JEFF ABBOTT: THE LAST MINUTE

DEBORAH CROMBIE: THRILLER WEEK on Jungle Red has become THRILLER FORTNIGHT, and we start it off with a bang (couldn't resist the July 4th pun) as our very good friend (and my fellow Texan) Jeff Abbott tells us about his new Sam Capra novel, THE LAST MINUTE, out today. Here's to great summer reading!

Writing a Direct Sequel: THE LAST MINUTE by Jeff Abbott

THE LAST MINUTE, the second Sam Capra novel, comes out today and it's not just a second novel in a series--it's a direct sequel. And that creates some special challenges in writing, none of which I quite anticipated when I started.

The first Sam novel, ADRENALINE, chronicles the destruction of Sam's life. His seven-months pregnant wife is kidnapped before his eyes as his CIA office in London is bombed. He is accused of treason, thrown into a CIA prison, and then used as unwilling bait for the bad guys. Desperate to find his wife and the son he’s never seen, Sam escapes the agency to find out why a mysterious criminal network has stolen his family. ADRENALINE, somewhat unusually for a series opener, ends on a cliffhanger. I think readers are more tolerant of this than they used to be: perhaps we've been conditioned to enjoy cliffhangers more, given television shows like LOST, BREAKING BAD, and THE WALKING DEAD. I got a lot of emails asking if there would be another Sam book, and out of the dozens I received I think only one was annoyed with me. (The reader still vowed to read the next book, however.)

So the challenge with THE LAST MINUTE is that there is a major plot thread -- Sam's desperate search for his son Daniel -- that carries from one book to another. Here's what I did to try to make it as impactful as I could for those who had read ADRENALINE and those who might be coming to the series fresh:

--Open with the main story: No prologues, no set up. The first scene of THE LAST MINUTE is Sam and his mysterious partner in crime, Mila, pretending to be a couple desperate to adopt a baby through illicit channels in a gamble to find out where his son is. That works because it sets up very quickly the main dramatic question of the book, while carrying the action forward from the ending of ADRENALINE. We know Sam’s child has been taken but it’s not Sam telling us all this for a full page. We learn the backstory through Sam’s action.

--Give the readers the details they need, but don't give them a lecture: No one wants a big flashback to set up the previous action, or a long-winded monologue. I added in the details as quickly and cleanly as I could, and in the rewriting of the book I pruned and weeded. Over the first few chapters I parceled out information carefully, trying to make it organic as part of what Sam, or his enemy, is doing at that moment. I gave the most background in one scene: but the focus on the scene is what the bad guys are doing to manipulate Sam, how they are using his son as a weapon to bend Sam to their will—and to force Sam to find and kill the one man who can bring the bad guys down. It's not so much about history as about moving forward with the current story.

--Embrace the unique opportunities: This was entirely unplanned, but was one of the most enjoyable aspects of writing a direct sequel. I needed a major character for this book, a person to be the target that Sam is chasing. If he kills the target, he gets his son back from the bad guys. The target can destroy the bad guys, so there's an irony that this is the man Sam must kill—a man who should be Sam’s ally. So I needed a smart, capable, even sympathetic character to fill the role of the target. For a while I played around with a number of characters, but then I thought, since the book is a direct sequel, could I use a character from ADRENALINE? And so I found my solution: a character who is unnamed, who is on maybe three pages of ADRENALINE and appears to meet with misfortune. In Star Trek parlance, you'd call him a redshirt. For THE LAST MINUTE, I made it clear he hadn’t died, shaped him into a major character, which made me ask a ton of questions about how he got to be in such a bad situation in ADRENALINE. I built a whole history for him. And that was great fun, and a terrific technical challenge, to be true to the very few things we know about the character in the first book and give him a very dramatic history and a personality all his own in the second. If THE LAST MINUTE wasn't such a direct sequel, then I probably wouldn't have done this -- I would have invented a new character. This was much more fun.

Not every series needs a direct sequel among its offerings. Not every readership is patient for it. I'll probably never do it again -- but a parent's search for his child is just the kind of dramatic situation that can carry this sort of set-up.

