New Year’s countdown of 2018 reader favs: day 3

For day 3 of this countdown to readers’ favorite posts from 2018, here’s one with still spot-on tips on thriller writing from a master of historically-based thrillers, Steve Berry, first published March 23, 2018.

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The thought of attending an author’s book tour talk in a restaurant intrigued me. Add that the author was master thriller writer Steve Berry, speaking at one of my favorite Italian restaurants, and, well, count me in. Berry’s specialty is thrillers with a historical hook, and his latest is The Bishop’s Pawn, a fictionalized analysis of the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., on April 4, 1968.

It’s both the most immediately pertinent one, debuting in this 50^th anniversary year of King’s murder, and the hardest for Berry to write, “because it’s history I remember,” he told his audience.

That element of personal remembrance led Berry to alter his long-standing habit of writing books in the third person. For the first time ever in The Bishop’s Pawn, long-time Berry sleuth Cotton Malone speaks in his own right, in first person.

But Berry’s switch from third-person to first-person narration didn’t alter his two must-haves for writing historical thrillers: an “ooh” factor and a “so-what” factor. The “ooh” factor is the book’s hook, its defining historical event. The “so-what” factor is the way that historical event changed the world.

The crux of the story in The Bishop’s Pawn – the possibility of a botched coverup of the assassination due to the conflict between King and then-FBI director J. Edgar Hoover – occurred to Berry about a decade ago. Other layers accrued around the story during the 18 months – and the reading of hundreds of books – that are Berry’s normal research schedule for each book.

“I can’t make up (the history),” Berry said. “It has to be real.”

The more he read – and watched and listened to the video of King’s last iconic “I’ve been to the mountaintop” speech given the night before his death, the more convinced Berry became that King had a presentiment of the end.

Steve Berry & wife Elizabeth

“Listen to it all,” Berry said, noting that King had initially tried to avoid speaking because he was ill, essentially having collapsed after delivering address. “The speech is about mortality. Every word sounds like a man who knew he was about to die.”

“I was very respectful of King and his message. (But) everything went wrong for him in the last year of his life,” Berry said, citing the apparent failure of King’s message of nonviolence in the face of the Vietnam War, and the increasing racial unrest, personal difficulties, and Hoover’s ongoing campaign of persecution.

Following King’s death, Hoover would announce that there had been no conspiracy, and that a drifter named James Earl Ray was the sole killer.

In the present day, when FBI directors seemingly serve only at the whim of a president, it’s difficult to fathom the power Hoover held. Originally appointed as director of the FBI’s predecessor organization in the 1920’s, Hoover helped found the FBI in the following decade. He remained in control of the organization until his death in 1972.

Horrifying allegations against Hoover have surfaced since, many rendered unprovable due to his private secretary’s destruction of Hoover’s secret files.

(Since Hoover’s death, law changes now limit the time an FBI director may serve.)

But to return to Berry’s conspiracy theory. Consider, he said, that James Earl Ray, although untrained, supposedly managed to kill King with a single bullet fired from a rooming house window. “What are the odds?”

Added to the improbable display of marksmanship is the inability to match the badly-fragmented bullet to Ray’s rifle, as well as uncertainty that he was even in the house from which the bullet was supposedly fired. And then there’s Ray’s penchant for both confessing to the killing and endlessly recanting that confession, making him “the perfect guy to (pin) a murder on, because you couldn’t believe anything he said.”

OK, an audience member asked, then who was involved in Berry’s supposed conspiracy against King?

“Can’t tell you,” Berry said with a smile, “because that would give away the book.”

Review: What price for the killing of MLK?

Review of: The Bishop’s Pawn
Author: Steve Berry

Publisher: Minotaur Books
Source: Purchase, Half Price Books
Grade: B

It all started when a rash young naval officer turned lawyer tried to help a friend through a nasty divorce. That was before his survelliance of the friend’s erring wife turned into a shoot-out that landed him in jail, and in the bad graces of his commanding officer. So how can he say no when the Justice Department lawyer, Stephanie Nelle, who bails him out asks only a simple favor in return – retrieval of a rare coin from a wrecked ship?

Except when the young officer’s name is Cotton Malone – the hero of a dozen thrillers from another lawyer named Steve Berry – well, things are never simple. As Berry proves in his latest thriller, The Bishop’s Pawn, in which Malone no sooner reaches the shipwreck than he finds himself deep in an investigation of the assassination of revered civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

Soon Malone is running for his own life, as he tries to learn how the rare coin – the only 1933 gold Double Eagle known to exist outside a museum – is tied to King’s assassination. And how it got into the hands of the beautiful daughter of a member of King’s inner circle. And why, in the book’s 1990-time period, more than 30 years after that 1968 assassination, so many people are willing to kill to recover the secret records behind the killing.

