Thrill of the Writing
The Sunday Telegraph has a lengthy interview with Lee Child and a spotlight on six top thriller writers in the UK, but the most intriguing part of the piece had to do with the bylined journalist in question, David Thomas:
I love thrillers. In fact, I love them so much, I just
wrote one. Like so many thriller writers, including Child, James
Patterson and Joseph Kanon, and even Dan Brown, I came to thriller
writing in middle-age. It seems to be a job that calls for
experience. But it’s the best mid-life pick-me-up one can imagine.
My book comes out this summer. Sadly, I can’t reveal what
it’s called or what it’s about, or even the name under
which I’ve written it. My publishers have forbidden me. The
whole thing has to stay under wraps until the marketing campaign –
the posters, the miles of supermarket book shelves, the full media
blitz – gets under way in June.This is all new and bizarre to me. I’ve been writing books
for 25 years. But none of my previous efforts has been published
with anything more than the vague hope of modest success. Now,
though, I’ve been given a ticket to thriller world, a parallel
universe of infinite possibilities.I’ve suddenly acquired agents in Hollywood, who are hammering
out the last details of a film deal with a ‘Major Movie
Studio’. My American publisher is already looking forward to
the sequel. The British ones greet me with an enthusiasm I’ve
never before experienced – the enthusiasm of people who can see
themselves making money.
As for not revealing your pseudonym or what the book is about, er, David, I think you just did.