141: Brad Parks - Closer Than You Know

They say you should write what you know. Sometimes that creates a boring book but in the hands of a master like Brad Parks it creates a book that you want to devour in one sitting. Or in my case one flight to Omaha with a layover in Atlanta. In his latest book Brad departs from his male protagonists and writes from the perspective of a woman protagonist. I loved what he had to say about how he put himself into that mindset and what the women in his life had to say about it too Listen as Brad and I talk about where he gets his ideas, how he keeps himself whole while he writes about the topics he writes about and what he keeps in mind when he writes every book he writes. We also get into a conversation about how the organization at the center of his Closer Than You Know can be fixed. I did not get him to break into song so I will have to have him back on the show! Brad Parks is the only author to have won the Shamus, Nero and Lefty Awards, three of crime fiction's most prestigious prizes. His first standalone thriller, Say Nothing, released March 2017 from Dutton Books in the U.S., along with thirteen other publishers worldwide. Parks's six previous novels chart the adventures of sometimes-dashing investigative newspaper reporter Carter Ross, and have collectively won stars from every major pre-publication review outlet. A graduate of Dartmouth College, Parks is a former journalist with The Washington Post and The(Newark, N.J.) Star-Ledger. He is now a full-time novelist living in Virginia with his wife and two school-aged children.