Berry is adept at building thrillers from historical conundrums, but The Bishop’s Pawn is the first that deals with more recent history, history he admitted during a recent Dallas visit was exceptionally difficult to write because King’s assassination was an event he still remembers – as do so many others. The possibility of writing about it has been on his mind for a decade, but he delayed releasing a book until this year, the 50^th anniversary of King’s fatal shooting in 1968.

As if to underline the topic’s personal importance, Berry has also made The Bishop’s Pawn the origin story for his series hero, Cotton Malone, as well as the first novel ever written solely from Malone’s first-person viewpoint. 

In previous books, Berry has used multiple third-person narratives to tell his stories. And Malone has only been known as a man already retired from a career in the U.S. Department of Justice. This time we get a young, brash and often-clueless hero for whom cell phones are still cutting-edge technology (he, personally, doesn’t use them unless they’re forced upon him) and the change does a lot to make Malone more personable.

But though the first-person viewpoint gives the reader a sense of greater intimacy with events, its also underlines one of the problems attendant on historical fiction – the need for explanations of the events. Berry’s use of FBI memos and recordings (some real, some ingenious fictions), are at first fascinating but become pages to be skipped the lengthier they become. Also tedium-inducing are Berry’s well-meant attempts to assure readers he understands the groundbreaking nature of King’s achievements even as he poses justification for his conclusions about who was ultimately responsible for King’s death.  

Unusually for Berry’s stories, the action in The Bishop’s Pawn takes place almost solely in Florida where Berry resides, and Malone (and readers) get a scenic tour of the state – from the Dry Tortugas, site of a 19^th century fort turned national park; to the gigantic freshwater Lake Okeechobee; to St. Augustine, site of one of King’s early civil rights demonstrations; to Disneyworld; and more. Malone, however, has little time for sightseeing, taking the tour at a dead run as he variously flees park rangers, a vengeful Cuban informant, and an array of present and former FBI rogues. 

Looming over everything is the tragedy of Martin Luther King’s death. The role of King’s (fictional) associate, Benjamin Foster has estranged him from his daughter, now possessor of the fabled Double Eagle coin, and by turns Malone’s ally and enemy. Will recordings of conversations between Foster and King destroy both a daughter’s trust in her father and King’s legacy?

Just when I hadn’t thought there could be any more possible theories about the death and its chillingly oddball perpetrator, James Earl Ray, Berry serves up a new and shocking solution. 

Steve Berry on the world-changing must-haves for thrillers

The thought of attending an author’s book tour talk in a restaurant intrigued me. Add that the author was master thriller writer Steve Berry, speaking at one of my favorite Italian restaurants, and well, count me in. Berry’s specialty is thrillers with a historical hook, and his latest is The Bishop’s Pawn, a fictionalized analysis of the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4, 1968. 

It’s both the most immediately pertinent one, debuting in this 50^th anniversary year of King’s murder, and the hardest for Berry to write, “because it’s history I remember.” 

Those elements of personal remembrance may have led Berry to alter his long-standing habit of writing books in the third person. For the first time ever, in The Bishop’s Pawn, long-time Berry sleuth Cotton Malone speaks in the first person, in his own right.

Each book, Berry told his audience this week at Maggiano’s restaurant in Dallas’s NorthPark Center, must possess his two “must-haves: an ‘ooh’ factor and a ‘so-what’ factor.” The “ooh” is the hook. The “so-what” is the way that historical event changed the world.

Berry & wife Elizabeth

The nugget of the story in The Bishop’s Pawn – the possibility of a botched coverup of the assassination due to the conflict between King and then FBI director J. Edgar Hoover -- had come to Berry about a decade ago and wouldn’t let him, Other layers accrued around the story during the 18 months – and the reading of the hundreds of books – that are Berry’s normal research schedule for each book. 

“I can’t make up (the history),” Berry said. “It has to be real.”

And the more he read – and watched and listened to the video of King’s last, iconic “I've been to the mountaintop” speech, given the night before his death, the more convinced he became that King had a presentiment of the end.

“Listen to it all,” Berry told his audience, noting that King had tried to avoid speaking because he was ill essentially collapsed after delivering one of his most famous addresses. “The speech is about mortality. Every word sounds like a man who knew he was about to die.

