An Interview With Meg Gardiner By Steve Rudd

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Meg Gardiner is an incredible Thriller writer, brought up in the US but currently residing in the UK. Her debut novel called China Lake provided the perfect showcase for her amazing talents, and since its publication there has been no stopping her when it comes to writing novels, with Mission Canyon, Jericho Point and Crosscut being other well-known books of hers that been critically acclaimed on an international level. Here she chats openly to Steve Rudd - in an exclusive interview for www.thisisull.com - about the whole shebang... Hi Meg, how are things? Hey, Steve. Things are rolling along.

You are the acclaimed author of four fantastic thriller novels called China Lake, Mission Canyon, Jericho Point and Crosscut. Do you happen to have a personal favourite out of those four, or are they all special in their own unique ways? Thanks. The cheque's in the mail. Books are like kids - each singular. I love Crosscut because the thriller plot, in which a serial killer hunts down Evan Delaney's high school class, was just relentless. Jericho Point because creating a scam involving identity theft was great fun, and because the plot flips between terror and humour.

Mission Canyon because the main characters attack the demons that have shattered their lives. China Lake because it was my first baby, and let me exorcise my anger at religious extremists.

You used to practise law before turning your priorities in favour of caring for your children and writing. Is there anything you miss about your career in law? Winning. Before writing your debut novel China Lake, you indulged in a bit of travel writing. Do you still find time to do any travel writing if you go anywhere suitably far-flung and exotic to inspire you to put pen to paper about such places? Wherever I go, I put pen to paper.

That's the only way to capture the nuances of a place, the things we forget later on - the tone of the light, the music rattling from apartment windows, the way young men strut and laugh with each other, whether it's LA or Zimbabwe. My travel journal has provided inspiration for my next novel, which sends the heroine from California to Thailand and the UK.

What did it feel like when China Lake was first published, and have you found it any easier to write your subsequent novels given the momentum that the success of China Lake brought? When China Lake was sold I phoned my husband, so euphoric I could hardly speak, and said, "Sit down." He said, "Oh, God, something's happened to Mom, hasn't it?" Since then the writing hasn't gotten easier, but I hope it keeps getting better - you learn how to ramp up the tension, throw in more surprises, give the characters greater challenges and greater depth.

Continued .... Next Page

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