Thanks to Mark Gilleo and Partners in Crime tours for sending me an e-copy of Love They Neighbor to review and the opportunity to ask Mark 5Ws!
Title: Love Thy Neighbor
Author: Mark Gilleo
Paperback: 438 pages (also available in e-books)
Publisher: The Story Plant (March 27, 2012)
Synposis:
Clark Hayden is a graduate student trying to help his mother navigate through the loss of his father while she continues to live in their house near Washington DC. With his mother’s diminishing mental capacity becoming the norm, Clark expects a certain amount of craziness as he heads home for the holidays. What he couldn’t possibly anticipate, though, is that he would find himself catapulted into the middle of a terrorist operation. As the holiday festivities reach a crescendo, a terrorist cell – which happens to be across the street – is activated. Suddenly Clark is discovering things he never knew about deadly chemicals, secret government operations, suspiciously missing neighbors, and the intentions of a gorgeous IRS auditor. Clark’s quiet suburban neighborhood is about to become one of the most deadly places on the planet, and it’s up to Clark to prevent the loss of hundreds of thousands of innocent lives in the nation’s capital.
Fast, acerbic, wise and endlessly exciting, LOVE THY NEIGHBOR marks the unforgettable debut of a startling new voice in suspense fiction.
Review:
I read a lot of books. A LOT of books. I share lots of titles with friends and fellow book lovers…either through my blog or with friends I run into in the real world. But I was really pushing Love Thy Neighbor. You would have thought Mark hired me to stop people on the street and say “I am reading this great book. It’s got me on pins and needles. You would love it!” Incidentally, he didn’t hire me.
I think the best part of Love They Neighbor is that it’s told from two viewpoints. You get to see what’s happening to the innocent neighbor who isn’t sure if he’s living next to terrorists (which his mother swears is true) or if his mother is just a little senile. So he starts poking around…not an easy task since he has no training, no ins in the police department, and a lot of people seem determined not to investigate. Then you get the story through the eyes of the supposed terrorist. And, like all good terrorists, this one doesn’t share the entire plan…even with the most trusted aides…so you’re never sure what you’re hearing and seeing is the truth or part of an elaborate plan to hide the true terrorist attack.
When I was trying to think of a word to describe Love They Neighbor spiderweb popped into my mind. Not an orderly, symmetrical spiderweb but a crazy, random one created by the Jackson Pollack of spiders. A jumble of lines that, amazingly enough, all connect eventually. And it’s up to Clark Hayden, and the crazy investigative team he creates to understand how all these random people, places, motives, and plans come together to create a terrorist attack.
Love They Neighbor had me on the edge of my seat because it wasn’t easy to predict what would happen next or why. Surprises jumped out with every turn of the page. This was a great — a very scary — novel about terrorist activity and the coincidences and good luck that unite to stop what seems like a foolproof plan.
5Ws with Mark Gilleo
Although in this case it’s only 4Ws! But that’s OK, because even with just four questions Mark has some interesting things to say.
WHO
Who are your favorite authors? Who are you reading right now?
The first novel I remember reading was the original Aliens. I was probably twelve years old, and it was a book that my mother had just finished reading. There were quite a few words I didn’t know, and some of the dialogue I didn’t fully grasp, but I read it until the end. I didn’t sleep well for a few days. (I still remember the cover of that book….it had a large egg standing on its end with green ooze pouring from it.) I followed that up with Cujo, figuring I should balance out my fears and also be afraid of something on the planet. Somewhere in the early reading line-up was Vixen O3 by Clive Cussler.
In high school, my reading was largely limited to what I was required to read. We read the classics – Shakespeare, Dante, Salinger, Steinbeck. We also read some pretty contemporary stuff at the time, like the Dune series.
Coming out of college I started reading strictly for pleasure/entertainment. I spent some time overseas, had time to kill and a small library of books left behind from formerly stranded Americans. I read all of Stephen King’s early stuff. I remember reading Ken Follet and Tom Clancy back-to-back, everything they had published up until that point. By the time I read John Grisham, I was limiting myself to a lot of commercial, mainstream, contemporary fiction. I loved John Grisham’s first seven or eight novels. I read everything by Patricia Cornwell. As thirty came knocking on my door, I found Baldacci after he was already pretty well-known. I love his stuff. Right after Baldacci, I read my way through Nelson DeMille. He writes the best first-person stories I have seen. Dan Brown, of course, had a couple of good ones too. I love Barry Eisler and his John Rain series. I just finished one of his books. I am currently reading a non-fiction book, Ghetto at the Center of the World. Typically, when I am in full-blown writing mode, I don’t read fiction. I will switch to non-fiction.
WHEN
When did you get the idea for Love Thy Neighbor?
In the spring of 2002, I was standing in the kitchen, arm resting on the door frame, talking on the phone to a friend from Halifax, Nova Scotia, when I had a sudden urge to write a novel. I distinctly remember hanging up the phone and thinking, “What a curious thought!” Life went on and I spent the next few months trying to dodge the feeling I had felt. The urge seemed to lurk behind the scenes of everyday life and intermittently pounce on me like Cato from the Pink Panther.
WHERE
Where did you write Love Thy Neighbor?
A few months later I succumbed, sat down and started pounding on the keys of an old Toshiba laptop. I had no outline, no preparation, and no idea where I was going with the story. When I finished the first draft in the summer of that same year, I printed out a copy of the manuscript and took it with me on a vacation to the Outer Banks. I felt as if I were a musician who had walked by a piano, paused, considered the possibility for a moment, and then sat down and played something that didn’t have people running from the room. (Although writing a book can take as long as it does to learn to play the piano, it is easier to get people to sacrifice two minutes to listen to a song than it is to get them to read a book.)
When I finished reading the first draft I thought that perhaps it was good enough that I should attempt to write something else.
WHY
Why did you decide to begin writing novels? Why thrillers?
I think I write thrillers because they are the type of book I like to read. I wouldn’t rule out other genres, but you probably won’t see any romance novels or non-fiction from me. Then again, life is long, nothing is static, so who knows.
