ITW contributing editor, Keith Raffel , recently caught up with Robert Liparulo to ask him about his just-released thriller Deadfall which Steve Berry calls “inventive, suspenseful, and highly entertaining.”

Let’s start at the beginning. Tell us about Deadfall.

It’s about four friends who head up into the wilds of northern Canada to recharge after a tough year. They run into a group of young punks who are field testing a satellite laser cannon—and terrorizing a small town with it. The campers have to decide whether to run for their lives or help the townsfolk. In ten words or less, it’s an update of Deliverance...without the hillbillies.

Probably without the banjos, too. Why did you write Deadfall? For entertainment only? Or are you trying to get some other messages across as well?

I’ve always strived to entertain readers with my stories. My characters, good guys and bad, tend to be psychologically complex. I’m interested in exploring why people do the things they do. So, while I want my story to be a great ride for readers, I want to engage them intellectually as well.

What did you learn writing Germ and Comes A Horseman that you’ve applied to Deadfall?

With the first two books, I obsessed on research. I wanted to keep looking for that little nugget, that perfect touch that would give readers absolute confidence I knew what I was talking about. For Deadfall, I tried focusing on the truly relevant facts, without scurrying down every rabbit trail. As a result, I was able to immerse myself in my characters’ world more and tell a tighter story.

Is Deadfall a metaphor for what society is losing by focusing on technologic innovation instead of old-fashioned values?

The fun of Deadfall is watching the match-up between the campers with almost no technology and the punks with ultra-high technology. Nowadays, most people would assume the advantage belongs to whoever has the best technology—and they may be right; but there’s the human element, which can never truly be taken out of the equation.

Do you have anything cooking with Hollywood ?

Comes a Horseman was optioned by Mace Neufeld, who produced Tom Clancy’s movies. The film rights to Germ was purchased by Red Eagle Entertainment, the company bringing Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time to the screen. And the movie rights to my yet-untitled fifth novel was purchased by Mike Medavoy at Phoenix Pictures (Zodiac, Stealth). I’m writing the novel and working on the screenplay with director Andrew Davis (The Fugitive, The Guardian).

I understand you’ve published over a thousand articles. Did you invent software that writes them for you?

For a long time, my sole source of income was as a freelance magazine writer, so I had to work hard and fast. At first, I begrudged it since it wasn’t the fiction I longed to write, but the lessons I learned were invaluable to my becoming a novelist—how to research, how to write succinctly, how to work under the pressure of deadlines.

Tell me about a typical day in the life of Robert Liparulo.

I work late into the night, so I don’t start my day until 9:30 or 10:00 in the morning. The first hour, I get organized, answer emails. Then I write for a few hours. I wrap up the daylight hours with research or marketing tasks—updating my website or whatever. I spend the late afternoon and evening with my family, then get back to work about 10pm . I write until about 1:00 or 2:00 —even later, on Deadfall, I was so into it.

While casting for trout in a mountain stream, you hook a mysterious brass lamp. You rub it and out pops a genie, wearing waders, who offers you three writing wishes. What do you ask for?

I’m not sure I was ready for that image of a fly fishing genie, but hey, as long as the guy’s handing out wishes... (1) That my writing keeps improving; (2) that I live long enough to tell all the stories I have in mind; and (3) that I find the time to read the way I used to—I’ve been so busy lately, I haven’t read even a quarter of the novels I’ve purchased. I miss that more than anything else.

Robert Liparulo and his family live in Colorado in the foothills of the Rockies.

Keith Raffel wrote Dot Dead, "without question the most impressive mystery debut of the year" according to Bookreporter.com.  Former counsel to the Senate Intelligence Committee, he is currently finishing up Two Graves, a political thriller set – where else? – in Washington, D.C.