Ridley Pearson long ago established himself as one of the premier writers of adult crime novels. His latest book, Steel Trapp: The Challenge, however, is his first foray into crime novels for young adults. As he explained in a recent interview, this book was originally intended to be another adult thriller.
"It started as an adult crime thriller and had at its center a young boy of 14. I wronte the whole novel as an adult novel," said Mr. Pearson. "In working out what I wrote next for my adult publisher it became apparent I wasn't going to use this book. My assistant at the time, Louise Marsh, who was always the first to read my material before any of this career kind of thing came up [writing books for kids] said, 'Hey, are you totally sure this should be an adult novel? I'm totally loving the kid in this book. Maybe it should be one of your kid books.' And I kept saying this is a Roland Larson book [the U. S. Marshall from Cut and Run]. As time went on I realized that she was right and I went back and recast the book with the kid as the focal point of the book and sort of turned down the volume on the Roland Larson parts."
The kid is Stephen "Steel" Trapp, a brilliant boy of 14 who is blessed (or cursed depending on how you look at it) with a photographic memory. While on a train to Washington, D. C. to compete in the National Science Challenge, he sees a woman get on the train with a briefcase. Later, when the woman leaves the train in Chicago, she leaves behind the briefcase. Stephen takes the briefcase to her but she insists it isn't her even though Stephen is absolutely sure he remembers her bringing it on the train. His attempt to be a Good Samaritan immediately backfires as he becomes entangled in a kidnapping and terrorism plot and puts himself in mortal danger. With the assistance of Roland Larson of the U. S. Marshalls' Fugitive Apprehension Task Force, Stephen tries to unlock the mysteries inside the briefcase and stop the sinister plan before it is too late.
Click here to listen to the interview with Ridley Pearson.
Although Stephen's photographic memory causes him to get into trouble in the beginning it also helps him discover the clues that will solve the mystery. The idea of someone who has such an ability to recall information is intriguing.
"I enjoy the idea of somebody who can't forget," said Mr. Pearson. "There is part of the human condition that is made easier by the fact we can forget. This idea that you can't let go of things whether it's your parents being mean to you or a friend being mean to you, it;s good when those things can leave your head and the fact that there's this kid and that stuff can't leave I think will make him a very complex character."
Although this is a novel written for kids, Mr. Pearson admits that his approach to writing this book is not much different from his approach to writing his adult crime novels.
"There really isn't much difference in writing for young adults and adults. It's fun for me because at its base it's all storytelling. I don't try to pull any punches. I don't try to write down to the kids. If they don't get a word then as my dad used to say, 'Look it up!'. You can go to a disctionary and figure out what a word means. I just try to write a story that I would want to read."
Although this is a book primarily about a kid, fans of Mr. Pearson's adult crime thrillers will find great enjoyment in it as well. This is because Mr. Pearson has not only crafted a tightly plotted story but has also incorporated extensive research into this book which has been one of the hallmarks of his previous novels.
"The job of a novelist is to suspend a reader's disbelief. I don't want you disbelieving what I'm writing because I'm making up a world anyway and if you start disbelieving it I failed and you're likely to throw the book across the room and pick another one off the shelf."
"Early on in my novel writing, I realized one of the helpful aids would be to craft the books mostly out of fact and bend them to my needs when I need the fiction to take over. So I do an awful lot of research to build a bed in the book of fact that it's standing on. So you're not going to disbelieve it because it's true and when I hit areas where I have to shrink the time or make someone unusual I can do that because hopefully I've sold you with enough fact that you don't then doubt my fiction."
"For Steel Trapp, I interviewed a U. S. Marshall to find out about how they do fugitive apprehension. They have a thing called the Fugitive Apprehension Task Force that is part of the Justice Department. These guys chase down people who have escaped from prison, the people who are the mose threat to society. There are only 4 or 5 of these guys. But they are the elite of the elite. Roland Larson is one of these guys."
With Steel Trapp: The Challenge, Ridley Pearson has done a terrific job of creating an intriguing yet unlikely hero in Stephen Trapp. Judging by the speed with which our family devoured the book I think it's safe to say that Mr. Pearson has another hit on his hands. He also says he plans to write more about this kid as he's already well into writing a second novel about him. Hopefully there will be many more such adventures to come.
This article originially appeared at Blogcritics.
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