‘Patronise thriller readers at your own peril’

Alex Michaelides is a familiar name for thriller readers. His first book, The Silent Patient (2019), a runaway worldwide bestseller, was followed by the darker but equally haunting The Maidens (2021). Alex is out with his third novel, Fury, which is rapidly climbing up the charts. The premise of Fury — seven people stuck on a remote Greek island where a murderer is on the prowl — is a tribute to his favourite author Agatha Christie, Alex tells DH in an interview. Excerpts

What are your earliest memories of reading? Your favourite authors while growing up?

My earliest memory is of my sister reading Tintin to me. She used to do the different voices for all the characters and I would sit next to her and look at the pictures. I still go back to Tintin — The Castafiore Emerald, for instance, is the perfect mystery. My mother was an English teacher and our house was full of books. What actually made me into a reader though was Agatha Christie. I was 12 or 13 when I broke into my sister’s room — she had a collection and the covers used to be terrifying with exploding tennis rackets and big eyeballs! And Then There Were None was the first one I read. For all of us readers, there is this moment when we fall in love with reading; for me, it was that summer and I have been chasing that experience my whole life.

You hide a hat tip to Christie in Fury and then turn her plot device on its head...

The ghost of Christie looms so large when you pick up a novel where people are being murdered on an island that I thought instead of avoiding the comparisons, I should have fun with it! Thriller readers are nowadays very sophisticated and you patronise them at your own peril. I thought having a narrator who is aware of the conventions of the genre would be an interesting interplay between him and the reader.

Did your background in psychotherapy help you write crime novels?

It made me into a better writer for sure! I always had good ideas for plots but I was immature, shallow and screwed up! Only after first being in therapy myself, then studying it and eventually working in a psychiatric unit, did things shift and I understood human beings a little better. It amazes me when people write profound stuff in their 20s! I could never have done that.

What would you say is the most crucial aspect of a crime novel? Plot? Writing?

I do not think it is the writing. I feel every crime writer is a frustrated literary novelist! Plot is paramount and next come characters. I study Christie for the plot, but it is Ruth Rendell I go to for characters. Her characters are haunting and gripping. A good crime novel is for me a dance between plot and characters.

The unreliable narrator has become a popular device. Tell us a bit more about finding the narrator’s voice.

Fury was originally a third-person narration. My editor did not like the way it was written and thought the twist was silly. I then had the idea that a minor character could tell the story — a bit like the Hollywood films of the 1940s, which often had a wry, sarcastic voice-over. And so the narration was entrusted to Elliot, the maker of cocktails and the teller of wisecracks.

What is your writing process?

I wrote my first book on weekends when I was working as a screenwriter and not a very successful one at that. With my second novel, I spoke to a writer friend of mine who asked me to write in a way that makes me happy. I thought to myself: Will it make me happy to write one chapter a day? I found that satisfying and manageable and that’s what I have stuck to. I am also superstitious while writing. I am like a hermit: I do not drink when writing the first draft and I meditate every day. It helps me sift through my thoughts — many of them negative, as you can imagine, with all the crime and gore.

Both of your previous books were bestsellers. Did you feel any pressure while writing Fury?

Any pressure I have felt is self-inflicted. I am beginning to realise that the success of The Silent Patient is like being hit by lightning — it has sold over seven million copies. Will I be able to top that ever? I have to figure out a way to keep writing to simply enjoy the process, I guess.

Rumours abound about your books being adapted for the screen...

You should hear good news about The Silent Patient soon. The Maidens will be made into a series and I will soon be adapting Fury into a screenplay myself.

Your books are bestsellers in India. Any plans of visiting or setting your next book here?

In fact, I will be visiting India soon — to do some research to see if I can set my next book there!