Author’s thriller explores political tension of MLK era
Steve Berry’s ‘The Bishop’s Pawn’ is latest featuring Cotton Malone
Steve Berry was a practicing attorney for more than 30 years. Now he’s a New York Times best-selling author, forging a successful career writing historical thrillers.
His latest work, “The Bishop’s Pawn,” explores the political tensions of the 1960s and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
The thriller features Berry’s signature character, Cotton Malone, a former Justice Department operative who can’t seem to stay out of trouble. “The Bishop’s Pawn” is set for release Tuesday, two weeks prior to the 50th anniversary of King’s death.
Berry discusses his latest book, the death of MLK and what it means to be a writer of historical thrillers.
Q: Tell us a little bit about the story of “The Bishop’s Pawn.”
A: It’s a story that I’ve held onto for about 10 years, but I began revisiting a couple of years ago as I realized that 2018 is the 50th anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King Jr.
“The Bishop’s Pawn” addresses MLK’s assassination, while also offering a backstory on Cotton Malone.
The backstory fills readers in on how Malone got started, how he became an agent. The story begins about 18 years ago, when Malone was a young lawyer in the Navy. It is my first time doing first person, so this is Cotton all the way through.
Q: After so many years of writing, why did you think now was the time to do a first-person narrative?
A: Well, over the course of many novels, I’ve dealt with many aspects of Cotton’s ongoing life. It was just time now to tell the reader where and how things got started.
Q: You approached King’s assassination from an alternative perspective, exploring his relationship with the FBI, among others.
A: The assassination of Martin Luther King is one of those great, unanswered mysteries. I wanted to explore the “why” of the assassination in a different way, and I do that in the novel. I also wanted to explore the FBI’s connection to King. COINTELPRO, the counter intelligence program of the FBI, ran from 1957 to about 1972 and was probably about the most corrupt organization ever created by the American government. It violated every law, every constitutional principle, and it just ran amok. J. Edgar Hoover hated King and set out to destroy him.
Q: I know you don’t want spoilers in the interview, but is it fair to say that, in the novel, King was persecuted by the federal government and that this fact contributed to his death?
A: In the novel, I link these together, but I do have a twist on it, and I make King a strategist, one who can use others’ inborn hatred, prejudice and bias to his own advantage or, at least, to further the cause important to him.
Q: As a former trial attorney, you might be expected to write legal thrillers, but you have built a career in this genre of “historical thriller.”
A: I enjoy reading about conspiracies, and I write what I love. I was originally a divorce and defense attorney, and these stories allow me to get away from that.
Q: You had to deal with a lot of rejection before you could get away from that. Can you talk about your initial experiences with publishers?
A: It took me 12 years to get published. I wrote eight manuscripts, five of which went to New York publishing houses, where they were rejected 85 times. It was a long road and, finally, on the 86th try, I was in the right place. “The Amber Room” was accepted in 2003, and I have been fortunate to be able to continue writing, and “The Bishop’s Pawn” is my 17th book.
Q: Everyone improves with experience, but a lot had changed in the publishing industry from your first rejection to the time of “The Amber Room.”
A: “The Da Vinci Code” was published in 2003, and after that, the type of books that I write was in demand. My writing hadn’t changed too much, but the industry changed, and “The Amber Room” was in the right place at the right time. Things changed to my favor.