Book Talk

Book Talk provides authors’ perspectives on libraries, books,technology, and information. If you have any suggestions of authors you would like to see featured in Book Talk, or if you are interested in volunteering to be an author-interviewer, contact Kathleen Hughes,Editor of Public Libraries, at the Public Library Association, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611; khughes@ala.org.

Training with the Criminal Mind: A Conversation with Gregg Olsen

New York Times bestselling author Gregg Olsen first attracted attention with his provocative true crime books and thrillers. With the publication of Envy last fall, the first in his new "Empty Coffin" series, he brought the same character detail and insight into the criminal mind that marked his earlier works to the Young Adult genre. The "Empty Coffin" series follows twin teenagers Hayley and Taylor Ryan as they solve crimes inspired by real-life events. Olsen talked to "Public Libraries" via phone on January 5th, 2012. He'll appear on the "Young at Heart: YA Books With Adult Crossover Appeal" panel at the PLA Conference, March 15th, 2012, 8:15 - 9:30 AM in Room 120 A-B-C at the Philadelphia Convention Center.

Public Libraries: This is your first young adult novel after a long career of writing true crime novels and thrillers. What made you want to write for the young adult audience?

Gregg Olsen: I didn't know that I wanted to, to tell you the truth. I had never thought about it until a publisher came to me and asked me to consider it. They felt that maybe there was something I could do, and that this part of the young adult audience hadn't really been getting these kind of thrillers  - the kind of thrillers that I read and that people my age used to read when we were kids.

PL:You talked in a previous interview about how you read Carriewhen you were in high school and the effect it had on you.

GO: All of those books did. I loved those kinds of books. In my opinion there was not a young adult genre. There were some books like The Outsiders, some of these classic books that we all had to read, like Rumblefish. But there wasn't a specific genre, you didn't go to a bookstore and see a Young Adult section. You would read what your parents were reading. People my age, we liked those horror books, those thriller books, the kind of books that Dean Koontz and Stephen King were writing.

PL: In terms of basing the books on real life crimes, how do you keep readers surprised if they're familiar with the story the novel is based on.

GO: It's really the same way with an adult novel when you think about it. You take the germ of the idea - in Envyit was the Megan Myer cyberbullying case that inspired the book - but it's really not that story. People like to say, "Could that really happen?" and you want to say, "Yeah it did happen. Not with these characters and not in this way exactly, but reality is scary." So you take that idea from reality, plant it in the novel, and go in your own direction.

In Betrayal I'm using Amanda Knox as the basis. I've got an exchange student who comes to Port Gamble, Washington, and something terrible happens to her. So it's kind of like Amanda Knox but in the reverse - it's not the American girl in Italy but a British girl in the United States. I've got that idea and all the things that come with that. The media attention and the things that make us interested in Amanda Knox's story works well in the new book too.

PL: You've based the series in a real town, Port Gamble. Have you gotten any feedback from its citizens in terms of how you've portrayed their community?

GO: They actually love it. Port Gamble is very small, maybe fifty homes at the most and maybe ten or fifteen businesses. It's very quaint and very tiny, so the people are used to living in a tourist attraction. Yet it's not a tourist attraction like Disneyland where there's a ton of stuff to do, it's a tourist attraction because it's so historical and so pretty.

But they're really behind the book. There's a bookstore there that sells Envy, and the restaurant is tied into the book, so they're all playing along with the story.

PL: The dad in Envy, who is also a true crime author, talks about how hard it is to report a story when everybody is lying. How did you combat the same challenge when researching your true crime novels?

GO: I always believe the victim. There's nothing really to be gained from exaggerating or lying about the horrible thing that happened to you or your family, so I always have a lot of trust with those people. On the other side of the coin when you talk to the killer or the killer's side of the family you know that everything is going to be said in the very best possible way because they're trying to do a little damage control.

So for me, the big things are never important. I hardly ever ask them about the crime because they're going to lie about it. I ask them about their childhood, about what kind of car they drove - things that are benign but add those layers of detail to the book. I know you're not going to lie to me about the first car you ever drove. You're probably going to tell me the truth. But if I ask you, "Did you suffocate your baby?" You're going to say, "No, I didn't," even when I've got you on videotape doing it.

For every book I've done I've talked to the perpetrator, except in one case - a historical book -but I talk to the perpetrator and I get information and it finds its way into the book.

PL: I imagine those small details are invaluable when you're creating your fictional characters.

GO: Absolutely. I tell people this about my true crime writing, and they ask, "How do you get from crime writing to thriller fiction?" And I feel like that's what I've been training my entire life to do. I interviewed all those people, I hung out with the law enforcement officers, I visited the families who've had the unspeakable happen to them. And I think that has translated well into my fiction.

I keep saying I'm in training. I'm learning all about crime and the criminal mind and now I'm taking all of that and translating it to a new audience in a different way.