Would you ever write a direct sequel? What do you think the challenges would be?

Jeff Abbott is the New York Times bestselling author of ADRENALINE, PANIC, COLLISION, and other suspense novels. Last year ADRENALINE was the only novel to be a Summer Great Read pick by both Good Morning America and The TODAY Show. He is a three-time Edgar Award nominee and a two-time nominee for the Thriller and Anthony Awards. He lives with his family in Austin. You can follow him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/jeffabbottbooks or on Twitter at @jeffabbott.

DEBS:  Jeff, I found this fascinating, both because I have written a direct sequel, and because I'm thinking of doing it again. It does set the writer a unique set of challenges, and it really ups the ante on the "how much information to include from previous books" issue, something that is the bane of those of us who write series novels.

What about you, readers?  How do you feel about cliffhangers? Are you willing to wait? Jeff will be checking in today to answer your questions and comments, so please stop by and say "hi."

And Happy Pub Day, Jeff!!!

THRILLERS TO MOVIES

DEBORAH CROMBIE: It's THRILLER WEEK here at Jungle Red! We have some great thriller writers coming up--Jeff Abbott, James Rollins, and Jon Land, so stay tuned.

And since we're talking thrillers, and all these authors' books are certainly candidates for movies, I thought it would be fun to think about what thrillers HAVE made the best translation into film.

Although I write very talky books with only the occasional action scene, I freely admit to being an action movie junkie.  I love spies and suspense and chase scenes and, honestly, things blowing up.  All these things seem so much easier to do on film than on the page, so my hat is off to those of you who write them well.

My fave books-to-movies choice is easy. BOURNE, BOURNE, AND BOURNE. I think I'm cheating a bit, because I haven't read the Robert Ludlum books in years, so I can't honestly make a comparison as to how well the stories translated from medium to medium. (I suspect that the movies are considerably better than the books...)  But I'm so geeky about these movies that I've not only watched them multiple times, I've seen all the extras, AND I love the director's commentaries. I think this is my frustrated film-maker persona coming out. (Of course it has nothing to do with Matt Damon....)

And you can bet I'll be in the theater in August to see THE BOURNE LEGACY. I do like Jeremy Renner, so am trying to keep an open mind about Damon's absence.

What about you, REDS? What are your picks for thriller movies based on books? And are there any must-sees on your list this summer?

HALLIE EPHRON: Tip top of my list: SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, based on Thomas Harris's novel by the same name. It's brilliantly structured, you can't look away; it's got humor and soul and a brilliant title that resonates throughout. Could there be a more memorable villain than the charming Hannibal Lecter? Or a more vulnerable hero than Jodie Foster's as the flinty former farm girl, bent on proving herself, Clarice Starling. Could Harris name characters of what?

Based on a Philip K Dick novel, I love-love-loved TOTAL RECALL. Made me a permanent Arnold fan until, well, you know. I see a remake with Colin Farrell is coming out in August. Definitely a must-see on the big screen.

RHYS BOWEN: I'm not a big action-movie fan, but I still remember THE DAY OF THE CONDOR, (the book was called Three Days of the Condor, but one has to compress things for movies). Also THE IPCRESS FILE with a young Michael Caine. Maybe I just like gorgeous blond men!

LUCY BURDETTE: I admit, I'm a wuss--much much more likely to go see a romantic comedy than a thriller. I really don't enjoy being scared. (I suppose that's strange for a mystery writer!) Could not go to see SILENCE OF THE LAMBS...I did think the adaptation of Harlan Coben's TELL NO ONE made an excellent movie--though the French probably helped! And Hallie, I think they did an excellent job of making AND BABY WILL FALL from your NEVER TELL A LIE. Obviously, as a movie they couldn't replicate the nuances from the book, but the concept was well done, don't you think? 

