Jon Land doesn't remember if he's published 28 books or 29. He says he's lost track. Counting the books listed on the inside flap of his last book, STRONG ENOUGH TO DIE, it looks like his latest book, STRONG JUSTICE, will be his 29th. And then there's the screenplay for the film "Dirty Deeds", perhaps best known for having Milo Ventimiglia and Zoe Saldana in it, as well as a variety of other screenplays in various stages of consideration, and it's clear Jon Land is keeping busy.
Land's latest novel, STRONG JUSTICE, is the second to feature female Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong. Land says she's "on the trail of both a serial killer that has killed more than 400 women, and a Mexican revolutionary plotting a war against the United States." He notes that STRONG JUSTICE has received his first starred review in Publishers Weekly, and adds, "If you're a mystery fan you're absolutely the wrong person to read one of my books. I'm all about story, I'm all about plot. My goal is to make it impossible for you to put the book down."
He notes with some amusement that the original idea, when he developed the character, Caitlyn Strong, was to begin each title with STRONG ENOUGH TO... until an executive at his publishing house told him that "bookstores inventory by the first 11 letters in a title, so if you do that it's just going to confuse them."
In the Caitlin Strong novels Land plays with gender roles, at least as they're perceived in thriller fiction. "The essence of what Caitlin is, she's a gunfighter. She has the same mentality as the old west gunfighters and that's the way the Texas Rangers are today. This is where the center of the book lies, and what I've done is invert the paradigm. The male lead, who is an ex-outlaw and a Green Beret, has two kids that he's now raising because his girlfriend was murdered. He's the one trying to get Caitlin to settle down and stop blowing people away."
With all his experience with film scripts, is there a movie featuring Caitlin in the future? It looks like a real possibility. Land is working with producer Michel Shane ("I, Robot" and "Catch me If You can") and director Carl Franklin ("High Crimes" and "Devil in a Blue Dress") to develop a film version. Land says, "We've got a terrific draft that maintains the heart and soul of the book without maintaining its precise structure. We're just about there and within a month or so we'll be going out 'to talent' to see who's going to play Caitlin Strong. At this stage, with this director and producer, it's about putting all the pieces in place before you go to the studio."
In discussing thrillers, Land talks about how each book has two simultaneous types of plots. "There's the structural plot, which is the action, intrigue, suspense, and the MacGuffin, in other words, what everyone is after. What are the good guys trying to stop, what are they trying to do? That's what thrillers are all about. Then there's the emotional plot, about what the characters are learning about themselves and how they are different emotionally or morally at the end of book than they were at the beginning."
Land just finished writing the third Caitlin Strong novel, STRONG AT THE BREAK, which will be released sometime in 2011. With 28 (or is it 29, or 30?) novels out there, Land provides a final thought on writing books that stand out. "I think what it comes down to is ambition. I think all writers are best served by having great ambition, not just for their story and plot, but for their characters and characters' development."
Mark Terry is the author of the Derek Stillwater thriller series and other novels. His latest, THE FALLEN, was released in April 2010.
