This is the American dream: Southern blue-collar boy, an outsider with a last name people couldn’t pronounce and a gift for gab that made him a champion vacuum-cleaner salesman, becomes a successful lawyer and devoted family man, then conquers publishing and creates a foundation to support literacy programs.
And this is the American thriller: Bad guys set out to harm innocent people and topple governments, heroes with sad and shady pasts rush to the defense, and cliffhanger endings answer some questions and leave others hanging.
Mega-best-selling author David Baldacci lived the first scenario and writes the second.
Sitting in his capacious and beautifully decorated office suite in Reston, where he does most of his writing and foundation work, Baldacci has the aura of a man well-pleased. He has Robert Redford good looks — in 1997 he was named one of People magazine’s 10 most beautiful people — and a relaxed demeanor. He is surrounded by books by him and other authors, a hugecollection of baseball-style caps (including ones from the FBI and the Spy Museum), and photos of him with notables such as Mark Warner and Barbara Bush.
His new novel, “Stone Cold,” is the third to feature Oliver Stone, a former CIA operative turned unofficial government watchdog. As the leader of a motley band of misfits, he reexamines a decades-old killing of an accused Soviet spy. “Stone Cold” was published Nov. 6 and took only a week to reach the top of the New York Times best-seller list. Baldacci now aims to publish two books a year — “Simple Genius” came out in April — a staggeringly ambitious goal that he said helps him focus on writing.
Baldacci said the Washington area, the setting for his 14 novels, is perfect for the thriller genre.
“I’ve always liked conundrums and puzzles,” he said. “Thrillers require high stakes, unlike mysteries with a single killer, and in D.C. you can throw a rock and knock down a high stake. I’m inspired by the town.”
He began writing stories as a boy in Richmond when his mother encouraged him to put pen to paper instead of telling tall tales to get himself out of trouble. He said his writing benefited from seeing the world through books he borrowed from the Richmond public library, and by being enough of an outsider that he became adept at observing everybody else.
Baldacci got a taste of fighting the big guys in his nine years as a litigator, and recalls with pride his pro bono work that led to the recovery of an elderly woman’s savings stolen by her caretaker and a trademark case that pitted him as a cub lawyer against 12 corporate attorneys.
“I use people I’ve met or situations I’ve experienced and extrapolate out to make them more interesting,” he said. “As a writer, I’m only bound by plausibility. The scenarios I write about are well-researched, and give you something to think about.”
Baldacci does his own research, and as a result he’s become such an expert on possible threats to the government and public officials that his sources sometimes ask him for advice. The bad guys apparently take him seriously, too: He received death threats after publication of “The Camel Club,” in which he tried to show why someone would become a terrorist.
He draws most of his plots from his imagination, musing on such things as blowing up the Super Bowl, but some story lines are based on real events, like the administration of hallucinogenic drugs to soldiers in the 1950s and ’60s (“The Simple Truth”).
When asked on a scale of 10 how cynical he is about the U.S. government, Baldacci replied 8.5 to 9.3, with the specificity of someone who has thought a lot about it. “I know a lot of people who work in federal agencies. They want to serve their country, they are bright and dedicated. But the leadership is flawed. At the Justice Department, people involved in enforcement of fraud and corruption don’t have a lot to do right now.”
According to Baldacci’s publicity materials, almost 55 million copies of his books are in print, translated into more than 40 languages and sold in more than 85 countries.
Book critics often look down their literary noses at Baldacci’s work. One critic, who has heard Baldacci read his work but has not read his novels (and who asked not to be named), termed Baldacci’s writing “deeply unimaginative.” The Washington Post’s Jonathan Yardley, who has read only a few paragraphs, calls the books boilerplate Washington novels to pass the time on airplanes. He also says Baldacci is “impervious to reviewers.” Barbara Meade, co-owner of Politics & Prose, a leading independent bookstore in Washington, says it’s doubtful if anyone in her shop has read one of Baldacci’s novels.
But none of this deters his legions of readers. Why? His works are entertaining, quick and easy to read, with plots full of intrigue and recurring characters with whom readers develop an affinity.
Mark Dimenation, head of the rare books division at the Library of Congress, became the basis for a character in Baldacci’s novel “The Collectors” after the writer participated in the library’s National Festival of Books. Baldacci shadowed several librarians in the division for research. Dimenation’s character, Jonathan deHaven, got killed off on page 33. “He was pretty good at capturing my world,” said Dimenation, “although I told him that no self-respecting librarian would show up to work in a sport coat.”
In 1999 Baldacci and his wife founded the Wish You Well Foundation that funds literacy programs in almost 30 states, mostly for adults, who he said receive less federal funding than school literacy programs. “Traveling across the country in the past 12 years, I see that we are fast becoming an illiterate nation. History shows that nonreaders can’t sustain a democracy,” he said. The foundation recently partnered with America’s Second Harvest, the largest U.S. hunger-relief organization, to donate books to families. At every Baldacci book signing, you’ll see a large white box for donations of new or used books. He has collected around 200,000 books so far.
“The literacy campaign speaks well of him,” Dimenation said. “There are many other self-aggrandizing things he could do. David pays back. I like that about him.”
David Baldacci’s tips for success
1 If you’re not passionate about what you do, change what you do or how you do it.
2 If work is the most important thing in your life, you need to rethink your life.
3 Be creative as often as you can. Don’t just think outside the box; create new boxes.
4 Never be so afraid of failure that you accept something less than achieving your full potential.
5 Think beyond yourself. “It’s all about me” is a lonely world.
BIO FILE
Born: Aug. 5, 1960 Hometown: Richmond, Va.
Education: Virginia Commonwealth University, B.A. in political science, 1983. University of Virginia Law School, JD 1986.
Family: Wife and two teenage children. “The head of house is our Labradoodle named Finn (coincidentally the last name of a major character in ‘Stone Cold’).”
Key jobs: Practicing law for nine years in the Washington area and working his way through college as a security guard.
Biggest influence: “Books — I had a deal with the librarians at my local library to check out more books than allowed. I loved to read, and that’s why I’m a writer today.”
Favorite book: “Too hard a question. But I must say that ‘The Magic Squirrel’ was the first book I ever read and it has stayed with me to this day.”
Quote to live by: “Read. Too many books, too little time. Really.”
