Nineteen Minutes Read online

  Q: What facts did you uncover during your research that might surprise readers whose knowledge of school shootings comes solely from media coverage?

  A: Although the media is quick to list the "aberrant" characteristics of a school shooter, the truth is that they fit all teens at some point in their adolescence! Or in other words, these kids who resort to violence are not all that different from the one living upstairs in your own house, most likely--as scary as that is to imagine. Two other facts that surprised me: for many of these shooters, there is the thinnest line between suicide and homicide. They go to the school planning to kill themselves and decide at the last minute to shoot others, too. And psychologically, a single act of childhood bullying is as scarring emotionally as a single act of sexual abuse. From the point of view of the survivors, I remember being stunned when this young man I interviewed said that afterward, when his parents were trying to be solicitous and asked him if he needed anything, he turned away from them . . . because he was angry that they hadn't been like that yesterday, before. Historically, one of the most upsetting things I learned was that after Columbine, more than one family was told that their child was the first to be killed. It was theoretically supposed to offer them comfort ("my child went first and didn't suffer") but backfired when several families realized they'd been told the same thing.

  Q: What appealed to you about bringing back two characters from previous novels, defense lawyer Jordan McAfee and detective Patrick Ducharme? Why the romantic resolution for Patrick this time?

  A: Okay, I'm just going to admit it to the world: I have a crush on Patrick Ducharme. And of course, he didn't get the girl at the end of Perfect Match. So I really wanted him to star in another story where he was front and center. (For those really savvy readers who want to torture themselves with unanswered questions--scroll back to the first chapter of Nineteen Minutes and do the math: how old is Nina's little girl? And how long ago was Perfect Match? Hmm . . .) As for Jordan--as soon as I realized that I had a murder trial in New Hampshire, I started thinking of who might defend Peter. And Jordan happened to be free! It's always great fun to bring a character back, because you get to catch up on his or her life; and you don't have to reinvent the wheel--you already know how he or she speaks, acts, thinks.

  Q: In Nineteen Minutes, Lewis Houghton is a college professor whose area of expertise is the economics of happiness. Does such a profession actually exist? How does Lewis's job relate to the story as a whole?

  A: It does exist! There are economics professors who run statistics about how different elements of a person's life (marriage, sexual orientation, salary, etc.) can add to or detract from overall happiness, by giving those elements a dollar value. Lewis's equation--that happiness equals reality divided by expectations--is from real research. However, I sort of fudged the other equation he devises: that expectation divided by reality equals hope. As for how the profession relates to the story--well, you have to love the irony of a guy who studies happiness for a living and yet isn't aware of the discontent simmering beneath his own roof.

  Q: As the mother of three children, did you find the subject of popularity and the cruel ways in which children often treat one another a difficult one to address?

  A: It is always hardest for me to write a book that has kids in it close to my kids' ages--and Nineteen Minutes does. I think that every parent has probably experienced bullying in some form--either from the point of view of the bully or of the victim--so it's a pretty universal subject. But in many ways, watching my children as they struggled to find their own place in the social hierarchy of school did make them guinea pigs for me as I was writing the book. I know that many of my readers are the age of the young characters in this book, and over the years, some have written me to ask if I'd write a book about bullying. But it wasn't until I began to connect what kids experience in school with how adults treat other adults who are somehow different that I began to piece together the story. Discrimination and difference at the high school level will never end until the adults running these schools can go about their own lives without judging others for their race, religion, sexual orientation, and so forth. How ridiculous is it that America prides itself on being a melting pot, when--as Peter says in the novel--that just means it makes everyone the same?

  Q: Did you have the surprise ending in mind when you began writing Nineteen Minutes, or did it evolve later in the process?

  A: As with all my books, I knew the ending before I wrote the first word.

  Q: You're the author of fourteen novels. As you write more and more books, is it harder to come up with ideas? How do you know when an idea is the right one?

  A: The right idea is the one you can't stop thinking about, the one that's in your head first thing in the morning. The ideas choose me, not the other way around. And as for a shortage (I'm knocking on wood here), I haven't faced that yet. I could tell you what the next four books I'm writing will address.

  Q: You once remarked about your novel My Sister's Keeper that "there are so many shades of gray in real life." How might this statement also apply to Nineteen Minutes?

  A: It's funny you should compare Nineteen Minutes to My Sister's Keeper because I see them as very similar books--they are both very emotional, very gut-wrenching, and they're situations that every parent dreads. And like the moral and ethical complications in My Sister's Keeper, in Nineteen Minutes you have a kid who does something that, on the surface, is absolutely devastating and destructive and will end the lives of others. But--given what these characters have endured--can you blame them? Do I condone school shootings? Absolutely not. But I can understand why a child who's been victimized might feel like he's justified in fighting back. I also think it's fascinating to look at how two good parents might find themselves with a child they do not recognize--a child who does something they can't swallow. Do you stop loving your son just because he's done something horrible? And if you don't, do you start hating yourself? There are so many questions raised by Nineteen Minutes--it's one big gray area to wallow in with your book group!

  Q: Many of your books center on topics that are front and center in the headlines. Is it important for you to not only entertain readers with a riveting story line but to challenge them to think about timely and often controversial topics? Why do you suppose you have gravitated toward this type of storytelling?

  A: I think that sometimes when we don't want to talk about issues that are hard to discuss or difficult to face, it's easier to digest it in fiction instead of nonfiction. I mean, no one goes into their bookstore and says, "Hey, can I read the most recent book about the sexual molestation of kids!?" but if you pick up a novel that has that as its center, you will become involved with the characters and the plot and find yourself dissecting the issue without even realizing it. Fiction allows for moral questioning, but through the back door. Personally, I like books that make you think--books you're still wondering about three days after you finish them; books you hand to a friend and say, "Read this so we can talk about it." I suppose I'm just writing the kind of novel I like to read!

  Q: In the acknowledgments, you write: "To the thousands of kids out there who are a little bit different, a little bit scared, a little bit unpopular: this one's for you." What might readers, particularly younger readers, take from this book and apply to their own lives?

  A: If I could say one thing to the legions of teens out there who wake up every morning and wish they didn't have to go to school, it would be this--and I'm saying it as both a mom and a writer: Stay the course. You will find someone like you; you will fit in one day. And know that even the cool kids, the popular kids, worry that someone will find out their secret: that they worry about fitting in, just like you do.

  TIPS TO ENHANCE YOUR BOOK CLUB

  1. Watch Bowling for Columbine, Michael Moore's Academy Award-winning documentary, in which the filmmaker explores the roots of America's predilection for gun violence.

  2. Have a roundtable discussion on the nonfiction a