The Con Man

"This was another life-changing book for me. At the age of 14, in England in the early 1960s, I was steeped in the traditional, often slightly dull, crime novel culture. Then I picked up Con Man and I was just blown away. It is set in the 87th precinct of New York and was very different to the English tradition of the time of having a murder in the first chapter and then working back to find out who had done it. This book was a breath of fresh air. Let me read you the opening lines which have this energy to them: “Everyone has a right to earn a living. That is the American way. You get up there and sweat and you make a buck. And you invest that buck in lemons and sugar. The water and ice, you get free. You’ve got yourself a little lemonade stand by the side of the road, and pretty soon you are pulling in five bucks a week…” There is a lovely flow to his writing, which rapidly gets very dark. I think the best crime writers are the ones that really give you a sense of place, and I could smell and feel and breathe that district in New York long before I ever went there. I think characters drive every story, because if you care about the characters you care about what happens next. I think that different writers have their own technique. I like short chapters, and I like to read books with short chapters because I tend to read at night in bed when I am tired, and if I pick up a book and I see 38 pages I think, “Oh shit, I will read it tomorrow.” But if I see it is only a few pages I am more likely to read it. Short punchy chapters are one big key to it. I have an imaginary card sitting beside my computer when I am writing that says, is this going to make the reader want to read the next sentence?"