Barnes & Noble Bookstore Speech
My new novel, Dark Ambition, is about the assassination of a cabinet officer. It has a subplot that involves China and Taiwan. But most of all, Dark Ambition is about people who come to Washington to take important positions in government and end up destroying themselves and others in their grasp for even more power.
Dark Ambition which is a mass market paperback release came out two months ago, Im really excited about it. My publisher, Penguin Putnam, has widely distributed the book, and people have been calling to tell me that theyre seeing it everywhere. Equally important, I received a wonderful review in Publishers Weekly, the trade magazine for the publishing industry. I want to read the first sentence and the last two sentences of this review:
John Grisham and Richard North Patterson may have a new successor in Topol...
As entertaining as it is complex, this energetic narrative is loaded with close calls and compelling relationships.
When my agent gave Doug the new book, Dark Ambition, Doug called to say, hey, I really like it. Ive got a few suggestions for you which Ill forward.
As I look around, I see many people who read Spy Dance and told me how much they enjoyed it. I want to thank you for your support and everyone who took the time to come today (or this evening).
One of the nicest comments I received about Spy Dance came from a friend and a client, who lives in Pittsburgh. He called and said, I had to put blindfolds on my eyes for two nights because my wife refused to put the book down, turn out the lights and come to bed.
For me, a novel has four basic elements: plot, characters, setting and theme.
I dont want to tell you any more about the plot of Dark Ambition, or you wont want to buy and read the book. I will tell you, however, that my objective is to have the reader keep turning pages in order to find out what happens next.
Fourteen months ago, my previous book Spy Dance was published by Penguin Putnam, also as a mass market paperback. Then a funny thing happened with Spy Dance after publication. It not only received good reviews and many favorable comments from readers, but to my great joy, and the astonishment of my publisher, the book actually became a national bestseller. When we made the Barnes & Noble top 50 mass market bestsellers from around the country two weeks in a row, placing 30 and 34th, right up there with Clancy and the big boys, I called Doug Grad, my editor, and said, hey, you didnt tell me this would happen. Always honest, Doug said, well, we didnt expect it ourselves. Others at Penguin Putnam agreed because they began describing Spy Dance in promotional materials as a sleeper hit.
Lets now talk a little about the other three elements in Dark Ambition, namely characters, setting and theme.
First characters.
Ben Hartwell, the Justice Department lawyer assigned to the assassination case, is a hardworking conscientious prosecutor, while struggling to raise a four-year old daughter as a single parent. His wife died of lymphoma last year. As Ben knows very well in Washington, nothing is as it seems. He not only has a boss angling for a federal judicial appointment on his back, but some of the people closest to the president who have their own hidden agendas. And theyre willing to use and manipulate Ben.
He clashes early and often with Jennifer, a former actress turned lawyer when the casting couch drove her out of Hollywood. She and Ben had some past scores to settle with each other. When she takes over the defense of the accused, sparks fly.
Gwen, the villain in Dark Ambition was described by my editor Doug as one of the most diabolical hes ever worked with. And why not? Shes a psychopath trained by the CIA to kill terrorists and brought to the party by one of the Washington insiders.
Ed Fulton, a young White House counsel, is working for Slater, the presidents chief of staff. Fulton is smart, brash and arrogant. He is willing to do whatever it takes to get ahead. And he has a wife, Theo, whos not getting out of her life and her marriage what she expected. I enjoyed creating these characters. I had plenty of real life models.
Setting. Most of the book takes place in Washington. However, there are scenes in Zurich, London, Taiwan and China. I love those exotic foreign places, especially the ones that have great restaurants.
Finally, the book has two serious background issues. The first concerns powerful men and women who come to Washington to take high-level jobs in the government and during their years in this city end up destroying themselves and other people in one of those scandals that continually surface in every administration. The driving force is usually a desire for power, sex or money, or a combination of all three. We have people like that in Dark Ambition, and I try to explore their motivation.
This issue raises a number of questions. First, do you agree with me that people get into trouble in these scandals more often in Washington than elsewhere? Second, if thats the case, then is the reason that people inclined to these types of actions are attracted to Washington? Or is it because theres something here in our city that corrupts innocent people when they get here? Something in the air. Not literally of course, but figuratively.
The second issue is presented in a subplot involving China and Taiwan. The Chinese view the island of Taiwan as a renegade province. Hundreds of missile batteries are in place on the mainland aimed at the heart of Taiwan. I have a Chinese Ambassador to Washington as a character in the novel.
Dark Ambition is not a legal thriller. Only one brief scene takes place in a courtroom.
The story becomes an effort to find out what really happened. Involved are a lifetime of political intrigues, private indiscretions and questionable ties to the Chinese government.
The themes are important, but they are not an end itself. Ultimately, Dark Ambition is about people. I hope that you will relate to them and care about them as much as I did in writing the book. If you read Dark Ambition and you have the inclination, I would love to hear any of your reactions on my website. Real easy to remember: www.AllanTopol.com.
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