David BaldacciDuring a flight to a recent engagement, author David Baldacci was surprised to see the pilot leave the cockpit, walk back into the cabin and sit down in the seat beside him.
Leaning across the armrest, the captain confided, "I've got a great idea for a story! Want to hear it?"
"Land the plane safely, and I'll listen to your idea," Baldacci responded. "He did... and I did."
Fan reactions never cease to amaze and entertain Baldacci, 54, whose thrillers have topped 110 million in sales, have been translated into 45 languages, adapted to films and the television series "King and Maxwell." The author was in Atlanta last week to promote his newly released 30th novel, "Memory Man" (Grand Central Publishing, $28).
In "Memory Man," Baldacci introduces new character Amos Decker, who the author claims is unlike any he's created. Taking such a leap into the unknown is necessary for writers, he believes, because "fear is the antidote for complacency."
Decker has been dealt two life-changing events: the first a traumatic football head injury that left him with the improbable side effect of a photographic memory. He can never forget anything he sees -- an invaluable trait in his job as a police detective.
The second involves the murder of his wife, daughter and brother-in-law. Their deaths send Decker into a downward spiral that costs him his job. He ends up homeless on the streets before finally pulling himself together enough to pick up odd jobs as a private investigator. Just as he starts life over, a man turns himself into the police, confessing to the murders of Decker's family. Decker is called upon to help the police.
"As soon as I wrote the first page, I knew I was going to bring this guy back," Baldacci says. "I've never created a guy like this before. Amos is about 100 pounds overweight, not in good shape, has been homeless. I wanted readers to focus on the mind, not the physicality of the guy."
Displaying a wry, self-deprecating sense of humor, Baldacci keeps his audience of about 100 fans entertained for over an hour during his book tour stop at the Margaret Mitchell House in Atlanta. He jokes about being mistaken frequently for his friend John Grisham; why he never will approach someone he sees reading his novels; and the importance of always checking who's within earshot when plotting a murder.
Among his revelations:
* "I've got this rule: When I see somebody out in public reading one of my novels, I'll never go up to them. I don't want to intrude on their privacy just like I wouldn't want someone to intrude on mine. And, second, if they don't like it, I don't want to hear about it. That's what Amazon review boards are for."
* The No. 1 fan question he is asked: What it's like to be a best-selling novelist? "They expect some sort of glitzy Hollywood answer like, 'I get up at one every day and I go down to my study where there are people waiting to write down everything I say.' My life is not like that. When I get home, my wife tells me the trash is waiting to go out."
To illustrate this reality, he tells the story of years ago taking his daughter to one of his book signings. When he asked if she knew why all these people were there to have Daddy sign books, she answered, "Because my Daddy has the nicest handwriting."
* Another recurring question: Why he never writes about "damsels in distress." "Because I don't know any. I'm certainly not married to one," he says.
Baldacci adds that his wife, Michelle, was the role model for his fictional Michelle Maxwell, "a kick-butt kind of woman." Maxwell is the disgraced Secret Service agent who partners with Sean King to form a private investigation service in Baldacci's popular "King and Maxwell" series.
He also announces the upcoming return of The Camel Club, his eccentric band of conspiracy theorists led by Oliver Stone through five novels. He has signed with "a major studio" to bring his John Puller series to TV; and the film adaptation of "Wish You Well," starring Ellyn Burstyn and Josh Lucas, will be released this summer.
He also says that he does all his own research; never Googles or uses Wikipedia. For example, before starting the series featuring John Puller, Baldacci went to Fort Benning, Ga., and spent three days with the Army Rangers, immersing himself in military life for the novel "Zero Day." He participated in everything they did, from parachuting to target shooting.
But a fan in Atlanta tests his statement about research by asking how he researched the prison camps of North Korea described in his Will Robie book, "The Target."
"I talked with a lot of people familiar with that part of the world and what goes on," he answers. "There is a lot of literature, biographies of people who have escaped those labor camps. If you look at global satellite images, North Korea is a black hole and the rest of Asia is brilliant light. The conditions there (labor camps) are atrocious and beyond belief. It was incredible to me that, in the year 2015, a place like that can still exist."
But, he adds, research can also "get you in a lot of trouble" and segues into a tale of doing a phone interview for research while on an Amtrak bullet train, sharing a table with two men he did not know. He was on the phone with a New York medical examiner, picking her brain on the forensic science of poisoning for a book he was starting. Deep into his notes, he was unaware of anyone nearby.
"I said, 'This is basically how I want to murder the guy. You have to understand that I need to make sure when the police come to investigate this homicide, they will not know how I murdered him," he describes. When the medical examiner says she thinks he has described the perfect murder, he presses, "but I need to make sure I can fool the medical examiner, too."
Pleased to hear her say his murder was exactly how she would do it, he thanks her and adds, "If I ever need to kill anybody else, I'm going to call you."
He clicks off, looks up and sees the man to his side "had spilled his coffee from neck to crotch," he laughs. The other stranger has an expression of horror on his face and is mouthing, "Oh. My. God!"
"Over my shoulder, I see the Amtrak police coming. I did not make it to New York that day," he says. "I was detained as a 'person of interest' due to the things I had said."
Contact staff writer Susan Pierce at spierce@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6284.