Jeffery Deaver: ‘I am concerned – will people on the Right question what authors in my genre do?’
Jeffery Deaver’s third Colter Shaw novel, The Final Twist, saw a Californian corporate executive trying to get his business – not a human, an actual business – elected to US Congress. “It’s not likely, it probably wouldn’t happen, and yet, I have to say I was there first, with all respect to Mr Musk and President Trump,” says the hit crime author dryly. “It’s a window into the craziness that’s going on in America.”
The prolific 75-year-old, a former journalist turned novelist, calls the current political situation “abysmal”. “We’re in a very, very difficult and frightening place in America,” he says blankly. He’s particularly concerned about the “dampening effect of political speech” on publishing.
“I’m an outspoken critic, and I think we have a moral duty to speak the truth. I’m an attorney as well, and many of the things [Trump]’s doing aren’t just wrong, they’re illegal, he can’t do that. He’s stepping over the bounds,” he says passionately, flagging the “inexcusable” recent deportation – according to advocacy groups and lawyers – of three young children, including one with cancer, all US citizens, to Honduras in April.
“If someone is born here, they have birthright citizenship. It’s in the Constitution. There’s no debate, and yet he’s challenging it. We have the obligation, I feel, to say, ‘No, that’s wrong. You can’t do it.’”
Regardless, novels are able to offer us “respite” and “take us away from our daily cares. That’s quite important to do,” says Illinois-born Deaver. Hence why, 51 novels down, releasing a new book is “still the thrill of my life”. The latest, South of Nowhere, is his fifth Colter Shaw story (and no, you don’t need to have read the prescient third instalment), and his next Lincoln Rhyme book is on his screen as we speak. “I never get tired of it,” says the man who spends his spare time penning short stories. “They’re like candy to me.”
As with all of his books, South of Nowhere is supremely plot driven and brimful with hairpin twists. “It takes place over two days, non-stop action, surprise, surprise, surprise,” says Deaver, whose calling card is having a big shock ending, followed by three more. This time, Shaw – a curmudgeonly loner, crime solver and trained survivalist who travels the US in a Winnebago looking for rewards for missing persons cases – heads to a small town in northern California on the brink of disaster.
“A levee is about to collapse and a family has fallen into the flooding river in their SUV. Everybody’s given up on them. They’re drowned. They’ve run out of air. They’ve been smashed to death on rocks – Colter doesn’t accept that,” says Deaver dramatically. “It’s probably the only book in the history of writing in which you get bomb-sniffing honey bees. If that doesn’t sell books, I don’t know what does!”
Having sold 50 million (and counting), Deaver is a funny mix of self-deprecating (“I’ve been talking all morning about myself. I wish there were better topics, but that’s what I’m dealing with on book tour,” he says, knocking back water for a scratchy throat) and what is arguably a very American trait; an ability to highlight achievements without a sliver of embarrassment.
He proudly flags that Tracker, the TV adaptation of the Shaw series, is the number one TV show in America right now, and there’s a touch of whimsy to him too. We speak on May 1, which reminds him of his first newspaper appearance, aged six, dancing round a Maypole, “looking, I’m told, adorable” and later leaps up to thrust a framed photo of one of his dogs, a French Briard, in front of the camera. “We almost went to Crufts, but then Covid happened,” he says, sounding genuinely gutted.
With crime fiction usually tending towards cosy or violent true, Deaver’s success isn’t built on female characters constantly ending up victims of rape and murder. “I’m a non-denominational victimiser regarding my killers. No children, no animals, but men and women equally,” he says. “I do not have sexual violence in my books. I think that’s a sign of creative failure. Often, filmmakers or authors can’t think of another way to create suspense.” His hero is director Alfred Hitchcock, who “created suspenseful fiction with very little violence. I try to do the same”.
Deaver may have strong opinions, but he doesn’t preach. “If you have a message, don’t put it in your book, put it on Snapchat or Instagram,” he says. “That’s not to say your book should not have resonance and big issues as an important plot point.”
South of Nowhere for instance, deals with flooding and lack of preparedness for it. “I believe it’s carbon emissions and climate change, but frankly, I don’t care whether you believe that or not, or whether you think there’s a civilisation of dinosaurs living under the crust of the earth creating global warming,” says Deaver. “But it’s here, and it needs to be addressed.
In 2011, Deaver was asked to write an official James Bond novel, Carte Blanche, but even now won’t be drawn on who’ll succeed Daniel Craig in the films. “They don’t tell me! If I did know, do you know what would happen? One of those little red dots would appear on my forehead and that would be it,” he says, putting his hands up. He used to want Australian actor Guy Pearce to play him. “He looks like Bond, he’s slim, he’s got very intense features,” but no luck.
“I haven’t cared for the recent movies, they’re too big and gimmicky. The original books were quite dark, small, psychological and introspective, and Bond was a much more interesting character than this almost supernatural superhero they’ve created,” adds Deaver, who sounds like more of a TV buff anyway. He loves British crime dramas, including Slow Horses, the original House of Cards, and recently, Adolescence (“It was hard to watch, but, important to watch”). He also gets exuberant reminiscing about The Office – the British, not American, version. “Oh my god, it is so good,” he buzzes. “The last episode? I cried.”
South of Nowhere by Jeffery Deaver is published in hardback by HarperCollins, priced £22 (ebook £12.99). Available now.