sexual problems and a power fantasy. Only Catherine insists that she's not what they think. And Catherine is an expert on deciding who you will be.
Rob Holden: While certainly playing a fairly secondary role, the male "leads" in the novel were quite fascinating -- particularly Hugo Poole. Could you tell our readers how you got a handle on him?
Thomas Perry: Hugo is somebody I happened to think of as I was beginning this book, and I think the reason I included him was that he serves as a way of introducing the fact that people are often not who they appear to be. They can be much, much more dangerous and scary than they seem.
Rochelle Krich: Charlene doesn't have the tortured psychological background of the typical serial killer. Can you tell our readers why you made her more "ordinary"?
Thomas Perry: Part of the fun of the book was to invent a person who is, at bottom, an actress. She is a person who hasn't got a very satisfactory life, so she experiments with being other people. She invents women who are more glamorous and loved and pampered, figures out what they would think, say and do. But under it all, she's essentially without feeling for other people. I also wanted to write about a character who is simply evil in a practical, day-to-day way. She kills people, not because she's crazy, but because they're in her way.
Rochelle Krich: Sociopathic?
Thomas Perry: If I understand the term correctly, yes. For her there's one problem in the world, and that's getting herself what she wants. Nothing else is a concern.
Rochelle Krich: And if she'd had a different mother - more caring? Would nurture have affected nature?
Thomas Perry: I'm a nurture over nature fan, so probably yes. But I also think that evil isn't that simple. There's an opaque quality to really bad people. They can talk logically about terrible things they've done, but they don't feel what we feel. I don't often know why.
Rob Holden: Thomas, Random House -- your publisher -- has done something quite unique in that they have released two of your previous novels in trade paperback at the same time they released Nightlife. Can you tell us a bit about this?
Thomas Perry: Yes. It was their idea, and their decision. I've been very grateful to them over the years for keeping my books in print and available. A couple of years ago they re-issued my first two books, The Butcher's Boy and Metzger's Dog. It's a great thing to do for an author.
Rob Holden: Indeed it is. This time, they have re-issued Dead Aim and Pursuit in TPB. Can you tell our readers just a bit about each of those novels?
Thomas Perry: Pursuit is a book which has something in common with Nightlife. In it Roy Prescott, a detective, goes after a highly skilled, solitary hit man. Prescott is a specialist. He is hired by the families of murder victims to do whatever it takes to get the killer. What Prescott wants is not to go to a trial, but to get himself and the killer into a single place. Whoever wins, wins. It's essentially a duel, as is Nightlife. Dead Aim is a book in which a mild-mannered, retired contractor saves a woman who tries to drown herself, then finds out that she killed herself a few hours later. He wants to know why she did that. What he discovers is that she felt intense guilt because she
murdered someone. This, in turn, leads him to a self-defense camp which teaches people to shoot on combat ranges, etc., but also helps them kill the people in their lives that they've felt ought to die.
Rochelle Krich: Thomas, in Nightlife, and in your other books, do you feel any sympathy for the killer? Do you want your reader to have complicated emotions toward her or him?
Thomas Perry: Wonderful question. I do feel a kind of sympathy for the killer, as well as for the other characters. I think that's what novelists do. It's a common assumption that a writer has the role of God in his little universe, but I think that we're something else. We become each of the characters while we write about them. In other words, we're not God, we're every microbe at once.
Rochelle Krich: I love your answer.
Thomas Perry: I thought you would recognize the feeling.
Rob Holden: Thomas, Nightlife is your first book in almost four years, and while doing my research for this chat, I ran across a statement you made to the effect that you took this time off to learn how to write better books. I think our readers who are also writers would like to know how
you set about doing that?
Thomas Perry: It isn't that I took any time off from writing. It's been about twenty-five years since I did that. It's that I took time off from publishing. I wrote a book that never seemed to come together right. I kept doing drafts, and each one was different, but none was right. I realized that there are times when the trees are more valuable than the book. I believe in revision, but just as it's much cheaper to build a new house than to remodel an old one, once in a while you should set a project aside and start fresh on a new one.
Rob Holden: Well, on a personal note, I'm delighted the one you started anew was Nightlife. One of the questions our readers who are also writers like us to ask is what kind of writing schedule our guests keep. Do you have a set page or word count? Set times you write -- that kind of thing?
Thomas Perry: I try to see writing as my job. I take my kids to school in the morning, sit down to work, and stop when my wife brings them home. If I have a pressing deadline or something, I'll work very long hours. But I try not to do that.
Rob Holden: And so what is next, writing-wise, for Thomas Perry?
Thomas Perry: I've finished the next book. It's accepted, but I don't have a publication date yet. I'm now working on the one after that. Both are stand-alone novels with no characters from earlier books.
Rob Holden: And is there a Web site where your fans can keep up with the latest news on you?
Thomas Perry: Yes. It's www.thomasperryauthor.com
Rob Holden: Finally, Thomas, is there anything you would like to say to your fans who might read this chat at ReadersRoom.com?
Thomas Perry: Yes. Being able to live as a writer is an enormous privilege. I thank readers for having supported my efforts all these years.
Rochelle Krich: And we thank you for your wonderful books!
Thomas Perry: I also thank them for being patient and open to new characters and situations, even though series might be more comforting.
Rob Holden: Thomas Perry -- thank you for joining us here to today. Best of success with Nightlife, and all your future projects!
Thomas Perry: Thank you both. This was fun.
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