HANK PHILLIPI RYAN: Oh, if you haven't seen it, go back and find DAY OF THE JACKAL. The real one, with Edward Fox, not the doepy one with Tom Cruise. It is--fantastic, perfectly done, and the suspense is incredible. You KNOW that the assassin WILL not succeed. You know it from moment one. And yet you STILL think--Maaayyybeeeee this time it'll work. And you are rooting for the bad guy! The whole way! I've seen it a million times and I am still mesmerized.

Runners up--THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR. (Which is based on the iconic James Grady's Six Days of the Condor. That they cut it to three always makes me laugh.) Robert Redford as the original "everyman" whose jb is to read books for the CIA to see if there are any plots the spooks could use...and is literally out ot lunch when the bad guys come. Faye Dunaway has one of the best lines ever--anyone remember? And it ends brilliantly ambiguously.

I love thrillers. Oh--EYE OF THE NEEDLE. And does A FEW GOOD MEN count? Oh, and THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE. (The old one.) And AIR FORCE ONE. DIEHARD! The one in National airport. Oh, my favorite kind of movie. Okay, I'm stopping now.






DEBS: Okay, I'm making my summer (um, make that post manuscript) movie list. Some of these I haven't seen, some I'd forgotten and would love to watch again.  Hallie, I actually like MANHUNTER, the adaptation of Thomas Harris's novel Red Dragon, better than Silence of the Lambs. But neither Harris nor William Peterson were famous when it was released, so it didn't get much notice then.  A cult classic now, just brilliant.

Loved THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR, but never read the novel on which it was based.  Books to add to the list, too. 


Ooh, and Hank, now I have to watch THE DAY OF THE JACKAL again! And THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR because I don't remember Faye Dunaway's line!!!!


What about you, readers? Did we leave out any of your faves?









And what are you going to see this summer?

Give me a head with hair...

Long, beautiful hair,
Shining, streaming, gleaming....

ROSEMARY HARRIS: Not any more. Some of you may know that last month I got the worst haircut of my life. Worse than the night my mother cut my hair - memorialized for all time because it was the night before my fourth grade class picture was taken. At least my mother didn't charge me $500+. Are you still with me? My first car only cost $400. The car was a Volkswagen 412. Metallic green and I loved it until one day I let a boyfriend drive it and he came home without it, saying it had died on the road. I never believed him and I never forgave him.

Nor will I ever forgive the team of stylists who perpetrated this mess on my head. Okay, the 500 bucks wasn't just for a cut. It was for something called An American Wave. On the salon's website it looked for all the world like a gentle body wave, something to give my stick straight hair a little movement. And it looked doable for my hair with my face. I wasn't hoping to look like Beyonce or Gwyneth Paltrow. (Or this model!)  Just my hair but better.

My hair has a little movement like Gene Krupa had a little movement. Like Parkinson's is a little movement. And the cut? if I blow it straight, I look like the Golem - with a mullet.

I left the salon in shock. It was Memorial Day weekend, my husband was picking me up. No fool he, he offered to take me out for dinner and a drink. In the car I couldn't stop looking at my hair. It was a cross between Tom Hanks in Castaway and Tina Turner in Mad Max.
I scoured the internet for solutions - vegetable oil and saran wrap seemed to be the one most people voted for. It was a good thing Bruce was going out of town for the weekend. Mayonnaise. Over the counter keratin treatments. Moroccan oil. Coconut oil. For the past three weeks I have put so much oil on my hair that all I need is some balsamic vinegar and croutons. Nothing has really worked. My American Waved hair was more like French Fried.
In a few weeks, the weird cut will grow in a little so that the too-short bangs no longer make me look like Margaret Mead or Keeley Smith. The rest of the cut will take a couple of years to undo. The Un-American Wave? I may try a straightening treatment at the end of the summer when my hair has recovered som ewhat from the shock.
I did complain to the salon, btw, and the owner,a celeb stylist, called me over the holiday weekend and told me to come back in, but frankly I think he made it worse. I did get a world class blowdry which apparently is the only way I can go out with this hair and not scare small children. So I'm keeping a low profile until Bouchercon. I'll be the one wearing the hat.

