David Baldacci Talks About The Collectors and the Library of Congress
David Baldacci Exclusive Interview With Book Help Web
When you begin reading a novel by David Baldacci, you're entering a highly detailed world where nothing is too insignificant to be researched and mined for interest. David Baldacci's talent for fleshing out the world in which his thrillers take place have earned him a large cadre of loyal readers.
He's someone for whom success came quickly. A former lawyer, his first novel in 1996, Absolute Power, became an immediate bestseller and was made into a movie starring Clint Eastwood and Gene Hackman.
His books explore a different institution, always hinting at conspiracies or sinister undertones. He's tackled such organizations as the judicial system, the legislature, the technology industry, and lottery fixing. His latest book, The Collectors, takes the motley crew assembled in The Camel Club into the Library of Congress.
David Baldacci is also committed to making his community a better place. He and his wife co-founded an organization named after one of his books: The Wish You Well Foundation which promotes literacy. While on book tour for The Collectors, David Baldacci is inviting his fans to contribute new and used books to Wish You Well and America's Second Harvest. Those books will be distributed to needy families through food banks in the areas where he tours.
Before beginning his most recent tour, David Baldacci graciously answered some questions for the readers of Book Help Web.
Book Help Web: The Collectors, with its wealth of details and description, makes it apparent that you've deeply researched the Library of Congress. What was the most interesting thing you learned about it? What was your main impression of the organization after spending so much time learning about it?
David Baldacci: I wasn't aware of the rare books reading room, which astonished me, considering I'm not only a writer but a rare book collector as well. Unfortunately, the vast majority of Americans are probably unaware of this treasure within the Library. It contains the literary treasures of not only this nation, but many cultures around the world. I found the people at the Library to be dedicated, professional and extraordinarily knowledgeable on myriad subjects. And I also discovered that they have a very dry sense of humor about their work. One of them wanted to play himself in the event a movie was made based on the book because he claimed no mere actor could do the role justice! Now that's a librarian you just have to love.
BHW: You also provided a great deal of detail and color about con games and the culture of confidence men/women. Where did you get this type of information? You succeed in making the cons sympathetic to the point that that the reader wants to see them succeed in ripping people off. How do you manage that and why did you make that particular choice?
David Baldacci: I read a lot, talked to lots of people and with that knowledge I put myself in the role of a con and came up with some of my own scams. It was great fun figuring ways to score big at the expense of others, which probably doesn't say much about my underlying character, but there you are. The key with the con characters, particularly Annabelle, is to humanize them. You show their fears, frailties and you make the motivation for the scam one which many law-abiding types could understand. I made Annabelle a real person who happens to be a criminal. Yet she doesn't physically hurt anyone and her targets are not sympathetic ones.
BHW: The Collectors ends on a suspenseful note. What are some of your long-range plans for the fascinating members of the Camel Club? Will it be an open-ended series or do you have a set number of books planned involving them?
David Baldacci: My litmus test on that is two-fold: First, do I still enjoy hanging around with these characters? And second, do I believe they have more room to grow? With respect to The Camel Club the answers to both these questions was a resounding yes! I have no set number of books planned. I will just let it unfold book to book. I do like to give one member of the club (besides Oliver Stone) the spotlight in each book. Caleb had his in The Collectors. Perhaps Reuben Rhodes will get his shot in the next.
BHW: Why do you think spy thrillers continue to be so popular? What is it about them that readers connect to?
David Baldacci: People have a sense that a lot is going on in the background that they will never know about or read about in any newspaper, or on TV, or in a nonfiction tome. And they're quite right! Spy thrillers let people get a glimpse of these backroom machinations. They get to wonder, "My God, what if that is true?"
BHW: When researching your books, has something you've learned ever caused you to make major plot changes? What was it?
David Baldacci: The way I had originally devised to bring down an airliner in Total Control turned out to be plausible. Not wanting to provide a blueprint for some nut, I changed the sabotage to a method that would not work in real life.
BHW: Your work as a whole defies genres. You've written spy thrillers, mysteries, literary fiction, juvenile fiction, and screenplays. Do you have any themes that tie your work together or a particular idea that ties your books together?
David Baldacci: I like to express ideas and points of view from both sides in my work and let the reader think about these things and arrive at their own conclusions. I never write about any subject matter unless it interests me personally. I like to show people the gray in life. Most of what we're shown is the black and white. Black and white doesn't run this world, the gray does.
BHW: Is there a genre that you haven't yet written in that you'd be interested in exploring? What would that be?
David Baldacci: If I had to choose I would probably say biographies.
BHW: Is there a character you've written about that you would like to revisit in another novel? Who would it be?
David Baldacci: A couple at least, Web London from Last Man Standing and the characters from Wish You Well. I just finished a book that will be published next May that brings back Michelle Maxwell and Sean King from Split Second and Hour Game. I really like them a lot.
BHW: Which of the characters that you've created do you consider the most intriguing or fascinating?
David Baldacci: It would be hard to choose just one. Web London, Jackson from The Winner, Rufus Harms from The Simple Truth, Michelle Maxwell, and Diamond Skinner and Lou Cardinal from Wish You Well.
BHW: You've recently published a series of young adult novels, Freddy and the French Fries. What prompted you to write a young adult series and what has been the most enjoyable about doing so? How is it different from writing adult novels?
David Baldacci: Those stories started as bedtime tales I told my kids when they were younger. I worked with the first grade class at my kids' school and they illustrated the first Freddy book for a school auction. After that Little, Brown read the story and loved it. My brother Rudy is an artist and he did the illustrations. Writing the stories was great fun. I could just let my imagination run wild. And I didn't have to worry about body counts. Even thriller writers need a break from homicide sometimes.
BHW: You volunteer for a number of charities including some involving literacy. Can you tell us about the Wish You Well Foundation that you formed and why you are passionate about its goals?
David Baldacci: Illiteracy is the greatest challenge we face as a nation. Democracies are totally dependent on a literate, well-informed electorate. Our three greatest rights as Americans are grounded in words: freedom of speech, freedom of press, exercise of religious freedom. Take away one and we're no longer a democracy; take away two and we're clearly a dictatorship. An illiterate, uninformed population is a population that is easily manipulated. History has shown us hundreds of examples of what happens to such a people. And all of them are bad. The Wish You Well Foundation has only one goal: to eradicate illiteracy. We fund programs across the country, help develop programs and put existing organizations together to increase their effectiveness.
