What inspired you to write A KILLER IN THE FAMILY?

 

The book was formed by a variety of impulses.

 

When I came to America in 1985, I read a lot of classic American novels. One that resonated with me was THE GREAT GATSBY, and since then I have re-read it every few years. Only recently did I realize why it affected me so deeply: Gatsby, like me, is an outsider who seeks to be included into the American dream of success and affluence. So I have always wanted to write an immigrant version of THE GREAT GATSBY.

 

I’m also fascinated by family dynamics: How families hide secrets.  How they create myths. How power is exerted.  No wonder that ‘The Godfather’ and ‘Succession’ are two of my favorites! My own family has a huge hidden secret: My mother comes from an Indian business family, and her great-uncle had a Jewish mistress and fathered two sons outside the family. This was apparently an open secret, and living with this lie affected my entire family, and even led to trauma in the next generation.

 

I combined these elements (along with plotting skills gained from previously writing two thrillers) to create the Khans, a filthy rich Indian American family who run a vast real estate empire. And like Nick Carraway in THE GREAT GATSBY, I created an outside narrator, Ali Azeem, who marries into the family, and is sucked into their vortex.

 

I enjoyed creating the Khans, with their hidden sexual lives, bad behavior, private jets, estates, and international lifestyles. They have become real to me, and I now find myself wondering what shenanigans the Khans are up to, as they scheme and battle their way to the top of American life.

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What is your writing process?

 

I’m a very visual person, and I need to see the story in my head, like a movie.

 

I usually start with a couple of visual images: In the case of KILLER, I imagined a Gatsby-like successful businessman sitting in his estate out in Long Island, looking to marry off his daughter. And I had poor, feckless Ali, who is lounging around Mumbai, dreading an arranged marriage, but is powerless stop it. The novel grew out of this dynamic.

 

Like a screenwriter, I start with a stack of index cards and fill in the scenes that are in my head. Then I write scenes to connect them, and when I have an entire story outlined, I lay out the index cards on my desk and re-write and re-arranging till I can see the entire ‘movie’ in my head. Only when I have a pretty strong idea of the plot do I begin writing pages.

 

I am trained as an architect, so I’m used to creating complex structures: starting with initial sketches, trying and failing till I find one that works. I try to design my novels as much as write them.

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What’s it like to have a ‘debut’ novel coming out at age 58? 

 

I started writing in my late thirties, going to evening adult-ed classes, and soon I was hooked. I was a working architect, and the only times I’d get to write were early morning, before work, or late at night. Sometimes I’d sit in my car at lunchtime and write. I quickly understood that I would have to write a lot before I was any good, and so, over the years, I rearranged my life so I’d have time to develop. Luckily, my girlfriend at the time (now my wife) is an academic and a writer, and she encouraged and supported me, even though we were broke most of the time.

 

The last two decades have been a strange journey. Along the way, I published two thrillers and a prize-winning book of short stories, and three novels that are ‘in the drawer’—but I was still finding my subject matter. I made a breakthrough in my own writing once I began teaching creative writing to undergraduates. I had to think long and hard about what made a piece of writing feel authentic, and I realized that I was not drawing enough from my personal history. 

 

Once I could tap into my own emotions, KILLER came very quickly. I wrote it in a year, and it was really a pleasure. The characters seemed real. After I finished the book, I became quite depressed, as I missed the world of the Khans. 

 

I was lucky enough to find a publisher with integrity and vision, and now I’m looking forward to sharing the book with the world. I hope readers like it as much as I do.

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What do you like to read?

 

I like novels where you read the first paragraph and think, Oh yes, I’m in good hands. I trust this author. I’ll stand in a bookstore and read the first page of several novels, and when one speaks to me, I’ll read it. 

 

People seem to think that literary fiction has to be ‘difficult’ and be character based, and that genre fiction is solely plot driven. I like novels that have the richness of literary fiction, with complex characters, and I also like a well-plotted book that has me returning to it, night after night.

 

My most beloved book has to be THE SECRET HISTORY by Donna Tartt. I can’t wait for her next book to come out. I’ll read anything by Kate Atkinson, Elena Ferrante and Elizabeth Strout. John Banville has his literary novels, and also his ‘Benjamin Black’ detective series that I follow faithfully. For my money, the best writers around right now are Lauren Groff and Emma Kline, whose characters live on in your mind. Deepti Kapoor’s new Indian crime novel, AGE OF VICE, was an inspiration for me.

 

And that’s just novels. My son is an artist and got me into comics and now I’m a huge fan of Chris Ware, Charles Burns, Daniel Clowes, Anders Nilsen…the list goes on. 

 

Bottom line is that I have to always have something to read. If there are no books around, I’ll read the back of a box of cereal.

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What’s next for you?

 

I’m working on a book that is a murder mystery, set in the fashion industry, and featuring yet another messed up Indian family. It’s set in Mumbai, India, so mentally I’m back there now. 

 

And I have an idea cooking for another book about the Khans, set a decade after the last one, when something comes out of the 1970s to haunt the family…. These ideas are all cooking right now in my head. So who knows?

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Anything else you want your readers to know?

 

I’m an avid reader, so I know that each novel I read is a double investment: I’m investing in the cost of the book, and also 8 to 10 hours of my time reading the book.

 

Dear reader, I’d like you to know that I’ve done my best to keep up my end of the bargain: I’ve worked hard to create a story that will intrigue you.  I’ve also worked hard to get to some truths in this book: about marriage, family, money, trust, shame, secrets. In case I fall short in places, I apologize. I hope this book will be good enough for you to read my next one!