“I was very respectful of King and his message. (But) everything went wrong for him in the last year of his life,” Berry said, citing the apparent failure of the message of nonviolence in the face of the Vietnam War and increasing racial unrest, personal difficulties, and the ongoing Machiavellian presence of Hoover and his campaign of persecution against King.

Following King’s death, Hoover would make the decision that there had been no conspiracy, and that a drifter named James Earl Ray was the sole killer.

In the present day, when FBI directors seemingly serve only at the whim of a president, it becomes difficult to fathom the degree of power Hoover held. Originally appointed as director of the FBI’s predecessor organization in the 1920’s, Hoover helped found the FBI in the 1930’s and remained in control until his death in 1972. 

Although horrifying allegations against Hoover have surfaced since then, many can never be proven because Hoover’s private secretary destroyed his secret files after his death.

(Since Hoover’s death, law changes now limit the time an FBI director can serve.)

But to return to Berry’s conspiracy theory. Consider, Berry asked his audience, that James Earl Ray was not a trained killer, but supposedly managed with a single bullet fired from a rooming house window, managed to kill King. “What are the odds?”

In addition, the recovered bullet was too fragmented to be matched to Ray’s rifle. And uncertainty that he was even in the house from which the bullet was supposed to have been fired. And Ray’s own penchant for confessing and endlessly recanting that confession, “the perfect guy to (pin) a murder on, because you couldn’t believe anything he said.”

OK, an audience member asked, then who was involved in Berry’s supposed conspiracy against Martin Luther King?

“Can’t tell you,” Berry said with a smile, “because that would give away the book.”

(Later, I hope to provide a review of The Bishop’s Pawn – again, without spoilers – as well as another intriguing offer from Berry, and nuggets about his next book. And even the book after that . . . .)

Wordcraft -- Thrills and spills of thriller writing

I leafed through the schedule for the conference sponsored by the Houston Writer’s Guild, marking possible programs to attend. One was about thriller writing, something I’d meant to try, and the speaker was a lawyer named Larry D. Thompson. I marked it as a maybe. And then the announcer introduced Thompson -- as the younger brother of the late Thomas “Tommy” Thompson, author of the bestselling true crime narrative, Blood and Money.

Thompson’s discussion zoomed from “possibly” to “definitely, absolutely, must hear.” Because besides having an interest in gory details to an extent sometimes embarrassing to my family, I lived in Houston during the events described in Blood and Money, the story of the suspicious death of a Texas socialite, followed by the hit-man style murder of her husband (and the prime suspect in her death). I’d never forgive myself if I didn’t hear what someone who knew Tommy Thompson as well as a brother could, had to say.

“I don’t have to make up stories,” Larry Thompson quoted his brother as saying. “I hear a story and go out and do my investigation.”

He follows his brother’s procedure -- with a twist. Show him a news article and he can imagine a story to go with it.

For his first novel, “I decided to pick a subject that was not in the least bit controversial, so I chose the abortion debate,” he told his conference audience with a self-deprecatingly deadpan expression. The result, So Help Me God, told in the form of a mock trial, was rejected by traditional publishers.

But his dentist and a client read it and liked it. The dentist asked Thompson to run off a few print on demand copies for a book club. After more favorable comments from readers and attention at the publishing conference, BookExpo America, Thompson wrote a second book, dealing with the insanity defense. Although rejected again, it gained Thompson contracts to write his next two books -- The Trial, dealing with pharmaceutical drug testing; and his latest, Dead Peasants, about employers who benefit from life insurance on their employees.

So far, Thompson still writes thrillers around his schedule as a trial lawyer. The key to doing both, he said, is writing consistently, “daily or at least several times a week.“

He heeds his big brother’s advice as well. “(Tommy) said he always quit in the middle of a sentence because he knew he could come back the next day and finish the sentence.”

And he recommends getting to know other thriller writers and their work, for instance, by attending the annual convention ThrillerFest, scheduled for July 11-14 this year in New York. For more about Larry Thompson, see his website, www.larrydthompson.com/. See more about ThrillerFest at www.thrillerfest.com/.

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Want to hear more about thrillers? Steve Berry will discuss his latest book, The Columbus Affair, next week, at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 22, at Highland Park United Methodist Church, 3300 Mockingbird Lane, in Dallas. And Berry will lead a writers’ workshop Wednesday, May 23, at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, 5501 Main St., in Houston. (Not to mention signing volumes at Houston’s Murder By The Book the evening of May 23.)

For information about the Highland Park event, see
www.hpumc.org/authorslive/. Register online for the Houston workshop at www.preservationhouston.org/workshop/. And for information about signings at Murder By The Book, see www.murderbooks.com/.