JAN BROGAN: Oh where to begin..where to begin....Should we start at the beginning, when I experimented with Sun-IN on my hair at about age eleven?  I had light brown hair and my mother was blonde, so I thought by rights that I SHOULD be blonde.  So I progressed from lemon to Sun-IN to Clairol highlights and often wound up with two large orange circles on the side of my head. So attractive.  I also once dyed my hair a color I thought was auburn, only to turn out like a Lucille Ball redhead. After that my husband and daughter staged an intervention and exacted a promise that I only have my hair PROFESSIONALLY colored from then on.   But I have to say, Ro, all my disasters were my own fault.  If I had paid someone $500 for it, I would have staged a riot at the salon.

ROSEMARY: I was calm in person. On the phone..less calm. I've tried to take pictures but who wants to have this head out there on the internet?
.
DEBORAH CROMBIE: Oh, I did Sun-In, too, and lemon juice. It must have been a generational thing.  I'm a fairly dark brunette, so it just turned my hair orange. My mom, bless her, pretended not to notice. I have just enough wave to be neither straight nor curly, and always envied girls with hair like Ro.  I used to iron mine when I was a teenager.  Now we have electric flatirons, the greatest hair invention ever after the blow dryer. My hair disasters started by about the age of three, when my mom would cut my bangs in a perfectly straight line right across the middle of my forehead.  What was she thinking??? One time I got a pair of scissors and tried to improve them. Big trouble that time....
Recent hair disasters? Two years ago in London I went in Toni & Guy in Chelsea to just get a little trim for my bangs (fringe, in Brit speak.) The stylist mutilated my hair, short on the sides, longer in the back. I looked like I'd had my hair cut with a bowl over my head, but wavy. My friends in London were kind but it was horrible, and it took at least six months to grow it back to any semblance of a normal cut.  Someday I'm going to kill that guy off in a book...

RHYS BOWEN: Oh Ro, I feel for you! And $500 too. Talk about adding insult to injury. I've never had a disaster of that magnitude but I did have my hair permed in Italy and it turned my super-straight hair into something like an Afro, and so dry and brittle that it snapped when I brushed it. And there was one cut.... the hairdresser didn't speak English well and when I said "I'd like it fairly short on top" he heard "I'd like it very short on top."  I watched as he cut a large section to within an inch of my scalp. I screamed but it was too late. A large section was within an inch of my scalp and the rest had to match. I think Pinhead described the look.
But the good thing with hair--it grows out.





HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Well, hair disaster? Had to be when I was fourteen-ish. I decided I wanted a Sassoon, and since Vidal Sassoon was on Carnaby Street and  I was in Zionsville, Indiana, my solution was to do it myself. SO I cut off one whole side of my long brown hair, up over my ear, and cut the other side shoulder length. I don't even want to think about how I handled the back.


My mother came in, SHRIEKED, and left the room. I mean, from her point of view, I must have looked completely nuts, right? I'd cut off one whole side of my hair. What else would a nutcase do?


We compromised on a sort of serf-like bowl cut. 


A more recent disaster, which wasn't recent, was the colorist guy who decided to take the gray out of my hair-- be this was twenty years ago, and he make it ALL BLACK. It was horrific. And do you know how long it takes to grow that out? And there's nothing you can do but wait.


Ro, it cannot be that bad.


ROSEMARY: I got my hair cut in Spain once. Corto, no mas corto. They understood better than the guy in NYC.



LUCY BURDETTE: I think my most traumatic was in seventh grade. I looked for the photo but mercifully couldn't find it. All I wanted was the stylish cut that slanted from back to front like the cool girls had. But my mother wanted more for the money I guess, so I ended up with yet one more pixie cut. You will see that this picture (maybe 2nd grade?) is a close runner-up: The home-cut bangs with divot in front and the Toni permanent wave in back. I should say half a Toni, because my sister and I always had to split a box:).

ROSEMARY: Lucy, you look adorable!  And look you already had your Author pose with your chin resting on your hand!





What was your worst hair disaster?