As a child Gregg Hurwitz just wanted to write stories. That urge has taken the best-selling American thriller author a long way, writes Shane Gilchrist.
A warm yet somewhat robotic voice is emanating from the phone. It's advertising the benefits of a luxury spa at the up-market Sydney hotel where Gregg Hurwitz is staying, although one wonders how he'd fit in a massage given the wham-bam flurry of his various endeavours.
After several minutes, the American thriller writer is on the line, segueing from one interview to the next. He speaks in a manner not dissimilar to the blur of his action-thrillers, his obvious conversational abilities an exercise in the fast and furious (as in fluid, not angry). Still, he sounds relaxed enough.
Perhaps that has something to do with meditation, which Hurwitz attempts "every night and, when I'm smart, during the day, too''. He finds he needs it most on days when he thinks there's no time. Which is most of the time.
The reason for the call is Hurwitz's impending New Zealand tour (including a Dunedin City Library date on Tuesday) to mark the release of his latest novel. Titled The Nowhere Man, it follows his best-selling Orphan X, in which he introduced readers to Evan Smoak, a former black-book operative who has turned his deadly skills to helping those in need.
If Smoak doesn't quite fit the description of a Renaissance man, Hurwitz does: he has written academic articles on Shakespeare, taught fiction writing at the University of Southern California, has a bachelor of arts degree from Harvard (where he was named undergraduate scholar-athlete of the year for his pole-vaulting abilities), a master's in literature from Oxford ... the list goes on.
Born in San Francisco, but having lived in Los Angeles for 20 years, Hurwitz says writing was the only career he ever envisaged, "ever since the fourth grade, when I'd illustrate a story with crayons''.
That instinct has proven to be a good one.
The Nowhere Man is his 17th novel, the latest in a line that began with The Tower (1999) and has seen him nominated for the Crime Writers Association's Ian Fleming Steel Dagger award and the Galaxy National Book Award. At last count, his works have been published in 30 languages. He is also a best-selling comic-book writer, having penned several dozen stories for Marvel (Wolverine, Punisher) and DC (Batman, Penguin).
Oh, and he recently signed a Hollywood deal which will see Orphan X on the big screen. There is talk Bradley Cooper will star as Evan Smoak. Best of all (for Hurwitz), is the fact he'll pen the adaptation.
"The screenplay is about approaching it from a different perspective, asking what are the key lines and themes that I need to keep. But I have a running start compared to writing other screenplays because I've already done the research and I know the characters inside and out.''
On the subject of characters, Hurwitz's Evan Smoak is a combination of Lee Child's loner figure Jack Reacher and Robert Ludlum's ex-spy Jason Bourne; he also also touches on the vigilante inclinations of Batman, sans the cape and mask yet with a man-cave full of weaponry, electronic wizardry and access to more money than you could shake a knuckleduster at.
Asked how he arrived at this figure, Hurwitz's answer suggests it pays to listen to your mates: "I have some friends who are Green Berets and Navy Seals and they talked about these black-book operations.
"So it got me thinking about a kid that nobody wants, who is taken from a foster home and trained to become a world-class assassin. But I also wanted to portray his handler as a really good human who becomes a father figure to him.
"The key to me, how the series coalesces, is when the handler says, `the hard part isn't making you a killer; it's keeping you a human being'.''
That single line of text sets up a range of story-telling devices, allowing Hurwitz to explore notions of justice, be it public perceptions of justice served or a more personalised morality, in which revenge is depicted as a dish served both warm (quickly, efficiently) and cold (there are long-range narrative arcs at play, too).
"By the time the reader meets Evan, he has already left the government programme because the moral ambiguity of it becomes too much for him. Essentially, he becomes a pro-bono assassin, only offering his services to those who have nowhere else to turn.''
It might be fast-paced action escapism, yet Hurwitz's chosen genre also requires a certain grounding in reality. That includes detailed descriptions, ranging from ballistics to hand-to-hand combat to Samurai sword scabbards to urban landscapes both shiny and shambolic.
All of which suggests Hurwitz enjoys immersing himself in various subjects. Yes? No?
"I do go pretty deep,'' he confirms.
"Every gun that Evan shoots, I have fired. I have trained in mixed martial arts fighting, which generally involves introducing my face to the training man. I want to be able to give readers a front-row seat to the action.''
He has also swum with sharks in the Galapagos Islands, blown things up with US Navy Seals, jumped out of planes as well as investigated cults.
"If I haven't done it, I don't know how to bring it to life as well. So I get choked-out for all the readers out there.''
The talk
Join Gregg Hurwitz as he chats to Vanda Symon about his latest thriller, The Nowhere Man (Penguin Random House). Dunningham Suite, 4th Floor, Dunedin City Library, Tuesday, February 28, 6pm (free, bookings essential).
Win a copy
The ODT has five copies of The Nowhere Man (RRP $37) to give away courtesy of publisher Penguin Random House. For your chance to win a copy, email playtime@odt.co.nz with your name and postal address in the body of the email, and ‘‘The Nowhere Man Book Competition’’ in the subject line, by 5pm Tuesday, February 28.
LAST WEEK’S WINNERS
Winners of last week’s giveaway, The Pretty Delicious Cafe, by Danielle Hawkins, courtesy of HarperCollins, were: Alexa Craig, Murray Kokich, Pat Ehrhardt, John Harrison and K. Sturgeon.
