What is the name of the book and when was it published?
Name of the book: Pivot. First published: May 12, 2013
What’s the book’s first line?
“My roommate leaves me notes on rose petals.”
What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.
Are psychopaths born, or are they made? Jack Harper is taught to murder from the age of five, setting off a chain of horrifying events that could lead to deliverance… or ruin.
The premise of Pivot is the creation of a psychopath. It is divided primarily between chapters of Jack with Cyrus and Jack with Patrick. The chapters with Cyrus involve a terrifying leader’s attempt to make a glorified killer out of Jack as a child. The chapters with Patrick involve the adult Jack who befriends the loveable screw-up Patrick. The book “pivots” between these two parts – between Cyrus and Patrick, past and present, horror and occasional comedy.
What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?
I listened to a supposed “ex-Satanist” speak one time about the experiences, hierarchies, and traditions of the religion. It made me interested in writing a novel where the leader of a group can live up to and exceed what people believe he can. Most importantly, I wanted to write a character who is every bit as evil and powerful as he is supposed to be – as well as the cult that is more than a cult – and I wanted to explore evilness in a way that had never been done before. I tried to breathe life into the cliché.
What’s the most distinctive thing about the main character? Who-real or fictional-would you say the character reminds you of?
When I created Jack, I tried to create a chaotic good character who is undoubtedly evil, but also sympathetic. It is a difficult mixture, but I do believe I succeeded. Jack’s most distinctive characteristic is loyalty to friends and family, as well as an ineffable genuineness and honesty, even though that honesty often means death. If I had to choose a similar character, I might choose Dexter Morgan from Dexter or even potentially Selene from Underworld. Jack, though, is identical to neither of these.
What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
Pivot is written to not just be a horror novel, but an experience. Many people have called it overwhelming, horrible in the most amazing of ways, gory and dark but at the same time beautiful. Others haven’t been able to read the book all at once because it is very heavy. Aside, though, from being a dark challenge, Pivot is a character-driven and philosophical horror novel – something not common in the horror genre. The book is all about combining the most horrific and traumatic experiences with beauty, nostalgia, and the sublime.