Author Robert Crais. PICTURE / GETTY IMAGES
Paul Brooks's interview with Robert Crais, January 2018, after reading The Wanted.
Mr Crais, you have well and truly established your credentials in your trade. Television scripts, novels and more, and while I most certainly will have encountered your writing before (Hill Street Blues etc), I have not read any of your previous books. That will change: I have already ordered The Monkey's Raincoat. When you wrote that first Elvis Cole novel, did you know then that it would evolve into a series?
Not at all. I couldn't see past the first book — creating the characters, writing a story that worked and moved me. I was writing a stand-alone novel. I never considered a series until my publisher asked for more Elvis Cole novels.
Elvis is a well-rounded, complete character; a person. His adventures go back a way and yet we learned about him and got his back story painlessly. Even being new to Elvis Cole and Pike and picking up their adventures a long way down the book list, I don't feel I've missed out.
Great. Perfect. I write the books so a new reader can begin with the latest, and fully enjoy it without having read the others.
How difficult is it to introduce Elvis to new readers without boring loyal fans who have followed him from the first book? How hard is it to tell a fresh tale and reintroduce characters already known to many, but not all?
It's a lot of hard work, but worth it. I write the books for two different readers, the reader who's read every book in the series, and the new reader who is beginning with the latest book. This forces me to be very careful and considered in how I write the characters, but this is a good thing!
Elvis tells some of the story in first person narrative, allowing him to think, reminisce, plan and even cook — with barbecued veal chops and eggplant recipe included — while the reader eavesdrops. It's rare to read a thriller with so much (interesting) detail.
Great to hear you say this. I love these little details. They're what brings the characters to life, gives them depth, and makes them interesting for readers.
Is that to create a contrast with the chapters he can't see or influence or do you just enjoy moving your protagonist around the board, so to speak?
The answer varies with the story. I try to make the stories interesting, and exciting. Pacing is everything, but pacing is more than just big plot moves. Elvis Cole's emotions are a large part of it.
Perhaps it is your background as a script writer but as a reader I find I can 'see' your scenes as in a film. Drama, theatrics and suspense are all used credibly, while people still behave and react as you think they should, in the circumstances, once their character has been established.
My writing is visual. I think visually, I'm a visual writer, so it shows in the writing.
Is television where you learned the use of drama and tension? The introduction of Pike, for example, would look good on screen, considering his size and the way he fills the page.
I wrote television before I was a novelist. I was a baby writer when I broke into television, and pretty much grew up writing television, so TV was my writing school. Working with amazing actors like Jack Klugman and Tyne Daly and Sharon Gless, and with brilliant writers and producers on shows like Hill Street Blues, and Cagney and Lacey, and Miami Vice, was a powerful education.
The use of the cat to give domesticity to Elvis's life is clever.
I love his cat. I love writing the cat scenes.
Why has the cat got no name?
I don't know if he has a name, or not. He never told Elvis, so Elvis just thinks of him as the cat.
Your Harvey and Stemms characters are unique. I don't think I ever encountered bad guys with so much self-awareness and the ability to reason with morality and philosophy. Stemms plays violin and can hold a discussion on women's rights via the shower scene from Psycho! Harvey gets offended at the use of the word 'retarded'. Their unusual, somewhat ambiguous relationship presents questions that never get answered and it's refreshing to see a couple of temporary characters presented in such full, three-dimensional form."They were men, doing work."
Rule of thumb: The more I enjoy writing a scene, the more my readers will enjoy reading the scene. I love Harvey and Stemms. Yes, they're terrible killers, but I treated them as fully formed human beings. I envisioned them as an evil version of Elvis and Joe. Here are these two men, they're professionals, they're investigators, and they're killers. They've been together for years, and share a long history, so I wanted them to relate to each other as two such men would. They're relaxed together, they joke with each other, talk about silly stuff and nonsense; they're personal and intimate. I love their scenes. The more they talked, the more I loved them.
Have you used these guys in a previous book? If not, how hard was it to create such interesting characters then remove them forever in a concluding chapter?
Nope, never. This is their only appearance. And, man, what happened to them was awful for me. I could have written a series of books with those guys as the stars. Harvey and Stemms are the best loved maniacs since Hannibal Lector!
The moment Cole discovers Harvey and Stemms — although he didn't know their names — was a revelation and a beautiful segue from a lot of tension into another.
Plot twists are my business.
How much of this is planned and how much evolves as you write?
I'm a planner. I outline, and develop the story and characters before I begin writing the narrative.
There is a lightness to the narrative, a quasi-Chandler style of delivery without the Bogart accent — very effective as a contrast between Elvis Cole's first person singular and the high suspense of the other chapters. "The beer and I went outside." You have created a hard-boiled private detective with a gooey centre, and it makes good reading.
All writers are readers first. If I weren't the writer, these are the stories I would love to read. I dig this stuff.
Who are your writing influences? Do you read other people's crime thrillers? What did you read when you were very young? When did you know you wanted to write and what did you do about it?
I guess it's cliched, but Chandler was my gateway drug. Discovered him when I was a kid, and Chandler led me to the mystery section in bookstores, and dozens of great crime writers. Robert B Parker was a big influence.
And lastly — are you happy that you followed your dream and the way your career has panned out?
Absolutely. I love reading, I love thrillers and crime fiction, and I'm fortunate that so many people enjoy my stories. It's good to be me.
Thank you for your time and patience Robert.
BOOK REVIEW
The Wanted
By Robert Crais
Published by Simon and Schuster 2018
Trade paperback
RRP $32.99
Reviewed by Paul Brooks
Elvis Cole and Joe Pike are partners in a private investigation firm, although it appears Cole is the main player and Pike turns up for physical impact or a solid solution to a tricky situation.
Robert Crais has established these characters well over a series of books but the reader is free to join them at any stage of the author's writing career without feeling like coming in part way through a conversation.
In this case, a 17-year-old boy's nocturnal activities — burglaries — have come to light after his mother found unexplained quantities of cash in his room and a genuine Rolex watch under his bed. She calls Elvis Cole and the story starts.
It turns out young Tyson and his teenage gang have angered one of their victims by taking something of more than monetary value.
He wants it back and he has let loose the dogs to deal with it.
Robert Crais has given us two believable, yet unforgettable characters in Cole and Pike, but further, he has invented, just for this book, a couple of entertaining villains of real personality. Their dialogue is a dream for any reader and that they won't appear in any other book is kind of sad.
The plot is credible and the characters throughout act as you would expect them to — there is nothing far-fetched about The Wanted.
What's more, it's very readable for the duration and memorable afterwards, not one of those thrillers you read and instantly forget.
The Wanted so impressed this reviewer that I immediately ordered (and read) the first of the Cole and Pike thrillers, with the obvious intention of continuing through the series.
Recommended.