ROBERT  ELLIS

T H R I L L E R   F I C T I O N

I’ve Read All Your Books. Why Did You Start with Access to Power?


Access to Power is adapted from a screenplay I wrote called Hidden Agenda. It’s a story that probably seems close to home these days. A conspiracy to rig an election by any means necessary, including murder, that moves like the TV series 24, fast and fun and thrilling, before the TV series was ever made. It was a spec script, and it really took off. Dustin Hoffman was involved early, and I spent hours with the heads of production at Imagine and Fox, who would later make 24. I always wanted to novelize the script. Once I got started, I realized that I loved writing novels more than screenplays. The idea that the novelization could include what a character is thinking blew me away. The finished adaption was sold within three days as part of a two-book deal. After an OMG moment, I got started on what came next.

Lena Gamble Is My Favorite. How Did You Come Up with Such an Inspiring Character?


There wasn’t really a workable model by another writer that I could use as an example. I knew that I wanted Lena Gamble to be special. For me she couldn’t be drawn as a cartoon or superhero or male character with a woman’s name. She had to be alive. She had to be real. Someone who was acutely aware of her limitations but also her strengths. And like Teddy from The Dead Room, and despite their young age, she had to have gone through something horrific in her past. Something tragic, something tough that knocked her down. Lena Gamble had to be the kind of person who gets back up. That’s all happening in City of Fire. And while Teddy Mack makes a brief appearance with a profile of the serial killer, I could never come back because Lena Gamble became so popular. It was a really good thing going on; a real thrill for me as an author that City of Fire reached so many readers and had so many dedicated booksellers. And that the character was winning over so many other authors like Janet Evanovich and Michael Connelly. Lena Gamble was someone people talked about like she was alive. Readers were emulating her and wanting to meet her. At book signings to this day, someone always asks if I have her phone number.

I Discovered You with The Dead Room. What Teddy Mack Goes Through is Amazing. Why Isn’t This a Series?


The Dead Room was my first book from the ground up. And to tell you the truth, I had every intention of making it a series. Who wouldn’t? A young civil attorney just out of law school is forced by a partner at his firm to represent a gruesome serial killer. What Teddy Mack goes through in this novel shakes a lot of people up. And inventing his nemesis, Eddie Trisco, the 'E.T. Killer,' was a new high for me as a writer. The book was going to be dedicated to my father, who introduced me to Thomas Harris’s Red Dragon, so I was driven to make every word in The Dead Room count. When I finished the book and started thinking about what came next, it occurred to me that Teddy needed some sort of partner like Sherlock Holmes had in Dr. Watson. At some point I decided that Teddy’s personal story would be more meaningful if his partner was a woman. And if the partnership was to really click, she’d have to be someone who had been through an ordeal as horrific as Teddy’s, or even better, if her journey was even more dangerous. Enter rookie Detective Lena Gamble in City of Fire.

I Love Matt Jones as Much as I Do Lena Gamble, But Why Did You Start a Second Series?


I once met an author whom I admire at a book signing who said that he writes what he likes to read. I love writing thrillers. And one of the reasons why is that the stories are unlike any other in crime fiction. Thrillers are about people like you and me. The characters are innocent. Even if they’re an attorney like Teddy Mack or a detective like Lena Gamble, they’re drawn out of real life and just like us, vulnerable in some way. After Lena Gamble’s success in The Lost Witness and Murder Season, I wanted to follow up with a character who had a fresh set of vulnerabilities and strengths. Someone young like her, and as I thought it through, maybe a potential partner for her other than an attorney like Teddy Mack. Maybe a male detective on his very first night working his very first murder case. And maybe that murder case hits close to home and becomes just as personal and emotional as Lena’s first case in City of Fire. And that’s exactly how it happened. Detective Matt Jones from Hollywood Homicide would make his debut in City of Echoes. It was thrilling. A really exciting ride. And writing that ending took me out.

We Visited Los Angeles and Couldn’t Wait to Go to the Blackbird Café but Couldn’t Find It! Is the Blackbird Café a Real Place?


Lena Gamble found the Blackbird Café through her musician brother, and Matt Jones found the Blackbird through Lena. It’s a wonderful café with an incredible view of downtown Los Angeles and the city, fine art and photography on the walls, good books on the shelves, and the rich smell of strong coffee in the air. And no one’s loud or boisterous at the Blackbird. It’s a mysterious place but sacred like a good reading room in a city library. I love it. If you can’t find it, I’ll bet if you close your eyes, it’ll be just around the next corner.

Should I Read Your Books in Order?


I remember a friend telling me that she had just read a book she thought I might like. It turned out to be exactly what I’d been looking for. Once I realized that it was book 3 in a series, I was thrilled and read book 1, then 2, then 3 again, and on from there. For me it’s more fun to read books in the order they were written. With the Lena Gamble novels, I think where she came from adds something to the rest of the series. And with the Matt Jones thrillers, reading City of Echoes before you get to The Love Killings, and then onward, amps up the thrills and makes it totally worth it. But in both series, you can start anywhere, know exactly what’s going on, and have a good time reading these books.

What Are You Working on Now?


I think that the fifth novel in the Matt Jones series, I'm All Better Now, is a very special book for me. A thriller where Matt's relationship with his number one person of interest is so close, so captivating, so dangerous, that it opens the door to a lot of possibilities. I never expected Kelly Norwood to be who she turned out to be. And I'm guessing Matt didn't either. As the author, I can't wait to see what comes next.

Why Are Your Books So Violent?


I was confronted with violence as a child, and as a teen, forced to defend someone I loved. It was very scary, and I made a deal with myself that my life would always be about making the world a better place. I know there are some authors out there, filmmakers, too, who portray violence for its own sake. Gratuitous violence to cover what I believe they lack as creative artists. As far as my work goes, no matter how gritty things might get, the violence is always driven by plot and character, and the needs of the story’s premise and theme. Sometimes I’ll work the edges in order to underline the depravity of a character, but I don’t think I’ve ever crossed the line. I’ve always made it a point to remain true to this wonderful genre. Believe me, if the book you’re reading is any good, it’s not the violence that made it that way.

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